One of the main reasons we’ve moved here is to immerse ourselves into the local culture, language and overall environment.  This meant that kids would need to go to school full- time with Argentinian kids not only to learn Spanish, but also to form friendships and learn how to operate in a new environment.  Finding a school that would offer all of that turned out to be one of our biggest and most difficult tasks; we knew it would substantially impact our experience in Buenos Aires.

Some of us have been through the school search before.  First finding the perfect preschool, getting on ridiculous wait lists while still pregnant, then either feeling thankful for the exceptional public school in our neighborhood or continuing on the obnoxious journey of trying to get our kids into the ‘right’ elementary school while shelling out thousands of dollars to get a spot.  It’s all a bit silly but yet somehow incredibly real as we inadvertently fast-forward and attribute our school choice to the overall success of our children, which of course is absurd.  In the process we often lose sight of what is important. The joy of learning and ability to remain curious and happy fall by wayside as instead we focus on studying pointless numbers like test scores, teacher/student ratios, admission stats, etc.  At least I fall into this trap; most people are likely more savvy than me.

It appears that the silliness is not only an American phenomenon, but increasingly one that is pervasive everywhere past a certain income level.  And so in Buenos Aires, unfortunately,  we didn’t escape it either.  From initial quick research it became clear that many schools are very selective, completely full and not likely open to our kids.  And yet, somehow we needed to find a school that would accept us regardless, with substantial handicaps.  And even if that school existed, how would we find it without knowing anyone or the education system, or speaking Spanish?

We didn’t know whether we would actually have choices.  Perhaps they would go to the first school that said ‘yes’.  But if we did have choices, we wanted to align on how we would evaluate each school.  After a lot of searching and input from everyone including the kids, we decided that at least for the first year our focus should be on Spanish, more than academics, school leagues, extracurricular activities and so on.  We also wanted to be able to walk to school and feel like it’s a great local community of kids, parents and teachers who are willing to take on new children who may otherwise feel lost.

Where to start? I needed to learn about the education system here.  Was public school an option?  What are the main teaching methods?  How are schools structured?  What are the primary neighborhoods where we want to live and walk to school?  These questions were more difficult to answer than I had anticipated, particularly while still in California.  Googling ‘schools in Buenos Aires’ yielded no useful results (though that would have been nice), so instead I mentally prepared for a long and arduous process ahead.  FB turned out to be most helpful; I became a member of a mom’s group which led to new friends, names of schools, and endless tips.  I corresponded with many strangers and moms to learn about schools and parenting in Argentina.  I then sent out emails to all schools that seemed to fit the bill (primarily based on location of the school) but most did not respond.  Phone calls were much more effective, although without speaking Spanish it meant hiring people, begging friends, and extensive use of Google translate.  I also made some friends via FB who called numerous schools just to be helpful.  We talked with many schools that did have spaces, conducting interviews over WhatsApp or Skype as we narrowed the list.  We had to fill out forms, assessments, complete physical exams, prepare translations of report cards, ask for teacher recommendations, and jump through what seemed like a thousand hoops to get anywhere all prior to our arrival.

I learned a lot through the process.  Public schools, unfortunately, were not an option for multiple reasons.  We needed several documents to register our kids as students in public schools which we didn’t have on our tourist visas. The public schools also run for only half a day, in shifts (kids could feasibly start school at 1:00pm and end at 5:00pm), with class sizes much too big.  Most importantly though, no public school was willing to admit our kids halfway through the school year without any Spanish knowledge.

Consequently we had to dive deeper to learn about the private school options of which they are many in Buenos Aires.  Most private schools are ‘bi-langual’ which means that half day is spent learning in Spanish and half day is spent learning in English – days include ‘double shifts’ from 8:00 – 4:30pm.  The problem with a ‘double shift’ besides it being so long, is that at least three hours a day are spent learning in English, often remedial.  If you’re Argentinian, this works – you naturally want your kids to learn English, it’s one of the main reasons you send them to private school if you can afford it. For us though, this wasn’t ideal as the English level was often understandably below grade level relative to US schools and I was concerned that our kids would be bored for half their days.  Also, many of these schools were filled with dozens of expat kids.  We’ve had friends who had put their kids in amazing international schools while living abroad and while academically the schools were outstanding, English was the primary language spoken in the hallways and often in classrooms.   Sometimes this resulted in not learning Spanish as quickly.  We decided that based on our objectives we needed a more ‘local’ school, one with primarily Argentinian kids.

Once we finally arrived in Buenos Aires at the end of July, we had a shortlist of six schools, two of which had already ‘pre-admitted’ us.  We had to meet, tour, and interview with all of them, and separately the kids had to go through exams and psychological assessments. It was a long week.  These were some of the best schools in the center of BsAs, yet that meant no green space, desks aligned in rows, big class sizes, and a lot of florescent lighting.  In most schools kids wore a uniform including ties for boys and  were bused to green spaces for PE once / week.  Their music and art programs appeared elementary relative to those I’ve seen in the US. Two were Catholic, traditional, and looked like museums with stunning architecture and libraries that were reminiscent of old British lecture halls, not all that child-friendly.

The visits to all the schools were not that positive and I questioned our overall decision. Sun Valley, their school in the California, seemed like paradise compared to these schools.  One of the headmasters proposed a program to home-school our kids for the next three months with a private teacher to ensure that they get a base in Spanish, before they could attend school.  Others suggested that the kids start in a grade below which I think would substantially cripple their experience, particularly socially.  At times I thought that we needed to change our criteria and move out to the suburbs to enroll in the international schools that were more adopt in accepting expat kids.

And yet, some of the teachers and administrators were incredibly warm during the process.  Many cared about our goals and understood what we wanted to get out of the year.  Some kids were also sweet coming out of their classrooms to introduce themselves to our kids and invite them in.  Some were filled primarily with Argentinian kids without any English in the hallway or in the classrooms.  In fact, some, not many, were close to meeting most of our criteria: an incredible Spanish environment, good neighborhood, filled with Argentinian kids.

In the end it was an easy choice.  The kids all voted and unanimously decided on a small, Waldrorf-inspired, avant-garde school which lasts only 1/2 day, has two hours of English per week, many after-school activities and seems to be the right fit for our family.  I liked that the kids themselves chose Gascon and are all bought in.  I’m uncertain how strong it is academically, but do I care?  I want the kids to be engaged, make friends, and look forward to going to school, even though I know it’s going to be a challenge, particularly in the beginning.  Most teachers do not speak any English, and though some kids do, overall it seems pretty limited.  It’s small, with class sizes between 12-20 kids which is similar to the experience I had when I learned English in United States.

School started for our kiddos last Monday (August 6th).  For more on that check out Ella’s reaction.  We’ll provide another update a month in.