What do the children think?
 

I have an eight year old son who wants to ask you a few questions.

What do the children think of Canada? :thumbup:
What do they think of school? ;)
Do they get to do lots of sports? :thumbsup:

Re: What do the children think?
 

My 11yr old Boy loves it here. His new School have been great and he was welcomed in fine. Loads of extra curricular activites to do both before & after School. At the moment he is going through an Ice Skating fad but in the summer it was mountain biking. He's cost me a small fortune.

My 4yr old girl has a mid atlantic twang at the moment, not quite a Canadian accent but almost. She doesn't know any different to be honest, she thought we were in Canada when we parked at Gatwick airport :lol:

Re: What do the children think?
 

"Message back from J.D." Thank you for you email I hope you do well in Canada, I am looking forward to ice skating. Does you son perfer Canada?

Re: What do the children think?
 

I have 7 and 9 year old girls. Both have settled very well and both are enjoying plenty of new friendships. They currently go to skating, dancing, swimming and brownies (which has also cost a small fortune in the last month or so!).

School is generally more casual in both teaching styles and in clothing! No uniforms. Kids get up and walk out of class to go to the washroom. There seems to currently be way less homework, verging on none at all (which I am struggling with - not the homework you understand, just the lack of it).

The early mornings are killing us all off as they start school at 8.10 but we'll survive!

My children now have way more physical freedom than we could have offered in the UK. This may predominantly be due to the place we now live and the layout of the area, versus a pretty rural existence in the south of England where there was no-one else to play with anyway, even if we had let them out of our garden!

Canadian children generally appear polite but not oozing with 'pleases' and 'thank yous' - they are happy to talk to adults more and are generally encouraged to do so without any hang ups. They can appear a little more forward - I think that's what I mean - they speak up ... but they also speak over you and other people and interrupt without being reminded to just hold on a moment !! English manners obsessiveness coming to the fore here :o
Something must be going right though, because teenagers generally can string a sentence together when in the presence of an adult and are generally a nice bunch - quite a revelation.

You could do worse :)

Re: What do the children think?
 

Wow all sounds great, thanks for your reply.

Know what you mean about english manners always telling J.D. to wait until there is gap in conversation!!

Re: What do the children think?
 

Hi,
I agree with all that has been said. I have a 5 year old boy and an 8 year old girl..they LOVE their new school. They have made lots of friends and have taken to it like ducks to water (I was very worried about how well they would settle). We have only been here since beginning of August. In my sons words...he 'prefers this Canada school because its got its own library!'
I'm sure you will find loads to do, we too have enrolled in soccer,gymnastics and ice skating..The kids can play outside on their bikes/scooters in safety.
The cost of psp/ds/playstation games is way cheaper than in the Uk too.! Like Ann says school is much more relaxed here, but I have no concern over the teaching standards and most importantly the teachers seem so enthusiastic... and everyone loves the British accent. Hope this helps

Re: What do the children think?
 

Knock knock.

Whos there?

Interupting cow!

Interupting cow w...

Moooooooooooo.

Re: What do the children think?
 

Big help one of the big worries how he will settle. Although he can talk to anyone and everyone that will listen to him so shouldn't really worry about him making new friends really, think he is a good age to make new friends to. Glad you kids have settle so quickly.

Re: What do the children think?
 

Will have to remember that one next times he does it!!!

Re: What do the children think?
 

I think he does. He misses decent TV and Indian takeaways but aside from that he is very much at home in Canada and very happy.
His old friends in the UK that he thought he couldn't live without, they are just a memory now, although he does say hi now and again on MSN.

Re: What do the children think?
 

8.10am start is super early...........ours begin at 8.30am and I thought that was a bit on the early side.

I agree with all thats been said.
More relaxed schooling, disciplined but respectful.
Kids are generally better behaved here.......(on the whole, always exceptions)
My son just loves school here, no uniform !! Yeah !!!!

They are slower accademically in the early yrs I believe. I keep in contact with friends in the UK, and what her kids are doing is ahead of my son, (both the same age) BUT, they focus on the all round individual, not just focusing on results.

Re: What do the children think?
 

Evening all,

Parris and JD - hello.

Our son is eight years old and could talk the hind legs off a donkey. His teacher loves the fact the he is so polite (what:eek: has she got the right child?). He has made friends so easily. We are in Canmore (a small town) and our children go to school in Banff (another small town). My two (have a 12 year old daughter also) get the school bus at 7:30am and start school at 8:15) they return at 4:20pm. Our son loves the bus and they tell me every day what animals they see. So far mostly deer, elk, coyotes and a moose. Both schools were very very welcoming of them both. Our son loves telling the class of all the things that they don't have here - like the latest on Doctor Who.

Also we live on a small street. Not loads of kids but all very friendly and polite. Our neighbour has eight year old twins and they always call at our house when they are going out to play street hockey. We are blessed with lovely neighbours (kids and adults).

Both our children fitted in immediately and love it here. They both do gym every day. Banff Elementary School (where our son is) have struck a deal with one of the local ski resorts so thatall children get a free ski pass. Our children are out on their bikes (safe street) most weekends or playing street hockey. Our daughter has taken up speed skating and loves it.

However, not sure if this is everywhere. Our son wanted to try ice hockey but when we enquired, we would have to join the club, buy all the ski gear, attend a match every weekend and volunteer for x number of hours at the club. He only wanted to try it not fork out over a $1000 for it. We will wait until the local pond freezes over and all the kids then go and play ice hockey for free.:)

Good luck with your moved to Canada.

Alro

Re: What do the children think?
 

HI sorry to hijack the thread,but my daughter in almost 15 and she is very worried about fitting in .Has any one had experiences with this age of girls fitting into School, social etc.She watches too many US teen programs/films where the other girls are really bitchy to the newbie.
Thanks Hels

Re: What do the children think?
 

My 9 year old was worried about this, let alone your 15 year old. The protrayal is awful, isn't it? The cool cheerleaders being mean to the new kid, etc !!!! Dreadful films !!! All I would say is think back to Grange Hill (if you are nearly as old as me). Was that a true portrayal of a comprehensive? Yes and No !! We could never be as rude or as cheeky as the kids in that programme, but elements of it rung true.

There will always be the mean kid - there's a couple in every grade I reckon, but that means there are probably at least 28 to 60 really normal, nice kids !!

Don't worry - they'll love her - new kids, new accent = new friends. Good luck to her :thumbsup:

Re: What do the children think?
 

I think this is correct! No one will watch a movie about the nice kids after all.