Our GERMAN GRUNDSCHULE Culture Shocks! 🇩🇪How Our American Kids are Doing in German Elementary School

Continuing our series about how our American kids are doing in German schools, here's our experience in Grundschule (Elementary School). Our boys started in February of 2021 in the 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades. Besides the obvious language barrier, there have been MANY other cultural differences we were not prepared for! It's all part of the adventure of living in another country.

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//ABOUT US//
We are a family of six, with four kids and a cat 😹, who moved from the USA to Germany in February of 2021 to pursue our dreams of adventure, travel, learning another language, and integrating into German life. We hope you enjoy our videos about our journey to integrate - the highs and the lows of being foreigners on the adventure of a lifetime.

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//CHAPTERS//
0:00 - Fall scenes from our garden
00:33 - What Grundschule (Elementary School) was like for us in the USA
05:20 - Stundenplan - the school schedule is much different for us
14:16 - Handwriting and Cursive - much greater emphasis in Germany than in America
17:08 - Helping with Homework is much more difficult
20:20 - Class names are known differently
21:56 - No cafeteria or lunchtime in our school
24:45 - Krankmeldung - process to alert the school when your child is sick is different
26:46 - More field trips!

[MyMerryMessyGermanLife]

Hey guys - we've been doing a whole series on how school is going for our four kids, from Kindergarten to Gynmasium! Here are the other videos in case you missed them.

[t.b.]

Telling the school on time that your child is sick is also a safety thing. Many kids walk to school and if they are not there on time something might have happend - like an accident or something. Then the school would inform the police.

[sanSDI]

The sport with 9 pins is called Kegeln, its like bowling, only a little different.

I was poor in school, i went to every trip. If we couldn't pay, i only had to go to the school bureau, got a paper and we send it somewhere. It was paid for me.
For the great Trips at the end of school, we had to bring 10 euro a month in the last year. And then the class decided where to go with our budget.

[pattyfairytale]

This "light soles" thing has actually a reason ! The Indoor sport facility has a floor where dark soles make dark traces on. It is much effort to undo them ! That s the reason for light soles.
And the sport lessons have the purpose to let the student sweat. To uphold to the sports wear for multiple lessons would be smelly .

[norbertweber]

It’s always interesting when you teach us something about the US, such as the fact that classes are named after the teachers. I didn’t know that! You should do more of that.

[butcheromance]

I remember heavy book bags being a topic when I was a kid - though we were allowed to leave books at school. But then you'd inevitable forget the stuff you need for homework so, it's a gamble :D
Advice from adult me on carrying a heavy backpack: Chest strap is nice but hip strap will change your life! If your boys are really struggling and aren't growing into their backpacks, maybe try small hiking packs that have a padded strap around the hips to redistribute the weight.

[TrashskillsRS]

It is the standard in Germany as well as Scandinavia and probably more places in Europe to seperate the same year classes by ABCD etc.
The class will stay together through the years, but they might change teachers, so using letters makes it easy to identify the groups.

[MrRoztoc]

I never realized that kids going to their school on their own is a thing. I was going on my own to school and back home every day for ten years. In Europe that's so usual nobody is even thinking about it.

[pinkhope]

Get them a Fahrradkorb so they don’t have to carry their backpacks on their back. Its much easier. Fahrradkorb is the way to go😀✌️

[hbfreaky]

I don't know if someone has mentioned this already, but I remember that the whole discussion about wearing the correct gym shorts was due to safety reasons. Gym shorts usually don't have buttons or zippers which would be dangerous depending on the things they are doing in their PE class (which in Grundschule does involve quite a bit of gymnastics and climbing up and down things) - so maybe that is why the teacher was "so strict" and didn't let him participate in the class. My school usually provided an extra pair of shorts but maybe that isn't too hygienic nowadays...

[Timinator]

What I experienced from friends whose first language isn't German: they actually tend to have a lot of trouble learning German in Berlin or a similarly big city. Since it is really "en vogue" to speak English (in cafés, bars, etc.), you don't really need German in these bigger cities. Thus, a lot of friends have trouble using their German skills in everyday life. While it might be harder for you and your kids to learn the first things in German with no bigger second language programs around, I think it might be an advantage to live in a smaller town where you are more "forced" to practice your German every day. Chin up, your kids will do great, I'm pretty sure! 😊

[sabineevers]

No, they actually do not let you alone if you are, say, unemployed or have to live on social assistance for other reasons. I used to be a single mom with two kids for many years when my kids were young, only getting smaller jobs and needing additional top-up for a longer period of time. All that time I could apply to either the Jobcenter or the local authorities for something called "Bildung und Teilhabe", meaning: assistance for kids of poorer families to be able to take part in things which would be difficult otherwise. Like a certain sum at the beginning of each school year to buy necessary things (like the right shorts and the famous shoes with white soles *lol*), and assistance to buy food in the cafeteria or canteen, and - most important - they paid for each and every school trip, near and far, so these kids (my kids too) did not have to stay at home. All you had to do was to go and apply for that, prove the authenticity ... they supported us even with the respective graduation trips abroad, no problem, no long fussing, and moreover - one of my kids did not go the direct way from Grundschule via Gymnasium to the Abitur (for reasons of some sort of handicap) but made her way via different schools, "topping up" her education too, so to speak, and all the time when she finished a certain degree and they had their graduation trips, we could apply for assistance and they helped us. They did help us enormously, couldn't have done it otherwise, so - no, we were never left alone and the kids (ha, they are both in their late twenties now *g*) could make their way rather carefree.

Sorry for pouring my story out so lengthily here, but it is often said that "der Staat" leaves you alone and kids can't take part in anything and feel left out ... that has never been the case with our little family. You just have to ask, they can't guess what you need miraculously :-)
All the best to you - I still love to watch your videos, they are great fun to watch.

[charlymaria]

Normally in Grundschule there is a 10 minute "Frühstückspause" after the first break at around 10am. The kids just sit at their desk and eat the food they brought from home. Sometimes teachers are reading a story to them during that time.
Where I live the Grundschulen have a cafeteria, but only for the kids who stay until the afternoon und need to eat lunch. They get a warm lunch there.

[dynamodeern]

My daughter went to Grundschule/elementary school in Hamburg. They had a program in the afternoon called care where kids could stay in school, eat lunch, do their homework, play inside or outside in the Schulhof/school yard. It was meant for children where both parents were at work in the afternoon. The lunch was cooked in a commercial kitchen specialised on children's food and was delivered before lunch break. Although this school was right in the center of Hamburg they had a goat enclosure and shed in the school yard and kept a small herd of goats. To take care of goats was then part of curriculum and the parents were involved too. Parents had to do 'goat service' on the weekends looking after the goats, feeding them, cleaning up, because the school yard and playing ground was also open on weekends. During school holidays the goats were brought to a farm. During one my 'goat services' on a Sunday the billy goat climbed the fence of the enclosure and escaped in the school yard. This must have been a funny picture - me chasing the goat followed by bunch of children laughing and screaming.

[pythagorasmathematik]

You have to tell them that your child is sick before school starts so that they can alert you if your child doesn't arrive. I think that is different because the kids walk to school and could run into trouble on the way.

[friedrichmirle]

a few things for context
1: you as a parent are not supposed to know when they have Sport/gym class. The child is. That's why there is a plan, forgetting your sport bag is very much frowned upon, making you a "Turnbeutelvergesser", literally someone who forgot to bring said bag and meaning the being a thoughtless, unorganised student.

2: pretty much the same with books and school supplies. Your children should only bring what they need the very next day. Every day they need to pack their Rucksack/Ranzen anew. This gets more important the more subjects are introduced. Having each subject a different color for "Hefter" and "Arbeitsbücher" (foulders and worksheet collections) as well as regular books helps big time. The "Stundenplan"/timetable is for them, not the parents. It shows them when they are supposed to be where doing what and infers what might be needed. That's why they learn to read clocks in first grade and should wear one.

3: Why school grades have letter suffixes? This is because the children change both rooms and teachers during the day, commonly even at first and second grade (which might be somewhat less the case in such a small village school). The teacher who gives lessons in writing/Deutsch isn't nessessarily the one who does math and Sachkunde (natural sciences inroduction). But what remains constant is their group of fellow students, their group. They will keep the letter. 2A will become 3A, then 4A, it always being the same students getting growing up. In Gymnasium, they will travel in between rooms every 45 or 90 min lesson, changing teachers every time. This allows schoolrooms to be specificly tailored for teaching any given subject.

4: don't help with homework unless your kids get really stuck (and not even a sibling or a friend can help). Most (if not all) homework is designed to be done by the children themselves, as it is usually a repetition of what was done in school already. They are supposed to know what to do. Them asking for help means either they did not comprehend their lessons or they really just want to rope you into doing them for you.

5: Hot Lunches are done only once school goes on after midday. Which in a 4 grade Grundschule might mean never. Weiterführende Schulen/further schooling will have a designated lunchbreak and a cafeteria serving real meals. Snacks and drinking might even be permissible during the lessons, otherwise just when they get a minute.

6: In regards to poverty: actual food poverty is as guessed not really a thing that happens (and underfeeding your child would get child services involved anyway, it's a sure way to loose custody to the state). Parents get Kindergeld, plus "Kindergrundsicherung" if they don't have a job or earn less than what is considered necessary, which means a kind of basic income for children. Also poor parents can bring any kind of extra costs due to Klassenfahrten (school excursions, starting at 3 days and later up to two weeks), lunch money, school supplies, daytrips and so on to the local government (where to exactly might differ) for reembursement, so their children should never be in fear of being excluded from school activities due to factors beyond their contol (unlike losing or forgetting your gymbag).

6: when they are somewhat mature (opinions differ, I got mine at age 8), give them a housekey (like on a flexible chain with a snap hook/Karabinerhaken going on their jeans, so they don't lose it). Since stay at home moms (or dads) are somewhat uncommon, elementary school age children are expected to get home from school, get themseves something to eat and pass the time (meaning doing what they think is best) until a parent comes home from work. The whole German system has them being in charge of indepentent routines, with little supervision at all.

7: school starting at 8:00 is a luxury. Expect Gymnasium to start earlier. Mine began at 6:45 Uhr, every day

[anitapenkert]

Parent involvement in Grundschule is fun! When my kids were still Grundschüler, I did all kinds of things (because I was basically a Stay at home mum): Verkehrshelfer (helping at the zebra crossing), Lesepate (giving individual reading classes in grade 1 and 2), Schulobsthelfer (cutting up fruits and veggies once a week and distributing them in class), Lesekreis (holding additional reading and writing exercises in group), additionaol German classes for immigrant kids, and the classical stuff as member of the Elternbeirat (Parents council), being a Klassenelternsprecher (representative of one class organizing address lists, cookie baking for events etc.) and member of the Förderverein (the association that helps organizing and funding the Grundschule). I also enjoyed being an "accompanying mum" for field trips (hikes, cinema, museum). Our Grundschule was one of the "cosy" ones where I knew all teachers and the headmistress.
Today I only get in touch with our Grundschule when it comes to environmental education (planting bulbs, a field trip to the meadow and similar).

[boelwerkr]

These "fill in" or "complete" homeworks are repeats of problems done in class. It's often extends the schoolbook. Some teacher will add something like a page number on the homework to help the parents. :-)
First thing you have to ask "what have you done in the last class session?" and then guide the kid though what it has learned.
As far as i know it's different in the USA. This type of Homework don't really rely on the class lesson. It helps to remember it, but it's not really needed top do the homework.
In Germany the homework is to make the kid remember the lesson, and with that fixate it in memory. Not to make it learn the lesson.

[johannes_silhan]

Here in Austria - I guess it‘s the same in Germany - the traditional game of „Kegeln“ is played with nine pins. It‘s similar to Bowling but with a smaller ball without holes. The pins are called „Kegel“, hence the name of the game. It used to be more popular decades ago when every inn had its Kegelbahn. Nowadays - at least in the cities - bowling alleys are quite common.

[Tinoseasyjoker]

Just for Info the "Entschuldigung" is so important because in Germany children have to go to school for about 12 years by law. So if your child is beeing not at school for a long time without an "Entschuldigung" the school is supose to inform the authorities about that and in worst case they sent the police to pick up the child at home and bring them to school. And parents can get a punishment by the law for not sending the Kids to school.