La Rentrée

School went back this week. The girls started on Tuesday morning, and Hugh started on Thursday.
Yes, you heard me right - Hugh started school! He doesn't turn three until December, but he has started in the "petite section" of la maternelle at La Flachere (the same school as Odette). The worry is that he is not sufficiently toilet trained to stay at school, but I rejoiced when he returned home from a whole day at school today wearing the same pants as he wore when he left home this morning.
The children will have lunch at school (la cantine) two days a week, and lunch at home two days a week. How good are you at sums? Two days at cantine, two days at home, and that makes four days altogether. And that is the school week. Four days! No school on Wednesdays for pre-school or primary aged children in France.
We have some transport logistics to work out again, now that there is no school transport at lunch time. Last year Bonnie was able to come home for lunch on the bus, but this year we have to pick her up. With her school in one direction and Odette and Hugh in the other it makes it difficult (nay, impossible) to pick them up at the same time. So we are going to try sharing with another family with the same problem - we'll go to one school, they'll go to the other, and we'll meet back in our village to swap children. Otherwise we could just let the kids eat at school every day. We'll see how it works out...