Lycee Rochambeau

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also suggest you research the potential move to a property off Rockville Pike. I live in that neighborhood and I don’t see how parents are going to access the new location (currently under contract) without sitting in the crawling traffic on Rockville pike between beltway and West Cedar. Morning drop off will be a nightmare.

That doesn't sound great. This may make us more likely to pay for bus service whenever this happens.

We utilize the bus service as well. The school wouldn't be feasible otherwise.

[Anonymous]

If you don't speak French and/or can't afford to donate financially above the tuition, you should avoid this school. When I went to the open house two years ago, I saw great videos about the English and French education. Complete fabrication, that's not what happens at all. Once your children go there, they only learn French. You will need both a French tutor for the loads of homework (starting 1st grade) and English tutor to keep your child from falling behind for their grade. I had meetings all the way to the Head of School to discuss their lack of English instruction and support for non-French families. I took both my children out in June, when I told them they didn't have to go back, they jumped for joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't speak French and/or can't afford to donate financially above the tuition, you should avoid this school. When I went to the open house two years ago, I saw great videos about the English and French education. Complete fabrication, that's not what happens at all. Once your children go there, they only learn French. You will need both a French tutor for the loads of homework (starting 1st grade) and English tutor to keep your child from falling behind for their grade. I had meetings all the way to the Head of School to discuss their lack of English instruction and support for non-French families. I took both my children out in June, when I told them they didn't have to go back, they jumped for joy.

Current family and not French. English is taught three times a week plus music instruction is in English. Most of the kids on the playground speak in English. The homework load has always been relatively light and kids enrolled in Study Hall just do it there. They have three recess periods during the day. We do not speak French at home. I’ve thought of hiring a tutor but it hasn’t been suggested. I will concede that the English program is decent but not great for native speakers.

I’m referring to the primary school campus FYI. Perhaps the upper school campus is different.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to add that only 40% of families donate to the school, which is abysmal low in the DC area. We give $300-500 annually and have never had an issue.

[Anonymous]

abysmally*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't speak French and/or can't afford to donate financially above the tuition, you should avoid this school. When I went to the open house two years ago, I saw great videos about the English and French education. Complete fabrication, that's not what happens at all. Once your children go there, they only learn French. You will need both a French tutor for the loads of homework (starting 1st grade) and English tutor to keep your child from falling behind for their grade. I had meetings all the way to the Head of School to discuss their lack of English instruction and support for non-French families. I took both my children out in June, when I told them they didn't have to go back, they jumped for joy.

We don't speak French fluently and don't donate a ton, but our elementary student likes the school and was excited to go back for her 3rd year at Rochambeau. She's doing well in French and English w/o any tutors, although I agree that the English program so far has not been very rigorous--our kid is in the "advanced" class and makes good grades, but it still doesn't seem very challenging. We chalk it up to being one of the tradeoffs of an immersion school (and we do a bit of English supplementing, particularly in the summer). HW is not bad--maybe 15-20 min per day? She usually does it in étude or on the weekends. We've kept up with the French instruction via French summer camps, summer workbooks, etc., which seems to make for an easier transition back to school in the fall.

All in all, we're pretty happy with the school, but I know it's not for everyone. I hope you've found a better fit for your kids.

[Anonymous]

I was a lifer at Rochambeau. Did my nursery years at WIS, then moved over for 1st grade (it was much less expensive). I was one of te only Americans and as coming from a minority, single parent HH. Mom spoke zero French, but we were always treated with the utmost respect and consideration. It was all very rigid/structured, but no more so than what my cousins experienced growing up in the Caribbean and extremely helpful for an undiagnosed ADHD kid such as myself. Different home room teachers were willing to provide extra tutoring and help get homework done, so lack of French at home was never an issue.

I didn't graduate from Rochambeau because my family moved to another city on the east coast for the last few years of high school, but I did get my French bac and go on to an Ivy League college from there. To this day, my mother swears by the school and says she would do it all again (despite the rigidity)...

For better or for worse, the French system hardly ever changes, so what happened 10-20 years ago is likely to remain relevant today. Hope this helps a bit...

Writing from an iphone, so please forgive the typos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a lifer at Rochambeau. Did my nursery years at WIS, then moved over for 1st grade (it was much less expensive). I was one of te only Americans and as coming from a minority, single parent HH. Mom spoke zero French, but we were always treated with the utmost respect and consideration. It was all very rigid/structured, but no more so than what my cousins experienced growing up in the Caribbean and extremely helpful for an undiagnosed ADHD kid such as myself. Different home room teachers were willing to provide extra tutoring and help get homework done, so lack of French at home was never an issue.

I didn't graduate from Rochambeau because my family moved to another city on the east coast for the last few years of high school, but I did get my French bac and go on to an Ivy League college from there. To this day, my mother swears by the school and says she would do it all again (despite the rigidity)...

For better or for worse, the French system hardly ever changes, so what happened 10-20 years ago is likely to remain relevant today. Hope this helps a bit...

Writing from an iphone, so please forgive the typos.

Curious, how's your French fluency today? We have a child at Rochambeau, and wonder whether to move her to public at some point with neighborhood kids, possibly for high school. However, concerned about losing fluency at that point.

[Anonymous]

How has Rochambeau been handling distance learning? Are current families of younger kids (e.g. 1st grade) more or less satisfied (understanding that DL for this age group can be tough)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How has Rochambeau been handling distance learning? Are current families of younger kids (e.g. 1st grade) more or less satisfied (understanding that DL for this age group can be tough)?

I don't think many Rochambeau families are on DCUM, so not sure you'll get many responses from CP families. FWIW, I have a kid a couple of years older at Rochambeau, and DL has gone okay. The teachers have been invested and engaged and are doing their best. However, we've found that our child has needed a lot of help to organize among the various apps, meetings, and assignments during the day, which is tough for working families--I'm hoping they can streamline things for next year for DL. Our kid has had some difficulty focusing with DL that wasn't apparent in-person, and so it's been a little more of a heavy lift, although it's slowly getting a little better. I'd imagine from about 4th grade and up, kids can work a bit more independently. I don't know any CP families, but I imagine it's tough, as it has been across schools for this age group.

[Anonymous]

We're French and prefer MCPS (our kids are in magnets) plus Saturday French classes at My French Classes, the francophone weekend school. I don't mind the French educational system, as I grew up with it in Paris, but the high school doesn't have a good reputation, so we decided to do MCPS from start to finish. We're in Bethesda, and our cluster is excellent.

I would never put my kids in the MCPS immersion program, which is conceptually wrong: it teaches US history in French. I went to a bilingual school where we had English lit and British history in English, plus French lit and French history in French, so double the workload. Teaching a country's history and culture in another language, without providing the history and culture of that other language at all, to children, rubs me completely the wrong way. To be really bilingual kids need biculturalism, and this is not what MCPS offers. History needs to be understand in that country's language.

[Anonymous]

Rochambeau 5th grade parent. Distance learning has been non existent. The teacher didn't have in-person meetings the first 5-6 weeks. Once parents complained, the class had 1-2 meetings per week...much less than even DC public school K class. I understand many parents are asking for refunds. I'm going to look into the Saturday school for French.

[Anonymous]

It's crazy how much weight he's gained.

https://golf.com/news/bryson-dechambeau-gained-weight-distance-lost-this/

[Anonymous]

Wrong thread, pp. Can anyone share how DL for 7-8th grades is going there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We're French and prefer MCPS (our kids are in magnets) plus Saturday French classes at My French Classes, the francophone weekend school. I don't mind the French educational system, as I grew up with it in Paris, but the high school doesn't have a good reputation, so we decided to do MCPS from start to finish. We're in Bethesda, and our cluster is excellent.

I would never put my kids in the MCPS immersion program, which is conceptually wrong: it teaches US history in French. I went to a bilingual school where we had English lit and British history in English, plus French lit and French history in French, so double the workload. Teaching a country's history and culture in another language, without providing the history and culture of that other language at all, to children, rubs me completely the wrong way. To be really bilingual kids need biculturalism, and this is not what MCPS offers. History needs to be understand in that country's language.

I'm one of the PPs with a child in the lower school--can you say more about this? So far we've had a pretty good experience, but will re-evaluate in a few years.