What is German School Like For American Kids?

Today, we share what German school is like for our American kids! Even though school has mostly been online due to COVID lockdowns, our kids are still learning German and learning fast. We had quite a few school culture shocks when we first started school back in February, but things have gotten much smoother two months in.

What is German School Like For American Kids? | My Merry Messy German Life

Our Story

In February of 2021, we picked up our American family of six, with four kids ages 11 and under, and moved halfway across the world to Germany to follow our dream of living in Europe again! When we were first married, we lived for two years in France and fell in love with the European way of life. Moving to Germany has been a whirlwind, especially with four kids in tow, but we’re already growing stronger and better from the experiences we are having. It has NOT been easy, but that’s how it usually is in life when you go after your dreams!

If you’d like to see our whole journey to getting here and to follow along with our travels, join our email list below (at the bottom of this post) to get one email each week with our latest post and YouTube video!

What is German School Like For American Kids? | My Merry Messy German Life
Here’s a BEAUTIFUL gymnasium (middle and high school for academic students) in our area that our children might attend.

What German School is Like for Our American Kids

Here’s how our kids are adjusting to life in German schools, specifically in Bavarian schools. As we found after posting this video, each state, or Bundesland, in Germany structures their schools differently.

In Bavaria, we have three tracks after 4th grade – Mitteschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. We are currently trying to figure out where best to put our kids for next year – Realschule or Gymnasium! Our most important job these past few months (and the rest of this school year) has been and will be for them to learn German. They have already progressed so quickly in just two and a half months – we are amazed!

We moved to Germany with our four kids in February of 2021, not knowing much German. The kids have adjusted SO well! If you missed last week’s post and video about what daily life for our kids here has been like, including which foods they enjoy, the playground differences, and more, click here.

Time Stamps

  • 0:00​ – See some video clips from our daily lives in Germany
  • 2:14​ – What type of school did we choose? Public, International or Montessori
  • 3:27​ – How our youngest is doing in kindergarten
  • 4:36​ – How it started – the first meetings with the teachers
  • 6:52​ – The three tracks in German schools and why 4th grade is so difficult
  • 10:38​ – We had major German school culture shock for the first month
  • 14:34​ – Helping them with their homework is helping us learn German
  • 15:38​ – They walk or ride their bicycles to school & more culture shocks
  • 18:58​ – One surprise we had
What is German School Like For American Kids? | My Merry Messy German Life
Here is Griffin and I on a bike ride around our local German village, with the Alps in the background!

Like Hearing About Our Adventures?

Check out all of the blog posts I’ve written and videos we’ve recorded for YouTube. You can watch them from the beginning to the current day! You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel to get notified when a new video is posted.

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