A journey of a thousand miles begins with...un mot

I am a homeschooling mother of three. I've been a lurker on the blogs of others who are raising their children bilingual or multilingual, and I've been jealous. I'm not bilingual myself. Although I live in a country that professes bilingualism, I've found resources for teaching my preschool children French to be very hard to come by.

I lacked confidence in speaking French myself, and for many months left it up to videos and books on tape or CD.

I continued to lurk, and I began to wonder. Maybe the easiest way to offer my kids French was to learn it myself, and pass it on.

When my son approached kindergarten age, I began to waver on the homeschooling issue, even though I'd been committed to it since before he was born. Was a bilingual education better than what I could offer him? My commitment to homeschooling won, but I still felt I was shortchanging him. I wanted him to have French.

And so, I began my own journey to learn the French language. I'm using Michel Thomas and Pimsleur, and anything I can get my hands on to teach myself French, staying one step ahead (une étape en avant) of my kids.

It's working. Step by step, we're learning--all of us. The other night we had about 50% of our dinner conversation in French. At one point, my daughter turned to me and said something that proved to me it was all worthwhile:

"You're speaking a lot of French tonight."

"C'est vrai."

"You're doing very well."

"Merci beaucoup."

"De rein...You're learning, and we're learning too."

I couldn't have been prouder. Is there a better example to give my kids than that life is about always learning?

Je ne pense pas ainsi.