By Ryan and Emily HOVERMAN 
LFSF parents | Sausalito Campus

Our family has been a member of the Lycée community since January 2018.  We relocated from Cincinnati, Ohio, and have always been interested in bilingual immersion programs for our son, Andrew, after we traveled the world for three months and only knew English!  Andrew had been attending a well-regarded independent private school in Cincinnati so we wanted to find a similar fit in Marin and hoped for a language immersion option.

Cincinnati offered no preschool language immersion programs so when we considered job options in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco we sought out bilingual programs at independent private schools.  After visiting 10+ programs across the United States, Lycée stood out to us as one of the top private bilingual schools available.

Andrew started in the new La Petite Ecole program knowing no French other than bonjour and merci.  After 4 months he was singing French songs. This year in the Petite Section he is learning to count, tell the days of week and speak sentences in French all while enhancing his English speaking and comprehension skills.  On top of the language benefits, the maternelle program has specifically taught key skills including:

• Socialization and respecting friends
• Independence
• Science concepts through hands on STEAM activities
• Hands-on cooking which teaches vocabulary, counting and teamwork
• Handwriting & pre-reading skills
• Outdoor exploration, gardening and play
• Fine motor skills through “motricity”
• Expression through art-based activities including painting, drawing, music and sensory play

Lycée is set apart from other schools by the amazing teachers and staff.  

Each teacher/staff member is committed to Andrew’s success. He is known by everyone at the school by name.  The librarian saves favorite books for him, and the teachers know his favorite things (construction and trains of course).  Such care and compassion enable Andrew to love school every day which we believe will be a foundation towards lifelong learning.

We have been very impressed with the school and were excited to know that parental involvement is encouraged.  Ryan is a member of the school governance council, Conseil d'Etablissement, and Emily is the head room parent for the Sausalito campus.  

To round out our Lycée experience we are taking French classes through the school. Andrew says that we need to work harder on our French but appreciates that we are trying :)

Learn more about La Petite Ecole in Sausalito

Learn more about the Early Learning program at LFSF

Want to learn more: Contact us!