DoDDS Schools - (Department of Defense) These schools are all located on base and if you are active duty, your children have a guaranteed place in the school. The DoDDS schools also take civilian or contractors children on a space available basis and some have to pay tuition depending on what is in your contract. There are schools on 4 different bases in the KMC (I believe) and it depends are where you live as to which school your child will attend. The schools have really good programs such as Spanish and German Immersion programs, music, art, band, sports, and so on. The DoDDS schools do provide programs for children who are gifted, exceptional, or who have disabilities. The Schools do provide bus service for children who live off base and all of the students from the village(s) ride the same bus; little ones all the way up to high school. The second time we lived in the KMC, our kids did go to the Dodds schools and we were very pleased with them. They are ranked towards the top for schools in America.
I used to have links of the zonings for the villages and schools. It was no longer valid. If anyone knows of a valid link that will tell which villages will go to what school, please let me know and I will post it here.
Faith Baptist School is a private school and it has grades k through 5th. They use the A Beka curriculum. They also have art, music, and German class. It is located half way in between Ramstein AB and Vogelweh. It is a really good school and they also have a Mother's day out program (ages 6 weeks to preschool) that offers a preschool curriculum for certain ages. There is a link to their web-site on my links page. Their phone number is: 0631-318-7519
German Summer Schools in Germany A lot of great opportunities for our American kiddos ages 10 to17. Click here for more information.
AGAPE Christian Academy is another private school in the area. They accept children grades K4-12th. They also use the A Beka Curriculum. Supplement to the curriculum, they offer a computer lab, music program, and Host nation language. They also have a Master level certified Special Education Teacher. This school is located in Ramstein Village and is right outside of the west gate of Ramstein AB. There is a web-site for the church on my links page, I am sure it will have something about the school. This is the e-mail address: AGAPEacademy@cs.com and their phone number is:06371-463440 Mon-Fri 8am-3pm
Colleges in the KMC The schools that I am aware of are University of Maryland, Emery Riddle, and University of Phoenix. There are also on-line classes available. This is a great opportunity to go to college if you haven't and want to. The military offers spouses tuition assistance for the schools offered on base only. There are education centers on Ramstein that will be happy to help you get started. They are located in the buildings across from the Eclub and bowling alley. I am not sure if there are offices on the other bases or not. The family support centers can point you in the right direction as well.
German Schools - in the area are also an option. Some people choose to send their children to the German schools. The school system also has German Kindergarten starting at the age of 3. I have known several people to put their children in the kindergarten and were very pleased. It is very inexpensive and your child will be fluent in German in no time! Find the school in your village for more information.
Posted by Dezirae - an American parent who has her children in the German schools.
Hello I can give you my input regarding the german school my children attend. My children are 10 and 12. Our first year here, my daughter was placed in what is called a Hauptschule. I am told this type of school is for children that do not learn so well. Unfortunately that was the only place available for my daughter. She is considered in Highschool, grades 5 through 10. My son first went to the grundschule like grammer school. My sons school did not speak english so he became more fluent in German. My daughter was not exposed to as much german so she is not as good. My children seem to enjoy the german schools here. I did bring my childrens American report cards which the school found very impressive. So the school system placed my children into the grades they would have normally gone into back in America. Most of the foreign children are placed back a few grades because of the lack of education they received in their country. I find it strange that..when a teacher is abesent for whatever reason, the childrens day is cancelled. I think its possibly due to the lack of substitute teachers or lack of money to pay for a sub. My children usually leave for school at 7.30 each morning, taking the public bus. Sometimes they are only at school for a few hours and then return home. School lunch is not offered in many school here. I do miss that. So each morning I must make lunch for my children. I also find it strange that the schools are divided into 4 catagories. Depending on which school you are in and remain in until you finish school can have a great bearing on if you ever get a good job here. The schools are called Hauptschule (for not so smart children), Gesamtschule (smarter children), Realschule (more intelligent children) and then Gymnasiumschule (extremely intelligent children).
This school year my daughter requested remaining in the Hauptschule becaues she had made so many friends and didn't want to change schools again. Also finding it strange, you must apply at another school when you want your children to change. Somewhat like how you apply for a college. Because my son finished the grundschule (grammer school grades 1-4) last school year we had to find a new school for him. We applied to a bilinguial school close by (Gesamschule) and he was accepted. I believe my son was accept into the Gesamschule because he is American. All of the children want to speak with him, touch him and ask him a million questions all the time. They are all so interested in hearing about our wonderful country America. My son was chosen in one of his classes to be the class monitor, helping other children and keeping order in the class. In my sons english class, the teacher allows my son to help teach english to the other students because his german is so good and he can translate from german to english and so forth so easily. I still believe our school system in America far surpasses any schools here but I am pleased with what my children are learning and haven't any real complaints so far. Well except for the fact there is not much school funding by the government and so..you have to pay for everything in the school...even for a copy of your childs progress report. Anyway...thats just some of the things we have experienced while living here.
C & K Children's House is a Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten that is located right outside of the West gate of RAB on your way to Landstuhl. My son attended this school for the first few months that we were in Germany. Ph#06371-15127
Kaiserslautern Inclusive Home School Support(KIHSS) - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KIHSS/
KMC Christian Home Educators - http://www.kmchomeschool.org
