Hi there,

husband just got a job in paris, and we moved out here already, but we're not expats, as he got hired on directly by the company. We're temporarily staying in a hotel, until they can find us a temp apt. But the time for school is nearing and we really can use some help!

Son is 6.5 years old and was speech delayed, but now talks pretty normal, except for a few grammatical mistakes that he still continues to make. We are looking for any affordable (trying to stay under 12,000 e a year max) bilingual school or even possibly a good regular french school, as i've read that it may be best to just immerse the children as young as possible.

We're staying in paris, but during the week i've been here, i've realized that paris is a little dirtier than what i expected. I'm not used to walking everywhere and having cigarette smoke blown into my face every 10 steps. Or having to watch out for dog poop everywhere. I'm just thinking that maybe the suburbs would be better for us, since i don't really see anywhere for my son to ride his bike, and am not sure if i want him to grow up in the city. Unless there are districts here in paris that i haven't visited and are more family friendly??? (and still fit into our budget??)

reading other threads, west of paris seems to keep coming up, but can anyone tell me where?? Specific names of towns/cities/areas? We are looking to spend max 1500 e on rent for a 2 bedroom, and of course less would be better. Is there anywhere also in/near the suburbs easily accessible to transportation into the city, so my husband does not have to commute a lot?

Finally, i'm really into organics, so i was thinking that the areas where they have expats already would have this more readily available to me....or farmer's markets....do any areas like this even exist?

Thanks for any help!

Edit: when i mentioned "suburbs," i do not mean too isolated, as i'm really more of a city girl, but just want my son to grow up like i did.