Tips on Children & Italian School System

Many parents have asked me to discuss raising children in Italy and especially the school system. I am by no means an expert on the subject but can just write about what I personally have learned. I have to admit that the thought of placing my childen in school in Italy terrifies me largely because I am not familiar with it. I was born and raised in California and have no idea (aside from what my husband tells me) what schools are like here in Italy.

The system is quite different and is changing as I write this post. With new decrees becoming laws, the Italian school system will be facing new challenges. Right now for instance, elementary school children have multiple teachers for multiple courses. They learn English at 6 years old and many students attend school also on Saturday. It just all seems so different than when I was a student in Los Angeles.

What mostly concerns me is the quality. I have heard good and bad about this so cannot give a judgement. It depends of course on many factors: the school, the child, parents' involvement, the teachers, the materials, the environment, the school system etc. etc.

The single most important piece of advice I can give parents is to get informed and get involved. I found that once I got to know the teachers, the environment, many of my fears vanished. Now I make a point to try to be as involved as possible. When I can, I join parents' committees, take part in meetings or even donate my time in teaching English when I can to both teachers and students. Any involvement is highly appreciated by the school and teachers and I can become acquainted myself with them.

I see many parents who will be making the move to Italy on forums asking for advice, suggestions, feedback. This is great and an invaluable tool. Get to know what it is all about. Information is power. The more information you have, the more you will feel comfortable with your childen attending school in Italy.

Once your children are in school in Italy, do not stop speaking with them in their native language. This is important as you, the parent, in many cases will be the only person giving the child that second language.

I will keep blogging on this subject and pass on to you what I am learning here in Italy.

Extracurricular Activities for Children in Italy

Many parents have asked me about what activities are available for children in Italy. I can speak of my area which I know of first hand. The larger cities of Florence, Rome and Milan have many activities for children.

In Chiusi and the surrounding areas there is nothing similar to what we have at home in the USA like My Gym or Gymboree which are classes for the toddlers and Pre K children that mix group exercise with play and following instructions in a fun enviornment. There is nothing available for the under 4 crowd in Chiusi but once they do turn 4 then there are activities available: sports, music, dance. The most popular athletic courses are swimming, soccer, judo followed by tennis and volleyball for the older kids. There is one woman who offers piano lessons in the neighborhood and there is one dance class in Chiusi. The best way to find out about courses is through the town hall (comune) of the town you will be staying in or moving to. Also get to know other parents of your town since word of mouth is still the best way to find reliable, fun, safe activities for your children. I have found that referrals is still the best way to go especially in small towns.

There is a wonderful website I have found that offers all kinds of information for children and activities. It is www.italiakids.com. It is divided by region and gives great tips about raising children in Italy and much much more. For instance, I have found that a trip to Florence is well worth the visit. There are two museums for children that I know of that are cited on the site: Institute and Museum of the History of Science and Museo Ragazzi (children’s museum).

I know that there is a lot more out there and I will keep my eyes and ears open to keep you posted on what I personally find.

Details about Daycare and Preschool in Italy

I received several requests for more information regarding what daycare and preschools are like in Italy so I thought I would give you some detailed data regarding my first hand experience in Chiusi.


Daycare

My youngest has been going to daycare for about a month now and I am pretty familiar with the premises as I also attended "mommy and me" classes there. The daycare is divided into two sections and each section has a total of 14 children with 3 daycare teachers for each section. One section is for the younger children ranging from 11 months to 2 years old while the second section is for children from 2 years old to 3 years old. The children arrive from 8:30 am and can stay either until lunch time (noon), after lunch (1:30), afternoon (4 pm or 6 pm). The fee is around 350 euros a month if the child stays for lunch and leaves by 1:30 pm. If the child stays all day the fee is around 380 euros. Daycare is from Mondays to Fridays from September to June and sometimes available in July.


The environment at daycare is very clean with appropriate toys and everything (tables,chairs) is sized for the little ones. The day's program is scheduled whereby they play, snack, play outdoors (weather permitting), eat lunch, nap, play. It is very well organized and the children know exactly what to expect as far as routines. There is a mailbox for each child and everyday the teacher writes a note to the parents saying if the child ate, slept, had a bowel movement. At a first sign of sickness the child's parents are immediately called to be taken home.


Although I had my personal doubts about sending my child to daycare, (He has his first daycare flu right now which is not pleasant) I have to say that the daycare here is very good.


Preschool

Here we have the option to choose between sending our children to the public preschool which is free or to private Catholic preschool which has a fee. We opted for the private preschool and this is our child's second year with the school. I cannot talk about the public preschool as I am not familiar with it but I can say I am happy with the private one.

Here the children are divided into two classes. There are 25 children in each class and each class has one teacher and an assistant. The children can stay until noon (lunch at home) or after 1:30 pm up until 4 pm with lunch served at school. The fee is 70 euros per month plus 5 euros for each meal they have. You do not pay extra if you stay until 4 pm.

Their activities are well organized between table work, group work, snack, exercise, outdoor play, lunch, work. The environment is clean and the staff welcomes parents to talk to the teachers about their children, if necessary. They organize two recitals plus a big party for carnival every year. Again I have to say that we are happy with this school and I would recommend it highly.

Schools and Raising Children in Italy

My post on raising children in Italy is really a request for information and experience from those who have raised or are raising children in Italy. I have to say that I am concerned as any parent would be about the education system in Italy. I have heard both good and bad about the public school program and really would love to hear from people on this.

I finally found a site that is devoted to children in Italy...www.italiakids.com and I understand that soon there will be also a forum whereby you can actually meet people in your area of Italy that have children to plan play dates,etc. One thing that I have always been looking for since I have had children is to meet other native English expats with children in my area of Tuscany.

There are so many changes going on right now in public Italian schools. The private sector is very small in Italy and non existent in my area. I have heard that the elementary schools are good while the middle school and high schools do not properly prepare the students for university. I have heard that it is very subjective according to who your teachers are and if you are "simpatico" to the teacher or if the teacher likes you. Yeah but is this so different in the USA??

Changes that are going on right now include introducing the "grembiule" or apron in elementary schools. This is worn in preschool to keep the clothes underneath from getting dirty but also to dissuade against wearing name brands,etc. Most parents are for this change!
The other change for the entire school system is introducing the "maestra unica" or single teacher instead of having many teachers. This would mean laying off thousands and thousands of teachers. There is much controvery over this measure as you can imagine and the first "sciopero" or strike is scheduled for October 30th. Parents and students are both pro and against this. Right now children even at the elementary school level have several teachers for multiple areas of study (math,language,history,etc).

I want to hear from expats regarding the Italian school system, these changes and their experiences!!

Day care and Preschool while Living in Italy

The first day of day care is scary I think for any mom and that is even more the case while living in a foreign country. My oldest son never went to day care and I was happy with that decision looking back. Now I have two children and things get more hectic and for many reasons we decided to try out day care for our youngest child.

So the first day of day care was yesterday when I actually waved goodbye, got into my car and left. He was fine with it and as he saw me grab my purse, he happily waved goodbye, said bye and blew me a kiss. His complete sense of being ok with it gave me a sense of “ok I can handle this.”

What did I do? I went straight to the gym which I had not done in a long long time. I felt good really about doing something for ME! Moms and dads, you can totally relate to this I am sure. After four years of doing everything for everyone, days and nights….I feel the need to do now for me! So that means going back to the gym, finding work I can do from home, and devoting some time to me!

After running a whole bunch of errands, I quickly went back to get my little angel. The teacher happily told me all went well and that tomorrow (today) we will try having him have lunch at school and see how it goes. He is a pretty independent guy who loves to eat so I am sure all will go fine. In the back of my head though I know and told my husband that if I am not totally content with this arrangement I will put off putting him in day care.

My oldest son went back to preschool for his second year and really enjoys it. He has made a lot of friends that he talks about and he is fitting in nicely. He is bilingual and knows now that his Italian friends and teachers do not speak Italian. He proudly says though that he speaks English too! If there are any parents out there that can tell me how the bilingual thing is going for their children, I would love to hear from you. I will devote a future post to it too.

I have to admit that the whole school system out here frightens me mainly because I am not familiar with it. I have heard so many negative things about it that I am seriously considering to home school them. Any thoughts and comments from you guys out there I would appreciate too. Education is so important and like any parent, I just want the best for them.

With that said, I have to go pick up the youngest and see how his second day of school went!Ciao.

Air Travel With Children

I promised myself that I would write something informative and helpful about traveling with children since we have now done Italy - Los Angeles roundtrip four times with the children. Each time I learn more and more about making the trip more pleasant for me, my children and the fellow passengers. I have also learned a bit about jet lag with kids. Read on:

Preparation

Clothing and food/drinks:

Make sure you bring a complete change of clothing for your children (pants, sweater, shirt, undershirt, underwear or diapers and socks) and an extra shirt for yourself. During my last trip and one half hour into the flight, my 3 year old son spilled a cup of water all over himself and thank goodness I had a complete change of clothing.

You will need to bring enough food, snacks and bottled water or formula to fill the tummies and also keep them busy. You could easily be stuck on board and not have them serving anything. Don't depend on the airline as you could be disappointed. Also their snack food is usually not nutricious. Don't forget their sippy cups and /or baby bottle. For very young children you will need homogenized jars of fruit and meat dishes and whatever he or she usually eats at home. Other good snacks for travel are fruit, crackers, cookies and hard lollipops (I like Sees candies) for sucking on during landing. Call ahead to get childrens' meals as aside from being more kid friendly, they serve them first!

To prevent ear pain during landing I used on numerous occasions the following trick: bring a dropper and have handy some tea (sugared) in a bottle. When you are beginning the descent, start giving your baby the drink a drop at a time with the dropper. He or she is forced to swallow and the movement will pop their ears so as to prevent pain. Continue this until your own ears have popped too. I learned this from a German couple on a flight home one year. Their child had no problems while mine refused to suck, drink or use a pacifier. In the end mine cried the whole time due to the pain.

Toys and Activities:

Make sure you bring a variety of toys or activities for your child. You cannot always depend on the monitor in front of you since sometimes they are not working properly. A portable dvd player is great as well to see his or her favorite movies.

Be Early

Make sure you get to the airport at least 3 hours early for international flights to secure your seats. It is still a mystery to me why seat reservations are not respected but they are not so get there early and be persistent that your entire family sits together. I don't like bulkhead seats for the simple reason that those arm rests do not lift up. These arm rests, my friends, are lifesavers as you will need them to rise in order to lay your angels down when they are sleeping.

Jet Lag

Children are much more adaptable than adults. I don't believe in keeping the kids from sleeping if they are tired so they will sleep through the night sooner. I believe that if they are tired, they should sleep. You too should try to get a nap in while they sleep as the nights can be brutal otherwise. Know that it takes a full week to get over jet lag (Italy -Los Angeles trips) so be patient and hang in there.



I cannot say if it is better or worse to travel after a child is a certain age. It really depends on a lot of factors and each child is different. My oldest son (3) now is a great traveler and he adapted well in both places to the time and climate differences. For him it is all a wonderful adventure and is already asking about his next trip. So don't put off traveling because of the kids. Try to make it the best possible trip and just be prepared. Buon viaggio!!