37100

I bet your oh was thrilled with the news.

indiebird

Funny, but I think he often has selective hearing!!

37100

Ah, Male Selective Hearing. Starting at puberty, it becomes progressively worse until the affected is only able to reply in grunts.

Lorna at Vicenza

indiebird

Puberty?? Harrison's started when he was about 2!! Must admit I think my OH is at the grunts stage already

indiebird

Well we're off to see the Presida on tuesday at 5pm. I think it's to do with Harrison putting his work in the bin... bang goes the kids swimming lessons again.

Lorna at Vicenza

A friend in town rang me yesterday asking if Chloe wanted to go and keep his daughter company for a few hours in the afternoon as she can't move much and can't really go out.

She fell in her school playground on Wednesday, had x-rays at pronto soccorso (no chips in her knee bone) and came home with 5 stitches that have to stay in for 14 days.

I asked her dad why so long when on average stitches come out after a week. He said that the cut is so very deep that they have to be in longer.

Made me wonder just what the hell the playground is made of - nails ????

indiebird

Maybe this is why the schools here are ready for you to take action them for even the smallest little fall. Must admit that Julia fell over with Zaino on her back and managed to graze her nose on the ground!!

Lorna at Vicenza

Indie - got a note from Chloe's school yesterday letting us know there is a FLC-CGIL union meeting on Monday morning. Not all the clases are going to be off but Chloe won't be going into school until 10.30am.

Thought I'd let you know in case your kids' classes are affected.

indiebird

cheers for that Lorna! Not heard anything......yet..... but as you know this means nowt here does it. They'll probably wait until tomorrow to send a note home telling us about it!

TestaRossa

Well, I paid Antonia's iscrizione this morning for Elementare next September!! Here's hoping...! I've actually told my OH that if she has any major problems I'll go back to the UK. I know most of you don't have that choice, but I genuinely don't want to put her through some of the stuff I have heard on here! Hopefully it won't come to that though! We'll be looking at boarding schools for her in 2 to 3 years anyway, which is quite a scary thought, you have to start the process early just to get them in at 12/13!! That's assuming she still wants to go of course! Stephen is trying to brain wash her into just assuming that is what will happen but she is pretty strong minded so we will see.... Personally I don't want her to do Liceo here, I think, rightly or wrongly, that they specialise far to early. I know they can still change around 15 or 16 even but I got the impression it isn't encouraged. How can you know at 14 that you want to do classics or science? It all seems very alien to me! Alex is currently down to sit IGCSE's in everything from Art to Physics which seems much more normal. What do you think or are your experiences??

indiebird

I think you already have an idea what I think!! Is the Elementare attached to her nursery Tr? I presume if you're paying for the inscription then it's private? See how it goes is my advice. I think that, if my kids had started here from Asilo level, then it wouldn't have been so hard for them (or me either) but school is a whole different ball game to Asilo and things start to get serious straightaway. They are expected to remember things and it is frowned upon for you to 'baby' them in any way, but at the same time you are supposed to support what the teachers do with hardly any involvment on your part into how your child is treated at school. I still don't understand the rules.... and, frankly, don't want to either. I need to be given respect before I can give it I'm afraid..... wonder if that's where my kids get their 'teste dure' from??

K in Modena

I was just saying to DH last night that if I was Italian, I wouldn't have had a clue which liceo to pick. I did French, History and Music "A"-level which I think would put me in 3 different Italian liceos! We do specialise loads for the last two years in the UK though, don't we? OK it's changed since my day with the addition of AS levels but that's nothing compared to the French system where you do pretty much all subjects up to the age of 18 with a slight emphasis on your chosen fields.

indiebird

To be honest, and I'm sure I'm not alone, I had no clue what I wanted to do when I was 14. I just chose my options for my GCSE's based on what I enjoyed. Lucky for me (or perhaps unlucky) my parents were happy for me to take Art, Drama and Music as my options. I had some friends whose parents forced them to take Business Studies and Double Science for example when they didn't want to. However I really struggled at A level level. At 6th Form college I just couldn't seem to adapt and really had no idea what I was going to do with my life. In the end I actually failed (well I got 2 E's) my A levels and my parents made me go to a local technical college the year after to resit my Alevels in a year, but I didn't want to be there. I wanted to work, earn some money and go out drinking as many nights a week as possible. I did come out with a C in psychology but I failed the other two which I took and was quite glad when my parents got annoyed and told me to do what I wanted.

Lorna at Vicenza

She'll probably be fine at elementare. She'll know a lot of the kids from materna that will be moving up with her too. You also have time to help her settle into a new routine, adapt and get used to homework and it sounds like you are already helping her with sounds, words and reading etc. Her Italian is fine so that's a blessing. If she has schooling in the afternoon she might not get much homework which is always good. Alex gets the homework he does because he leaves school at 12.30 three times a week. I thought it would take my Alex longer to settle into elementare life than it did Chloe as he's a little more boistrous and I thought he might find the change from a happier school to a sterner, sit at your desk routine more dificult - but he's managing fine.

I never liked the idea of choosing your liceo at 14 much either - but kids can change and it's not that hard if your parents are behind your decision. The liceo all have some basic standard subjects so even if you are at the science school you still have to do Italian, maths and a foreign langauge etc - bit like our O'Levels. I did some work at the liceo artistico and they all had the standard subjects too including English - less science of course and more art but the basics are always covered. There are other options as well besides liceo.

The schools and students here would have less problems if all the students were guaranteed good teachers that know and cover their subjects well and not some of the cop-out teachers that are around. Things might change before our kids have to go on to higher education.

Any problems at elementare - tackle them straight away, politely but head on. Don't let any teachers think you're scared of them, a pushover or too frightened to open your mouth. You might get frowned on in the beginning like I did for being too bloody British and not even growing up here but it has paid off for both my kids and myself and look at me now ......
one day I'm telling a teacher that Alex WILL wear his light trousers for PE, Chloe WILL NOT be taking all her homework and work books to England in the suitcase for Christmas but she'll do as much as she can before and after the holidays - and another day I'm making yule logs and singing carols with the kids and teachers. Hopefully you'll get techers that eventually appreciate the honesty and aren't so far up themselves they can't see anybody else.

Report night for Chloe next Tuesday. Not sure about Alex yet.