Is living abroad living up to ur expectations ???

[michymama]

Hi, I've always wanted to live in Italy since I was a kid. We've been in sicily now for 6 years and I'm some what disillusioned. I'm tired of hearing about all the coruption and having to live with it too !!! I still love living here and want to stay but sometimes feel so fed up with having to "know" people to get anything !!
Does anybody else every feel like this ?? Is the UK such a great place as I sometimes imagine, or see when I visit ?? Any Italians who have moved to UK how do u view Italy ??

A typical school day is 8.30am-4.30pm with 2 hours for lunch (lots go home, and there is provision in school for an afternoon nap for the 2/3 year-olds). In this area there is no Wednesday school though so actual classroom time works out about the same as UK primary, but in longer, more tiring bursts. There is homework every night from age 6 too. No wonder there are frequent articles in the Press about how exhausted French children are

Agree re the frustration of knowing there are better alternatives for DC. I think most expats find it hard putting their children through a system they aren't familiar with, unless it's clearly better than their own schooling was.

But you see I don't think that 9-4 is a long day. Especially at nursery, where they aren't actually studying, but supposedly having a nice time. And also, at least in Italy, nursery schools have been set up both as an educative tool and as a support for working parents, it wouldn't have much sense if they finished at say 12 (given that the job market in Italy is so backwards that getting part time job is virtually impossible, it is nice to know that you have childcare until 4 pm).
I think it is difficult to assess whether a school is system is consistently better than another, and I agree that it is an emotional subject, as our experiences and memories, good and bad, tend to resurface quite easily as soon as our children start formal education.
I was really opposed to the idea of ds starting primary at 4 and a half and everything being so different and unknown made me quite stressed last year. But I really like it now, and it'll be hard for me to get used to the Italian ways (and not just school, as I said already... ).

I agree with Castille on French education.

I am very, very lucky as there is a bilingual school down the road from us that starts the children off at 3 on half days only, with half size classes and in six-month rather than year groups. So it's a very gentle start. And although everything Castille says about the lack creativity is probably pretty true, the school makes an effort in its own French way to counteract that.

From next September my daughter will go to school all day, Monday to Friday (with Wednesday afternoon off) including lunch. I think that 9 to 4.30 is a very long day for a not quite 4 year old but there is nothing I can do about it. The issue for me is how to weave the creativity of English education and upbringing into my daughter's life.