Any mums in Spain want to chat?

[skydancer1]

That's it really. I'm English (DP too). We have a two year old boy and live in Valencia.

Lupin, my DC are 8, 6, 3 and 18 months. The 3 year old is a boy, the rest girls. We came over when the oldest 2 were 2.8 and 10 months, so they have always been in Spanish education and picked it up as they went along.

For your 6 y o, I think it would depend where you are. Some areas have lots of English speaking kids, some don't. I would say it would be tough on a 6 y o to be thrown straight into the Spanish system without any support. There is a Chinese boy who started in DD2's class last year and he is still struggling with the language although he gets extra support a couple of times a week at the school.

My DS has just started school. He had a year of nursery first and can make himself understood in the absolute basics, plus he understands quite a bit, but most of the time he copies what the other children do. In terms of friendships, they seem to get on fine at that age. I mean some native kids don't speak that well until they are over 3 anyway.

Luckily we do have a bit of time on our side, I have just sat her down and we have done a few words together, altho she is saying it makes no sense - but then she is totally lazy when it comes to learning, We will just have to see I think where we end up and hope that she learns enough in the mean time to get by - its not that I mind paying for a yr or 2 private if thats what needs be, I am just trying to see what the system actually provides - as I said earlier the English one I have no faith in at all which is why we home educate and I expect thats what we will do over there providing there is a reasonable amount of English children for her to play with initially - Oh the joys of parenthood

hiya all.
would love to move out to spain- does anyone know if a child with a physical disability would be allowed to attend mainstream school and if yes would there be any extra assistance given(from the state)?

this is all that's really stopping us.....oh and the problem of selling a house at the moment!

Morning all. Hi patoamarillo.
Skydancer - 16 wks is all you get for maternity leave & yes I hate leaving DS2 in a Nursery full-time. I was fortunate with DS1 because we rented & could afford to live off DH's wages so I stayed at home with him until he started school. DH and I work at the British School of Gran Canaria (there´s a website if anyone´s interested) and DS1 is in Year 2. It makes life so much easier as we are all commuting to the same place
Lupin - we bought our car over here so can´t help, sorry. Can´t comment on finding work either as DH's job was advertised in the Times Ed so that´s how we came to be here.

Hi chatee - yes a child with a physical disability can attend mainstream school and I think you can get assistance from the state but either yourself of DH need to be in full-time employment. I also think you have to have worked in Spain for a certain amount of time, but you´d have to check that out as I´m not 100% sure about that.

Our DS2 has Mosaic Down's Syndrome and should (fingers crossed) be able to attend the school we work at. We are waiting for an appointment to have him assessed to find out how much state help we´re entitled too.

Chatee, hello. I don't know much about the education system with regards physical disabilities, I can only tell you about my DC's school. There is a boy currently in the 4 year old class who comes to school in a (fantastically cool) electric wheelchair. I don't know his parents, so don't know what kind of difficulties he has. There's a girl higher up (maybe year 5) who sometimes comes in a wheelchair and sometimes walks, which she can do slowly with some difficulty. There are other children who I see having a separate PE class with the 4 year old boy I mentioned so I think they have some physical difficulties but not sure what. There are also a number of autistic children. So it certainly seems to be pretty inclusive.

I know that our school has applied to the Junta (local government) to take children with special needs, for which they get additional funding. But they are not unusual in this, as the next nearest school offers this too. My friend has a child with possible ADHD and is waiting for an assessment. She told me our school caters for children with difficulties in group A and C, but not B. I don't know what each group covers, except that B has ADHD in it, neither do I know whether these are learning disability groups only, or cover physical aspects too. But it does seem like there is a system in place which opts for mainstream where possible.

Sorry, a lot of rambling. Hope it makes some sense - am making minestrone at the same time!

claricebean - yum, minestrone It was chip day at school today so all is right with the world in the Soph73 camp

afternoon all,

Ds had first ever chip today and loved it, maybe not the healthiest for 6 mth old but have to try out everything

lupin we brought our car over here at first. First thing is to get english insurance to have europe cover, you can be out of Uk for upto 1 yr on some of them. But once thats run out, you do have to change your plates and this is a nightmare and costs a lot as you have to get an engineer to certify the car etc which I think cost a couple of hundred euros. DP is Spainsh and even he thought it was too much effort for worth of car. We decided to drive car back to UK and by cheapy here after one year. Also if bringing uk car to spain you have to have headlights dipped and other stuff (is the law but we only found out after we took the car back - oops) Sorry if a bit vague but I dont actually drive .

RE Bilingual schools, there has been alot of press recently about this as there is a shortage of Bilingual teachers and apparently the standards are quite low in many subjects at moment.

My boss (work in English academy) has two teenagers who he has brought up bilingual, they go to mainstream Spanish school, however thet still have to attend english class. I think this is total waste of their time, but apparently as its compulsory no option to swap the hours for another language.

I think you have to look on the bright side re learning English in the state system here. In primary, they can actually learn things, for example, spelling. We taught both our elder DDs to read English before they learnt to read Spanish at school. It is so much harder phonetically speaking and we wanted to get in first, as it were. But it is still tough reinforcing it and getting words from their passive vocab into their active one (i.e. being able to spell words they can read). It's hard, especially for DD1 who gets homework, to expect them to practice English writing as well as reading outside school.

And for secondary level, at least they are getting easy grades for their English classes. It's like a freebie which, given that bilingual kids do have more to accomplish academically, I think is fair enough.

Plus, I don't underestimate the confidence boost for my kids to be top of their class for once. Although they are both in the top third anyway now, it wasn't always like this.

Don't get me wrong, I would love them to be able to study French or German instead, but I recognise that the system is really there to cater for Spanish children and so the priority has to be English. What state school could afford to employ an extra language teacher for one or two students?

Yeah, see what you mean about reading/spelling, guess hadn´t put too much thought into it as DS is a little way of that yet.

I think in general the approach to second language here is better here than UK. DP´s nieces/nephews (4 & 19 yrs) always try and tell me what they´ve learnt in English and show off new songs and stuff. This sadly never happens other way round with my family and DP, even though some are apparently learning Spainsh.

Haven't been able to catch up with this thread as torrential rainstorm here tonight and our living room flooded . Like monsoon India.

Hi Spanish mummies. I don't live in Spain but have an appartment in costa del sol. Love going to stay there but otherwise it's a nightmare ie making us bankrupt!
Any similar experiences?

Oscybella, how big is your appt and where abouts is it, we are looking for somewhere to rent out long term could be in both our interests?

SKydancer, OMG so sorry to hear about your living room, hope it all gets sorted

I am doing a mad tidy up as I am likely to nbe pretty useless for at least a week after my op tomorrow, not even sure I will be able to type - so I havent run away, hope all stays ok with everyone, will be back soon xx

Oh, Lupins good luck with the op.

Yikes, skydancer, hope your flood wasn't too bad in the end. It looks like rain here this morning.

Oscybella - no experience, sorry. But hello.

Pato - yes, it's true that you don't think about the next stage too much. I remember when DD1 was a baby and I used to skip over the potty training articles in magazines - seems a long time ago now. I agree with you about the language learning. DCs' friends are always trying out their English on me, but I can't imagine the same happening with Spanish learners in the UK.

I have DS at home again today with sore throat and high temp.

Our terrace drain (we're in an atico) couldn't cope with the sheer deluge last night (there were a lot of small floods in the area - tunnels and cars trapped etc) and suddenly water was pouring into our living room. Panic stations until I realised what was causing it and rushed out into ankle deep water to take the drain vent off and the water then went away fast enough to stop flooding in. Water was also pouring in from the top of the terrace door (obviously not sealed properly), and a few spots on our ceiling. Yikes! We rent the place but nevertheless I feared ruining the parquet flooring. Anyway the wind and rain has calmed down (mostly) today. I hurt my back somehow moving something or other. Still haven't had much time to just relax or write on here today. Anyway worst over now.

WE also have nasty bug here as well. Have a wedding in Pamplona in the morning and dont know whether to cry off or not. Its a long drive from home and DS is not a fan of the car, so 3 hours of Old Macdonald (current fav) is not appealing to me with sore throat and runny nose.

Hope weather is better down on the other coast today. It rains on the Cantabrican coast but much more like in UK, just days of grey miserable rain. But not today which has been lovely and sunny

Morning all, hope everyones colds and niggles are better today, dp is dying (apparently!), never mind that the kids and I have had it for weeks now

SKY hope the final damage wasnt too bad

Surgery was horrible - i am no way a woose but it was awful am considering if i really need the other one done, it is very hard to type, just popping in to say hello

Afternoon all. Sorry to hear about your flood Sky, our house does the same & on more than 1 occasion poor DH has been up on the roof with a sink plunger so that water doesn´t come pouring down the stairs!! They definitely don´t build houses or apartments to cope with bad weather over here - hey ho, the price we pay I suppose.
Lupins - hope you feel better soon, what did you have done?
Hi oscybella

DS2 had his bi-monthly revision with the Dr at the Hospital Militar (where he goes for his physio) & she was really pleased with him & said his scan results (neck & hips) were perfectly normal & to carry on what we were doing. Don´t have to see her again until January. Just the heart scan to get through in November & if that's still normal we shouldn´t have to see him again

Thanks our flat isn't too badly effected (the flooring a bit knacked) but the flat below apparently has terrible ceiling damage . I'm hoping our landlord a) has insurance and b) doesn't try to blame us/make us pay.

I'm glad to hear you got such good results with the Dr re your DS2 Soph! You must be very happy about that. Good luck with the scan next month.

Lupins I always find it funny (a long time afterwards, usually) how men cannot do a thing when they have the same bug the still active woman and child/ren have had. I remember having a similar gastric virus when my DS was about ten months old and we were co-sleeping. I woke DP - who was in another room - up as I was mid- throwing up and the baby (having been disturbed by me) needed looking after at the same time and he said no he couldn't help he had to get his sleep or he wouldn't be able to work the next morning . Anyway I had always held his hand, mopped his brow and got the bucket for him on previous occasions but next time he was sick he found himself mysteriously on his own... Actually DP was much more helpful this time round

SOPH734 glad the news was good, fingers crossed for the heart results

I had a carpal tunnel release, i will only have the left one done under a general next time, not feeling too bad can wiggle fingers and not quite as sore, just so flippin helpless, will be glad when i can do some ironing and tidying up as my dp is pretty useless

No news on the moving over, have heard that my inheritance should be paid in this week, however my mum has just piped up about what we owe her, which is fair enough but its a big chunk and im sure she doesnt want us to move, also the car has died, grrrr i need the sunshine, dd has learnt 5 words in spanish very pleased with her however she thinks she is teaching me hahaha

Morning all.
Skydancer - yes, isn´t it amazing how men are always dying yet we can carry on. I don´t go near DH when he has "man-flu" he recovers a lot quicker that way Pleased your flat isn´t too badly damaged.
Lupins - one of the teachers had that done & apparently it´s made a world of difference. Hope your recovery is speedy, although I think you should smack DP with the good hand & get him to do something My DH was fabulous yesterday as he did everything that needed doing & poured the drinks - it was bliss

Oh right it's called "man-flu"? that says it all really doesn't it.

I'm trying to look for another flat in valencia now (unconnected to the little flood- we just need a bigger place). We saw a place last night and what was called a terrace was in fact a small balcony...what was described as a 85 sqm piso was actually about 60sqm. Disappointing!

Skydancer1 - you'll find something eventually but I know it's disappointing. When we were looking for a place the things we saw were unbelievable. Even the house we did buy was a tip but we could see its potential. Over here they don´t bother tidying up or making the house presentable before they put it on the market/show people round, it´s incredible. The stuff we found lying around - well, it still makes me gag just thinking about it!! Do love the house now though