Mom's not ready!

Dylan will wear a smock like this in September
when he goes to "big kids' school"

Next week I'm going to the information session on "scuola materna," which is where Dylan should go in the fall. Going to scuola materna is a rite of passage for three-year-olds, and while it is not obligatory, it seems the vast majority of kids here do go. It is kind of like a kindergarten that lasts three years, after which they enter first grade at elementary school. It is part of the state school system, and is absolutely free. Because Dylan was born 11 days into 2008 (meaning he will not yet be three or even almost three by September), they gave me the option of sending him in September or waiting until his birthday in January. I decided to sign him up for September for several reasons: a) all of the kids he is in class with now are older than he is and will go to scuola materna in September, and if he goes back to preschool for those few months until he turns three, he won't know anybody b) his teachers tell me he is ready and that he has had no issues with being in a class with older children c) all of the other moms I've talked to with kids in the same situation (born January 2008) are sending their kids and we believe this will force the scuola materna to group them together in a special class d) scuola materna is said to be a highlight of the Italian school system. Italy does early education incredibly well (evidenced by how popular Reggio-Emilia and Montessori programs are even in the U.S.), and I don't want Dylan to miss out.

His preschool now is doing everything they can to prepare the kids for scuola materna in the fall. They keep telling them stories about, like, "the little bird who grew up and flew away from preschool and landed at scuola materna." They took a "field trip" to visit the school and they were all paired with an older student who showed them around. Dylan came home with a little handmade card from his new "amico" that said "Dylan, I can't wait to see you in September. Your friend, Samuele." I have no idea why I got so emotional, but that little card choked me up!

But the bigger issue is that I don't have the final confirmation from the school that he has been accepted. Those of us with children born in January 2008 may not have confirmation until the beginning of September! This means that all the time spent preparing Dylan for "big kids' school," making him draw pictures of birds leaving the nest and taking field trips to visit the school will have been wasted and then he will go back to preschool until he turns three in January. That could be confusing to him. In Italy, they don't even decide when the first day of school will be until late in the summer! How can they not have a school calendar ready?

I'm feeling a little nervous myself. I feel like I'm practically sending him off to kindergarten, and he's only two years old! I've always seen the kids walking to school in their little scuola materna uniforms (blue smocks for boys, pink smocks for girls), but I didn't think my baby would be going so soon. Preschool feels like play but this feels somehow more serious. I'm going to be a mess the first day of school!