Starting school year in Brno - the expat experience with 1st grader

 The emotion and happiness we felt at the beginning of this school year was overwhelming and although we did not write it here on the blog, it really happened. The big day came and it brought us lots of joy. Our son joined 1st class and he was thrilled about school. In our area, we could enrol him very close to the kindergarten, so for me is a plus that they are in proximity. The joy was expressed from day one, he was very happy and still is. He is coping well with all the school tasks and is making progress every day.

About the madness of doing homework with a 1st grader when I have no idea of the Czech language, I will probably write a different post. Although, maybe I am the only non-czech speaking expat mom who knows to whom it may benefit such post. I will think about it.

After almost two months of school here are some of our views and opinions about school here:

- state school system is quite decent and offers a lot, actually all necessary learning materials;

- the canteen has the gluten-free option menu which we so much needed for our son, due to medical condition. So if you have a medical proof, the school can offer special diet, just make sure to request it;

- helping with the homework is chaotic in first 2 weeks but after that I got used to the process. Our son R. always knows what to do and he does almost by himself entire tasks, which I did not really expect but I am so grateful about;

- son benefits of 3 free extra czech lessons/week (let me know in comments section bellow if you need it, I will post a separate article about how we requested these in school/kindergarten for expat children)

- school staff are really helpful and willing to help, even if we do not speak czech which we are so thankful;

- buying the right backpack/aktovky is challenging and needs more research (we failed here, we bought a way too heavy, big, not ergonomic, just expensive backpack which I carry every day until we find the right one)

- the online education monitoring system, set up for parents is helping me a lot, as expat I get a chance to see schedule and translate everything ahead of time

- snack prepping every evening really helps a lot in the monring as we all need to hurry and have available some great but quick breakfast;

- cooking at home is the best way to go when you have schoolers or preschooler or toddlers. even with newborns actually is much better to have home made meals;

- for our gluten free diet we discovered the best are stainless steel casseroles, which we buy from amazon and our son loves.

There are many other things to say, but will probably save them for a later, separate post. 

Take care!