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Possible Extended European Trip-Need Help Goal Setting


NewIma
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We may be able to spend 3 months in a Northern European country for my dh work! In that situation, what would your goals/framework be? 3 months is a long time for a trip, but not long enough to make friends and learn the language etc. I am trying to figure out what would be realistic goals for that experience. Should we travel to other countries since we are already in Europe? Or should we really focus on getting to know the country we are visiting? What would be good ways to do that considering we homeschool and are there for 3 months?  What are ways that could I make this experience as meaningful as possible for my dc 4 and dc 8? 

 

I know we have some international travelers and ex-pats on here! Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance!

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As long as all my sensibly thought out travel budget was gone at the end of it, I'd think I'd had a great time. :D

 

This would require eating out a lot, I'm sure. I'd want one little regular place where they'd get to know us, and plenty of gallivanting to other places.

 

 

Does this sound immature?  :huh:

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You would be surprised how much language you can pick up in 3 months. It would be nice to travel some but I like getting to know your neighborhood and town and country. Are your dc 4 and 8 years old or 4th and 8th grade? 

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There is no wrong answer. You can do any of the following and still be "right"

1) Travel as much as possible around Europe for 3 months.

2) Remain within your host country/culture and immerse yourself in that areas culture and language.

3) Make your host country "base" and travel to a few "must see" destinations in Europe from there.

4) Other option

 

If you go with 2 or 3 then keep in mind that 3 months is enough time to make friends and learn to be conversant in a language if you put yourself in the community. It isn't long enough for a life-long friendship because it isn't a life time, but you can certainly make good friends in that time, especially if you find a person that "clicks" with you and both parties make the effort. Think of the many, many people who became good friends with someone during a summer or during a sports seasons and just wrote postcards through the year. This is 2015, you can email, call, skype and connect with people via social media to maintain a relationship.

 

Honestly if it were me, I would be sorely tempted to pick #2 and put my kids in PS (provided the country isn't Anglophone at the community level). whether I went with PS or not, I would not drop all schooling for those 3 months with my kids--we'd do school "lite" but we'd do school because even just 10-20 minutes of reading, 10-20 minutes of math can save a lot of academic strife later by preventing erosion/brain drain and the routine can be an anchor to normalcy for the family.

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I would base my home schooling around the country you are going to visit. Start about 3 months before you leave. They will know something before they get there which is always fun. I wouldn't worry about staying with your same school schedule because they are young but it's easy enough to do some schooling  in the mornings you are home.

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Thanks for all the replies! 

 

The idea of putting them in public school occurred to me, but since we will just be visiting I don't think that is possible. I would really like them/us to learn the language, but I'm unsure how to get us enough interaction with other people to make that possible. 

 

Penguin, the country we are talking about is DK so any specific suggestions you have would be awesome! :)

 

School wise, we would continue doing the basics to keep our routine and make sure we don't have stress before end of the year mandatory testing in our home state.  We might do more school this summer too, to give us more flexibility during the school year. 

 

I love the idea of focusing on learning about the country we are visiting! Vikings, Norse mythology, and Han Christian Anderson here we come! :) 

 

Maybe we could plan 1 or 2 week long trips to a different city/country? A week in Paris and a week in Rome? Then otherwise focus on traveling around  and enjoying Denmark! 

 

The possibilities!! :)

 

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The possibilities!! :)

Oh yes!

 

I vote for mom2bee's #3 choice, while constantly reminding myself that an afternoon at the playground or shopping at the market will likely be more memorable experiences than visiting the Eiffel Tower. But I would totally go see France and Germany and Sweden and England anyway! :D

 

Tivoli Gardens!

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Thanks for all the replies! 

 

The idea of putting them in public school occurred to me, but since we will just be visiting I don't think that is possible. I would really like them/us to learn the language, but I'm unsure how to get us enough interaction with other people to make that possible. 

 

Penguin, the country we are talking about is DK so any specific suggestions you have would be awesome! :)

 

School wise, we would continue doing the basics to keep our routine and make sure we don't have stress before end of the year mandatory testing in our home state.  We might do more school this summer too, to give us more flexibility during the school year. 

 

I love the idea of focusing on learning about the country we are visiting! Vikings, Norse mythology, and Han Christian Anderson here we come! :)

 

Maybe we could plan 1 or 2 week long trips to a different city/country? A week in Paris and a week in Rome? Then otherwise focus on traveling around  and enjoying Denmark! 

 

The possibilities!! :)

 

I will send you a PM. 

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I think I'd want to pick one place to live the entire time but travel on weekends at least twice a month, or for a week out of each month, or something like that. You'll get into daily life during the week if you want to and I think this is a great chance to see some other parts of Europe too.  I love both parts of being overseas- figuring out how to live and traveling around as much as possible. Learning how to cook in another country is an interesting challenge.

 

I do think three months is not enough time to do much with any language and even if you did decide to solely focus on language-learning, you'd have to spend a lot of time on it afterward to keep it up.  I also wouldn't do public school for that short a time, although it's entirely possible you'd be able to for three months. I'd probably skip formal homeschooling for those months with those ages except for math, reading, and writing.

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Many years ago, I read a book called Take Your Kids to Europe. If I remember she did similar to what you are planning...a few months or weeks in Europe at a time. That book might have some hints for you.

 

In general, I recommend Europe Through the Backdoor' by Rick Steves for European travel hints and tips.

 

We lived in Belgium for a couple of years--please drive down and see Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels. If you see The Monuments Men first, the art work will mean more to you. When we were there, we taught the kids the polite words in whatever country/language we were visiting. Please, thank you, etc....and how to count to ten. It was fun for them and a great delight to the natives.

 

HAVE A BLAST!

 

 

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What a great opportunity!

 

Since your husband will be less flexible to travel (since he'll be working, I assume?) and your children are young, I wouldn't try and travel to as many countries as possible.  Honestly, even if my children were older and my husband weren't working, I wouldn't do that.  I'd probably focus on the Scandinavian countries since that's where you're near:  so Norway, Sweden, and take a ferry to Finland.  Could you spend a week or so at each of those places?  (You'll be living in Denmark, correct?)   But I wouldn't want to be on the road all the time apart from that.  I'd want to just enjoy living in a different culture, learning about and enjoying the area in which I was living.  I'd try and make it fun but leisurely.  Enjoy walking, going to parks, going on picnics, walking to the corner bakery, exploring little towns and villages nearby, learning how to use the town's public transportation, or a day trip to the bigger cities, by train.

 

You can work on some basic words and phrases with your kids (especially the 8-year-old).  Learning polite sayings like Thank you, Please, I'm sorry or Pardon me, Hello, Good-bye, and numbers would be helpful. 

 

Learn about the foods they eat, and try and prepare some traditional meals in your own kitchen;  the kids can help.

 

I think it sounds like a wonderful experience!!  I love the Scandinavian countries.  They're very beautiful!

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Thanks again for all the responses!

 

This is really helping me think things through! As J-Rap mentioned, my husband won't be able to take much time off, and when I think about traveling solo with both kids that sounds pretty overwhelming, Shorter trips to other Scandinavian countries and Germany might make more sense then traveling all the way across the continent. 

 

I have a tendency to want to do EVERYTHING, especially given this is probably a once in a lifetime experience,  but I think this might be a situation (given the kids' ages) where being relaxed and present where we are might be better. 

 

The idea that no matter what we do, we can't really do it wrong is a very reassuring thought! :)

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Thanks for all the replies! 

 

The idea of putting them in public school occurred to me, but since we will just be visiting I don't think that is possible. I would really like them/us to learn the language, but I'm unsure how to get us enough interaction with other people to make that possible. 

 

Penguin, the country we are talking about is DK so any specific suggestions you have would be awesome! :)

 

School wise, we would continue doing the basics to keep our routine and make sure we don't have stress before end of the year mandatory testing in our home state.  We might do more school this summer too, to give us more flexibility during the school year. 

 

I love the idea of focusing on learning about the country we are visiting! Vikings, Norse mythology, and Han Christian Anderson here we come! :)

 

Maybe we could plan 1 or 2 week long trips to a different city/country? A week in Paris and a week in Rome? Then otherwise focus on traveling around  and enjoying Denmark! 

 

The possibilities!! :)

Most countries/states have laws stating that children are required to be educated if they are staying in a place longer than a certain length of time. In California, it is nine weeks, so a friend of mine who was staying for 10 weeks was able to enroll her kids in public school. I expect that in Europe, which has even stricter rules, you could do so. I would at least look into it. FWIW, my aunt and uncle were enrolled in an Austrian school for two weeks once.

 

We just spent 10 weeks away from home for hubby's work. We jumped right in, immediately joining an AWANA program, a church, and a homeschool group. You may need to be very purposeful to make connections because the ways connections are made differ country to country. My kids played outside with our neighbors a lot, which really helped, and we found a math class they could take. Look for connections to prevent boredom and loneliness, especially for the older one.

 

Emily

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I'd really recommend against putting a child into public school in another country for 3 three months unless they're unusually bright, easy-going, and/or confident.  Most little children find it stressful to transition to a new school and a new language, and it's even harder when they're entering late. Also, it's really hard to deal with a school that's sending out information in a language you don't understand.  Parent interactions can be a challenge too, but they'd also be a way to get to know a lot of people.  And can I just say that trying to get school supplies immediately upon arriving when you don't understand the materials list and have no idea where to find the stuff is no fun.  AT ALL.

 

But I can see it working well in certain circumstances.  ETA that the above only applies for children going into a more academic setting.  I'd be a lot happier about putting a four-year-old into school overseas because there's a lot less academic pressure at that age than for an eight-year-old.

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