WWYD if you lived in Europe?

[Penguin]

We have so far homeschooled 6th, 7th and 8th grade in Europe, and will soon make a decision about high school.

 

Well, at the moment I am in the USA constantly noticing reasons why homeschooling in the USA would be so much easier. Not better. Just easier. I practically melted into a puddle of goo in Barnes and Noble the other day due to sensory overload. All those books! In English! And the plethora of extracurriculars and volunteer opportunities available for teens! Online courses in my time zone! Places to take AP exams! Lab kits!

 

I just need a wee boost. Good grief, life in Europe as an American teenager is filled with opportunity. I know this. So can you reinvigorate my vision a bit? WWYD during high school if you lived in Europe to maximize the opportunity? We travel, but of course have financial limits. Jetting off to Rome for a long weekend sounds dreamy, but that is not reality.

[regentrude]

Well, if I lived in Europe, I probably woud not need to homeschool because my kids would attend a good secondary school... but assuming I was homeschooling, I don't see why that would be any issue.

Why do you think there are fewer resources available???

I have never used any materials that are specifically designed as "homeschool curriculum". I find those unnecessary. They have books and museums and the internet in Europe as well. I would bring back AoPS from the US for math, and that's it. I honestly don't understand why homeschooling in Europe would be harder. They have extracurriculars for teens as well - in Germany, sports and music etc are not tied to the schools at all, everybody does this on their own time.

If you need English language materials not available in your country, you can easily obtain them from amazon.uk.

 

The biggest advantage would be the easy availability of foreign language immersion. I'd make sure my children learned two foreign languages to fluency. That would be much easier to accomplish than in the US.

ETA: Jetting is not necessary. Teens can buy an inexpensive rail pass and travel by train through Europe. I'd let them lose and explore.

[Penguin]

I am surely one of amazon uk's favorite customers :) But books often cost twice as much and they dropped free shipping to our country last year.

DS rides the train and city bus - he is able to have much more freedom to roam than in the USA. I appreciate the reminder of that benefit :)

 

We work very, very hard on the local language.

ETA: There really are more extracurriculars available stateside, but that is only because our stateside home is in a bigger city than the city we live in overseas.

 

My biggest concern is probably access to AP exams or dual enrollment. Maybe we will have to rely only on SAT Subject tests for external validation.

[readwithem]

Is there an international or American school where you live?  They often offer AP classes, perhaps your student could self-study and take the exam there.

 

Personally I think the advantages of being an expat teenager FAR outweigh the perceived advantages of AP availability.  I think any college your student is considering would understand that he didn't have AP scores on his transcript.

 

ETA just noticed your location.  I'll trade places with you :D  A year ago we spent two weeks in Scandinavia and I'd go back in a heartbeat.  I understand not having a big travel budget, but you are within driving distance of some amazing landscape and museums.  

[maize]

Language immersion

Museums

Travel--most of my family's travel when we lived in Europe involved long car drives, meals of bread and cheese, and tents; not luxury vacations but we got to see a lot of the continent. Hostels and trains are nice options as well. Many museums are free for students. 

[regentrude]

My biggest concern is probably access to AP exams or dual enrollment. Maybe we will have to rely only on SAT Subject tests for external validation.

 

I would imagine that the benefit of having received an education abroad would far outweigh meeting the cookie cutter requirement for AP exams.

Have you inquired about dual enrollment at European universities?

 

[Penguin]

I didn't write such a great leading post, sigh. I only mentioned not jetting off to Rome because I think it is tempting to idealize what living in Europe might look like. We live in one of Europe's most expensive countries! But we ARE adept budget travelers. I think we have already been to 15 countries in three years. It IS a wonderful and valuable experience, but making sure he ends up with a competitive college application matters, too.

[Laura Corin]

Talk to your nearest British Consulate about which exams they host.  If you want AP equivalents, they might be able to offer international A levels.  The curriculum will be quite specific, and this might not be something you want to tie yourself to, but it might be worth a look.

 

L

[FaithManor]

I think that you can probably get the necessary exams through international schools. As the global interconnectedness of the economies expand, there are more and more options for American expats in industrialized nations.

 

That said, I do think that there are MANY universities stateside that would be far more intrigued with a student who has lived abroad, and especially if the language is reasonably mastered, with the travel opportunities available, and the immersion in another culture, than with the "same old, same old" average high school student application. I wouldn't worry quite so much about AP's, and just focus on finding a place to sit the ACT and SAT.

 

 

But, if you really want AP's, and can find somewhere that your student can take the exam, if you can't afford tuition for them to take the test, you can order AP texts from Amazon, and download a syllabus from the college board. You cannot use the AP designation because your homeschool class is not approved - though there is a process you can go through to get it approved - and self-study for the exam. My daughter took AP chemistry having studied one my old college textbooks entirely on her own and received a 5. I would recommend students apply themselves well to studying for it, and maybe even complete a test prep book put out by the college board, however it should be noted that there are kids who take AP's without the coursework because their schools do not offer the class, and do well. They are just highly motivated to get the texts, and work hard on their own or under their parents' or a tutor's guidance.

 

Is a Danish high school or international school an option? The only reason I ask is that there is a lot to be gleaned in life experience from attending one if the academics are solid.

[shawthorne44]

Just think of the amazing application essays he will be able to write.  

[maize]

I really do think the experience abroad will set your child off from his peers more than lots of AP's or other traditional opportunities would. And I agree about checking with international schools for AP exam administration if you do want to go that route, I'm guessing you've already done that for SAT etc.?

[Laura Corin]

Just think of the amazing application essays he will be able to write.  

 

Calvin certainly found that growing up overseas gave him lots to talk about in his application essay in Britain.  The course he applied for also has a large cultural comparison element, so they were particularly keen on his having grown up overseas and in two languages.

 

L

[Matryoshka]

Have you thought about using Harari for APs? 

[SarahW]

I've only passed through, but while Kobenhaven was hopping, the rest of the country was quite...bucolic. So yes, I can imagine you feel cut off. And it's no fun to live in a third-tier Amazon country. That was my first thought every time we came back to America, Amazon is cheap and easy again!

 

As for volunteering, maybe look into international charities? I just poked around and Oxfam has a chapter in Germany, for example. Just throwing that out there to get the gears turning. As for enrichment, I think some universities have special "certificate" programs for students. My SIL went to Oxford for a few weeks one summer as a teen for a special English language program. I don't know much more about that, but it may be worth poking around at universities and see if they have anything.

 

So, that's broad. But another possibility is to get incredibly local. Get heavily involved in the local dialect, or history (stone age - now), or industry, or agriculture. Where my DH is from in NL is part of a local restoration project, re-establishing local animals and habitats, so if that interests him you can see if there's anything like that around. When he's 16 he could study local beer. That's what I would do. (Tuborg!!  :drool: ). :tongue_smilie:

 

I think trying to recreate what you would do in America would be rather frustrating. But finding all the OTHER things you can do is also difficult. It's tough, but hth a bit.

[Lawyer&Mom]

_{My parents moved to the UK from CA when my sister started high school.  There were definite advantages.  Maybe not the ones you want to embrace, but...  My sister could get served in a pub in high school.  I'd much much rather my kid have a pint with their friends afterschool than be binge drinking in someone's rec room.  My sister never got in a car driven by a teenager under the influence.  Heck, she never got in a car driven by a teenager.  She and her friends took public transportation everywhere.  Now she was at an international school in London, so she got to hangout with sophisticated kids from all over the world, but I'm sure they have interesting kids in Denmark too.}

 

_{Take a close look at the college requirements in your US state.  Even though she did the IB program, my sister was ineligible for the UC system because she didn't have the right number of years of the right kinds of science.}

 

_{I would love to raise kids in Denmark.  I'm officially jealous, if that makes you feel better.}

[maize]

I think all the top universities are used to dealing with applicants from outside the US; there are likely people in the admission's office who specialize in evaluating such applicants, and they will recognize that opportunities are different in Denmark than in the US. I would seriously work to maximize the advantages and opportunities you have and not worry about the ones you don't. 

[Penguin]

I think all the top universities are used to dealing with applicants from outside the US; there are likely people in the admission's office who specialize in evaluating such applicants, and they will recognize that opportunities are different in Denmark than in the US. I would seriously work to maximize the advantages and opportunities you have and not worry about the ones you don't.

Yes to this!! Truth is, we all have to work to make the most of our own circumstances. Thanks for all of the encouragement and ideas.

[readwithem]

I didn't write such a great leading post, sigh. I only mentioned not jetting off to Rome because I think it is tempting to idealize what living in Europe might look like. We live in one of Europe's most expensive countries! But we ARE adept budget travelers. I think we have already been to 15 countries in three years. It IS a wonderful and valuable experience, but making sure he ends up with a competitive college application matters, too.

And I didn't mean to minimize your B&N experience  :grouphug:  When we were expats, I had a meltdown once in Michaels.  Too many choices!  Too many new (to us anyway) items!

[MamaSprout]

I feel overwhelmed in B&N.... But there's never anything there I truly need.

 

Some resources to consider are things like EdX- which now is beginning to offer high school courses (https://www.edx.org/high-school-initiative) and ck12.org. Both of which are free and at your own pace. You could cover most of your math, science and electives that way.... Maybe take enough Lightning Lit to get through Freshman/ Sophomore English. Add that to the language benefits and resources of being abroad, and I would think High School would be better/ easier then middle grades, when I assume you would have less available free, in English, online.

[Mom22ns]

You have already gotten better answers than I can give, but I will add that there are international students in both of ds's PA Homeschooler's classes. The most out of synch time-wise would be from Singapore. The classes are asynchronous, so there is very little that hinges around time zone. 

 

Our friends who are missionaries in Eastern Europe and southeast Asia, have both used international schools to gain access to ACT/SAT/AP testing. There is no doubt that I would miss the plethora of homeschool materials that are easily available, not to mention inexpensive access to books in English. Those are issues of convenience and cost more than anything. Extracurriculars vary by size of town, probably more than by country, in first world nations. Colleges do not only accept kids from large cities with unlimited resources and opportunities. They look for variety too!

 

Also, while you said running off to Rome isn't a choice, all our friends in Europe do travel to various countries as opportunities arise. These are opportunities that my kids will not have. Immersion in another language is another opportunity that few Americans get. Colleges will love a person who brings international perspective, speaks English as a first language and is fluent in one or more other languages. What a potential gem! 

 

Really, I do understand it isn't easy and convenient to be in a country where resources are not in your native language. A B&N meltdown is completely understandable. But grab some perspective. I think your kids will have a lot going for them with college admissions, even if it isn't all reflected in traditional test scores.

[freesia]

And I didn't mean to minimize your B&N experience  :grouphug:  When we were expats, I had a meltdown once in Michaels.  Too many choices!  Too many new (to us anyway) items!

Mine was Kmart over shampoo. I was frozen solid and couldn't move. LOL

 

Penquin, the colleges do take into account what you have available. They don't expect a child at a PS who has no access to APs to have them. They wouldn't expect a child in Denmark who has no access to them, to have them either. Some colleges in the States are offering dual enrollment online now. Perhaps he could do that to show outside confirmation.

 

You also have to weigh the experience you are giving him now and how it will form him over moving back in order to possibly make it into one of the "lottery schools" (if that is your goal--if it's not don't worry at all about the APs).

 

So, WWID? I would stay in Europe.

[Twolittleboys]

Well, we do live in Europe but our case is a bit different as we are originally from here. We also can't homeschool (Germany) so our situation is a bit different but in your case I would:

 

Make learning the local language (and maybe one or two more) a priority

 

Put less emphasis on AP etc. If you stay in Europe for the rest of highschool colleges probably wouldn't expect to see any. Anyway, AP classes aren't that special so I agree with other posters: it will be far easier for your son to set himself apart from the "competition" by living in Europe than by having a couple of AP exams

 

Look around you at opportunities you wouldn't have in the US and maybe do some project-based studies (kind of like an independent study). You could focus on history, the sea etc. - things you might not have access to at home (well, obviously there are oceans in the US but in Denmark you are so close to the sea and you have access to loads of castles, architecture etc.). Think about what is offered around you.

 

Maybe consider having your son spend a summer or two during high school in the US, maybe attending a summer school or something like that to get some "objective, outside evaluations" if you think they would be necessary

 

Do try to travel as much as possible (I know you said that you are already doing that but I really think it is such a great opportunity)

 

What you should do really depends on so many things. I don't think I would return to the US just because of homeschooling/high school but don't know if there are other reasons. Would you want to go back if it wasn't for your son's education?

 

All that said, we spent a good part of our summer at Michaels and Barnes and Noble when we were in the States so I do understand what you are missing...

[Laura Corin]

I've always wondered if one can do A-levels by exam, that could be a good option here.

 

It looks as if you can take A levels at an international school.

 

L