Living abroard with children-travel the world to learn

[Mandabplus3]

So our Facebook page has gone a little crazy with ideas of living overseas to immerse our children in language and culture for education.
I love the whole idea and thought we could share some interesting stories here as others will have much to add.
The first one shows a family who enrolled their daughter in a Chinese immersion school as the ONLY white kid ever. The parenting in this case is beautifully committed. I can imagine what a lovely child they are raising. This child is growing up trilingual in every sence of the word.
http://www.soultravelers3.com/2013/04/growing-up-bilingual-or-trilingual.html#more

Then Bella shared this jem to remove all possible excuses form us  if they can do it surely we all can! 5 children and a wheelchair special needs daughter! Wow! This is full of lovely heart warming stories and is quite inspiring
http://www.goinganyway.net/2012/11/04/penang-same-same-but-different/
Do read through a couple of their posts, not just the one I opened you too!
Ok so I want more! What else have you found?

[Skylark]

My husband grew up as an american raised abroad, He is the oldest of 6 siblings and his parents home-schooled them and believed in EL, I learned about Glenn Doman from my husband and his family    because they lived it!

His parents moved to England when he was very young, then to Italy, then to Asia, and he and his brothers attended chinese schools for a few years, where no one spoke a word in English, they learned the language, made friends, he is beautifully versed in Chinese culture. They even became celebrities in the country they lived, appearing on the TV, singing and performing in local language -- no foreigners done that. His parents had 6 of them in 5 years ( set of twins there too), it was tough, but they believed in importance of giving the kids the opportunities

When we got married we decided we want to give our children an opportunity to learn languages and experience different cultures. We travelled with our two toddlers twice half way across the world, visited cultural sites, museums, being to 3 continents with them. Our travels were very EL based - we would read and learn about cultures, and then experience things first hand.

[mario]

Yeah, we're getting crazy with this subject out there in Facebook group So many ideas

[Mandabplus3]

Wow skylark! That is a great way to be raised or to raise your own children.
I am trying to work out how I can add it into our life SOON. I think my kids are close to the perfect age to travel and really benefit from it all.
I wish my hubby was more open to the whole idea. I will be struggling to get him to agree to a trip at all and I am aiming for 2 months. I can't see him coming along with us although I would LOVE him to ( just not his thing) so it might be hard for him to agree and send us with his blessing.
I have the opportunity to take 2 months of work at the end of November each year. My kids arnt in school then and my class is all wrapped up.
Just working on the logistics and deciding where to go first. I think this is the perfect opportunity to really teach children about the ever shrinking global world they are growing up in. Plus grab a few lessons in language and history  of course

[Kimba15]

I am the same.

Miss Sophia is always asking to travel to different places. The latest is China. It would be such an awesome thing to do. My hubby and I have always talked about going to a non-english speaking country and living there for a year. Only thing is we can't agree to which place. Mine is France and his is Japan. When my husband was young he lived in Canada for a year and it was one of the best experiences of his life.

I think travel opens you up to so many opportunities. I am thinking thought tomorrow we are off to the Post office I think I might just grab them both a passport application and be ready. I think it is time to really sit down and set some learning goals. Oh how Homeschooling rears itself again?

[Tamsyn]

My sister is in China teaching English right now and loving it.  I thought China would be nice to visit, but not after reading this article:  http://www.goinganyway.net/2012/10/12/traveling-in-china-with-five-children/.
I have tasted a bit of how the Chinese LOVE to take pictures when I was 12 and my parents with 5 kids at the time were waiting for a boat in Baltimore and a large group of tourists saw us.  They took so many pictures of us.  Not just snap snap bye.  No, they wanted a picture with each of them individually with our family, then just the women with us, then just the men with us, then the asked my parents to take pictures of us kids with their group.  They were very friendly and kind, but my Mom was glad when our ferry boat came and we left with them still snapping pictures.  I couldn't go to China with 4 kids under 6.  Which is sad because I would love to see it.

Then again, I would love to just leave the Northern continent.  I've been lucky to have traveled the USA as extensively as I have.  I was homeschooled and my dad was a traveling salesman when conventions rolled around.  My parents took advantage of it with a moterhome.  So wonderful.

My husband gets car sick though.    But he's coming around to the idea.  I've been talking about traveling off and on our whole marriage and he's always been neutral with the "that would be nice someday" attitude.  Well, I've had itchy feet the last few months, largely because it was so-o-o bitter cold and we were stuck inside with an inversion last winter.  I love to travel and I miss it, and I KNOW it's beneficial for kids.  I want to take them!  Well, after a few months of sharing stories with him, I finally posted a "I want to travel" post on facebook.  My husband read it, and now he thinks it's a good idea.  I can't promise anything, but I will suggest that when you plant seeds, sometimes it just takes a little time to grow.  But I still have an uphill battle- he thinks it's a good idea, but we don't have a rig yet, !

Anyway, here are a few other resources:

http://www.havekids-willtravel.com/  (these fine folks live in my valley.  I haven't bought their book yet, but my mother is good friends with her.)

For full-time RVing:
http://fulltimefamilies.com/  (most of these folks live in the US, but not all)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FulltimeFamilies/  (this group has such lovely people.  They have kindly answered lots of wannabe's questions and reached out to help each other.  Knowing this community is out there has really inspired me).

http://topfamilytravelblogs.com/ is a fun thing I get in my e-mail every day.

Don't be surprised if we move into a moterhome soon.  I'm pushing for it.

[Tamsyn]

I asked my aunt a couple of days ago about her home-swap experiences.  This was her reply:

I used home exchange.com. They don't play middleman in terms of matchmaking or checking backgrounds or anything but they have tons of listings all over the world and I had 2 very positive experiences. Although my house wasn't on the beach in a typical tourist town, it was cute, very clean and I had good pictures to post. One couple chose me because they traveled for their business and the other contacted me to come for a wedding. Both places in Miami and Tampa were very nice. One exchange we even traded cars. That guy was an exchange pro, having done dozens all over the world. His house was gorgeous with a heated pool, and on the ocean. He left a welcome basket, info about things to do, where to eat, how to get medical care, who in the neighborhood spoke foreign languages, etc. Many of the listings are for people's second homes so you know the caliber of people who can afford 2 houses is good. You can get a pretty good idea from pictures and the tone of their listing. Kind of like online dating, but with better odds of success. We will probably do it again once our house is in a little better shape and if we can make arrangements to have our dogs elsewhere. Right now it isn't very practical so our subscription is lapsed. It is only worth the annual fee if you are serious about it and know your house would be desirable. Hope that helps.

[Skylark]

Loved the goinganyway blog -- what an awesome family!

[Mandabplus3]

I have spent more time reading travel blogg than I should have this week! 
Still it's inspiring enough to keep me pushing gently at the hand break ( hubby  )

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I can't wait to enroll the kids in Japanese school in 5-6 months, but at the same time I am terrified for ME, not them! Not being able to help with homework, not being able to talk to their teachers so easily, etc. And for our bank account-- private school is not cheap. But I believe in my heart it will be worth it. DH and I are aiming for at least 6 years overseas to help them get the full benefit of immersion and become fluent. If the opportunity presents itself (job transfer), then it's a shame not to take it. I know a american family whose kid had to go to ESL classes when they transferred him to an English speaking school. The child reached kindergarten age but preferred Japanese school after spending their formative years in youchien. 

[Korrale4kq]

Tamsyn, so funny you brought up the Photo snapping Asians. It happened to another friend of mine with her little girl yesterday. This is the third friend that it is happened to.  It seems to be surprisingly common. And they all  live on the East Coasf.

[Mandabplus3]

Tiana has very very long hair, she gets photo snapped often! I could imagine the stress that would put on her overseas so we will find a way to make it look a lot shorter. Then at least it will be her and the other kids not her singled out.
TMT are you aiming for 6 years in the same country? Japan?
I am thinking of aiming for a different country each Christmas break but considering making one more prominent. So returning there a number of times over the years. hoping Japan is the more prominant one.  I have no intentions of leaving Australia for too long ( gee this place is great why would I?) but I want to be overseas often enough that the kids "think" they lived in ...... for a while as they grew up.  And that they think that traveling and living in another country is a perfectly normal thing to do.  As Australia is an island it is easy to grow up here thinking that visiting another country is a big deal. I want to shrink that border substantially.  I suppose my primary aim is less on learning language as on changing their world view. Language is the cherry on top. 

[Skylark]

Believe me, foto snapping is not that big of a deal after a while :-)

We have not travelled as much with our children as we travelled before. But in our experience, being different was an excellent conversation opener, and kids got to experience so many new things.

At first we were a bit sad that kids would perhaps "forget" all those experiences, as they were fairly young. But here is something that worked for us amazingly -- of course we took photos of all the places we've been and all the things we do (my husband is a photographer  ), then when we got home we created different sets of photos ( by countries we've visited, events, etc) and we would rotate the sets as our screen saver on the flat screen. Kids love to look at the pictures during the day and often would narrate it, telling stories of what they did there. After a while, all those experiences got so reinforced in their memories, that I think it would stay with them for all their life. Even though they were really small when actual experience took place.

So far they've visited 6 countries, and we hope to continue. We've never enjoyed short "touristy" rush trips, and always aimed at staying with the local people, getting to know country from insider's point of view. Much so with the children. My husband travelled to 54 countries, I've been to 32 and we are excited to give our children rich cultural exposure and experiences.

It was inspiring for me to read going anyway blog, kind of re-envisioned me to consider traveling as a part of our future years of schooling...

[Skylark]

"I have no intentions of leaving Australia for too long ( gee this place is great why would I?) but I want to be overseas often enough that the kids "think" they lived in ...... for a while as they grew up.  And that they think that traveling and living in another country is a perfectly normal thing to do.  "

Totally agree with you, -- awesome goal!

Oh, Australia is one of the countries neither me nor my hubby have lived nor visited    I cant wait to fix that one day! Always dreamed to visit Australia and New Zealand.

You all made me think WAY  too much about traveling this week   

[BTBVEN]

So many wonderful links and ideas, thanks so much :-)

My husband & I love travelling and are hoping that our daughter will also be caught by the same travel bug. Since her birth, we have been on 4 overseas trips (mix of long and short haul) and quite enjoyed it.

Just briefly on our background, I was born in India and grew up partly in India and then in New Zealand. I subsequently moved to Australia after university and after spending a few years there, I briefly lived in the US and then moved to the UK. I have now been in the UK for 8 years. These moves helped shape me as a person. My husband grew up in India, then lived in Russia for several years, subsequently in German for a couple of years and finally moved to the UK and he's been here about the same time as me.

Whilst, we don't envisage a permanent move to another country outside of Europe, we hope to make up for that by travelling on a regular basis. Presently, we are trying to teach our daughter - French, Spanish & Mandarin besides a couple of Indian languages (Tamil and Hindi). Between my husband & I we can speak 8 languages (not really a lot in the large scheme of things), so hopefully that will rub off on her. Our idea is to go to a destination that will reinforce one of the languages that she is learning on a yearly basis and then the rest of our annual leave will be used towards visiting other destinations that we haven't been to and may not necessarily be about the language but more about the culture, the landscape etc.

One of my friends takes her kids to a spanish-speaking country each year during summer holidays and enrols her kids in local playgroups, nurseries etc. for that period. It's worked out really well for them as the kids are fluent in Spanish, Turkish and English.

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