International Unschooling

[gezellig_girl]

My husband and I are considering moving overseas (either within the next few years or as soon as fall of 2005, depending) and we're wondering how other homeschooling expatriates fare.

Right now, we're specifically considering France, England, and Holland (in that order) but I would love to hear how any homeschoolers (particularly unschoolers) do in a foreign setting, how you deal with school bureaucracy in a foreign language, et cetera. Thanks!

-- GG

[PM]

Hmmm, I think it would be difficult to deal with these things without a knowlege of the local language.

There aren't too many unschoolers in France, mostly structured homeschoolers. Les Enfants D'Abord is a good resource, but in French only. But one of the members on the mailing list is an American unschooling her kids.

I'm not sure if there is some way to not even enter the local school system/regulations. Maybe since both parents are American you could convince the local system that you are under US guidelines?

Can't help too much, sorry!

[nomadmom]

I'm American, living in England, and my kids don't go to school. There are lots of unschoolers around our area. I've heard some stories about hassle from "authorities", but it seems that when that happens there are issues besides education. To me, the laws seem straightforward and quite favorable. Unless your child is enrolled in school and you're removing them, you don't have to tell anyone what you're doing. I do feel that here in England the general public lacks awareness of options in education. In FL, no one ever batted an eye when my kids said they don't go to school. Two great sites to visit are Free Range Education and Education Otherwise. Hth.