Did your teenager ever want to go overseas for a year?
Yesterday, my daughter announced she wanted to go to a boarding school in England next year. She started researching boarding schools right away.
She has often heard me talking about my year in England when I was 15. It was the most influential year in my life. I think I’ve often said I wish I could offer that opportunity to my kids. But we don’t have jobs that take us overseas.
I would miss her a lot, but I think she would learn more in that year or term than anything she could ever learn in her high school here, which she finds pretty boring and stilted. So I like this idea.
Have you ever had a child spend a year abroad, on her own? Did she ask to go or did you send her? How did it turn out? Were you glad she did it?
And for our English friends, what is the best girls boarding school in England?
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My eldest is only 7 at the moment, but he’s definitely going to live in Scotland when he’s 14.
I did a year abroad at 15 – and like you @wundayatta – it was the most influential year in my life in many, many ways.
Our eldest daughter is 14 at the moment and is really over all the social clique-y stuff – and really into learning other languages. (She is very proficient in German, self-taught in Russian..she’s the kind of girl who spends her weekend making giant posters of Russian poetry in Cyrillic to put on her bedroom walls..)...and she definitely wants to go abroad.
We had an exchange student from Germany who stayed with us for a school year – and then came back to visit with her brother and mother this past spring. I think our first step will be to send our daughter (over summer school holidays) to Germany to try school / life for a month or so with that family..and we’ll see how she does with that before we consider any longer programs.
I always wanted to travel as a teen, and I think that was my biggest influence that made me decide to join the Navy.
I’m not sure why one would want to go to a boarding school, but I guess I would go if I got to be in a new country.
It’s oodles of fun. My own trip was kinda somebody else’s idea, but I went along with it.
My year in Japan changed my entire being. I recommend it to any and all.
Once upon a time… I already forgot that time.
Yes, but I only let her go for one semester.
My sister spent a few months in Italy when she was in college. She was neither a teenager, nor was it a year, but it was still very influential for her. She’s looking to study abroad in Germany now because of how much she enjoyed her previous stay abroad.
If boarding school is a little beyond your financial means, look into doing an exchange student deal. Find a school to send your daughter to, and in return host a student from that school for a year of school here.
We hosted Japanese exchange students for several years, and my brother went and stayed with one of the kids and his family.
As is encouraged in my religion, Baha’i youth often consider a year of service either between high school and college or between undergrad and grad school. My son (who is now 15) is planning on applying for a year of service in Haifa, Israel when he graduates in a couple of years. Other than that, I think he will consider serving in a spanish-speaking country, as he had a wonderful trip with the foreign language club early this year to Costa Rica.
I will miss him and worry about him, but his personal growth is bound to surpass my sorrow. Plus, I can visit him. :)
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