Tag Archives: real families

Education Options for Expat Children

Posted on April 11, 2013 | 9 Comments

Emma Thomas from The Expat Hub shares with us some education options for expat children in families moving abroad.

When you are planning a move overseas the list of things to organise can seem frighteningly long, and when you’re moving abroad as a family there’s even more to consider. One of the first things families intending to emigrate have to consider is what education option would best suit their children, but making the right choice can be tough.

To help make the decision that little bit easier we’ve taken a look at the pros of the three most common overseas-education options: local schools, international schools and homeschooling. Continue reading →

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel

Tagged living abroad, real families

Real Families: An Interview with 13 year old Miro, Traveling the World

Posted on August 18, 2012 | 7 Comments

My kids and I dream of traveling the world, and love to read about kids who are doing so. Miro is a 13 year old nomad who has spent 3 full years on the road, experiencing life in the fullest. He enjoys Manga, video games and Cryptozoology. He says he’s not very good at photography, but he does try. His greatest fear is “the norm.” My two 7 year old interviewed Miro about his travels, from a kid’s perspective. If you’d like to learn more, his mom Lainie has an excellent travel blog called Raising Miro on the Road of Life, where she chronicles their nomadic adventures, with photos, videos, and podcasts. Enjoy!

Continue reading →

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Peru, The Americas, Travel with Kids

Tagged real families, unschool

Real Families: Experiencing Schools in France

Posted on July 23, 2012 | 3 Comments

This is part of a series of articles on real families who are embracing and incorporating cultures and languages into their lives. If you you would like to be featured, send us a note. Today’s guest post is written by Gabrielle Blair (US), a designer and mom of 6 adorable kids whose family is currently living in the French countryside. Gabrielle originally wrote this post for her site “Design Mom,” and has graciously given us permission to repost it here.

Our school year is winding down here in France, so I thought it would be fun to write up another little update on our kids’ experience in the local schools. I hope you enjoy it!

The first thing I wanted to mention was handwriting. I snapped the photo of the chart below in the 6-year-old’s classroom at my kids’ school. Having good handwriting is a big deal here! And seems to be a universal skill. Even at the village market, all the signs for fruit and veggies are hand written in beautiful script.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Europe, France, Travel with Kids

Tagged living abroad, real families

Real Families: Living in the Swedish Countryside

Posted on July 18, 2012 | 4 Comments

Today’s post comes from Rachael, a British mom to 2 young boys, married to a Swedish man. She and her family spend their time in France, England, and in Sweden. She started the Worldwide Culture Swap- an awesome package exchange between families or schools around the world. She also has a great educational blog.

Hi there! I’d like to take you on a little walk around the island where I live in the Swedish Archipelago. It’s the middle of summer now and despite having record rain levels across the whole of northern Europe, we manage to get and and about often for a walk around the island.

Traditional Swedish houses in the countryside are wooden and normally painted with a special red colour with white edges around the windows and door. There is a lot of water in Sweden so many houses are next to rivers, lakes, or by the sea like ours.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Europe, Field Trips and Travel, Sweden

Tagged real families

Real Families: Attending a Traditional Malawian Wedding

Posted on July 12, 2012 | 7 Comments

I met today’s author “virtually” when I found her lovely blog- I am fascinated every time I read her adventures! Jody is a stay-at-home mom, raising two girls in a wildlife reserve in Malawi, Southern Africa. She is homeschooling her daughters and enjoys sharing her love of nature and conservation with them. She writes about her life at Mud Hut Mama.

We recently attended a traditional Malawian wedding and enjoyed comparing the similarities and differences to our own wedding. It was also fun to try to figure out which aspects of this wedding were truly ancient traditions and which aspects have been modernized. I think it’s safe to assume that the generator and PA system that were brought into a rural community that does not have electricity or running water were modern additions, but I wonder if there was always an MC directing the rituals.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa, Celebrations, Malawi

Tagged real families, wedding

Real Families: One World, Two Kids, Three Languages- Our Lives in Belgium

Posted on May 8, 2012 | 2 Comments

This is the second in a series of articles on real families who are embracing and incorporating cultures and languages into their lives. If you you would like to be featured, send us a note. Today’s post is written by JR Hammerschmidt, US American mother of 2 adorable little girls, who is living in Belgium.

I live in Belgium with my family, which includes my husband and my two daughters, an 18 month old and a 6 year old. Belgium is a small country in western Europe, bordered by four different countries: Germany, France, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands. At the crossroads of so many different cultural and linguistic influences, Belgium is a very diverse place. Dutch, French, and German are the three official languages here. We live in the Dutch-speaking city of Ghent.

My daughter on a sunny day in Ghent

Both my husband and I are foreigners in Belgium: he is German, and I am US American. Before we came to Belgium, we already had a mix of our two different languages and cultures at home. Continue reading →

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Posted in Belgium, Europe, Field Trips and Travel, Language, The Netherlands, Travel with Kids

Tagged living abroad, real families

Real Families: Educating Kids in Morocco

Posted on April 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

Kid World Citizen is starting a series of articles on real families who are embracing and incorporating cultures and languages into their lives. If you you would like to be featured, send us a note. We love learning how you teach your children about your culture, and from families who are multilingual, multicultural, or living abroad. Today’s post is written by Heidi Raki, a mother to Khalil (8), Zaiyd (4) and Samir (1), a wife, teacher, blogger, and resource designer. Last year, she and her husband packed up their three sons and moved from Powder Springs, Georgia, USA to Casablanca, Morocco.

A few weeks ago, I discovered KidsWorldCitizen via Twitter and fell in love with the content and ideas I found! So, to be asked to guest blog here has made my day! I hope you all will enjoy my content as much as the amazing content normally featured on this blog. If you would like to – you can find me at my personal blog: Journey to Morocco and teaching blog: Raki’s Rad Resources or on Facebook or Twitter. Continue reading →