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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People does this?!  It's my dream but didn't think it was a rational one.[/quote]

Yep. I'm the one who did this for two years. The hardest part was (for me) homeschooling abroad, and re-entry back to the US. We came back twice a year (one week in the summer, one in the winter). [/quote]

OP back.  PP - can you talk more about your trip? How did you decide on that time frame / those locations? Did you stay in the same locations while there? Was the whole family off at once / anyone working?  Interested in general to hear more about your adventure, and of course particularly interested in how you managed all the logistics of making it work.  Also any lessons learned you care to share![/quote]

We wanted to teach the kids Spanish and French originally and knew total immersion would be the way they'd REALLY get it. Then DH was like "I'm Italian, you're half Italian, they should know Italian!"  We'd done a summer in Europe and it was Just. So. Hectic. DH has relatives in Italy, I have a friend in Paris (and another in Belgium) and a friend in Barcelona. All American transplants. We kind of contacted them and said, "If we moved here for a while, how would that work?" The kids were pushy about wanting time to explore and didn't want to be stuck in school the whole time. We wanted them to be immersed long enough to really grasp the languages. We did stay in the same locations in each country, though we traveled on weekends and during school breaks. So the kids got to hear both Spanish and Catalan, for example. Both girls got a huge kick out of taking ballet in all three countries.

We were able to rent out our house while we were gone. The hardest part was to see the kids learn the languages faster than we did. DH owns his own business so having someone manage for him was his biggest logistical challenge, and he came back to the US every 2-3 months for a week. The kids were surprised at a lot of things in Europe (washer/dryer in the kitchen, or the Italian grocery stores, for example) and some they were not excited about at first (two bedroom, fifth floor walk-up in Paris, for example). Ex-pats are pretty cool about sussing you out - someone went running down the block behind us in Italy screaming "Are you American?!" and now Claudia is one of my best friends. I was glad to come home, but also kind of would be happy to go back and do it again. If you do it, plan that when you come home you'll keep things very low key for the first week. No welcome home party. Americans are LOUD, and talk SO MUCH. Also, LOUDDDDD. Certain words still sound funny to the kids. Anyone named Tom, the girls call Tomas - they feel that the American "Tom" sounds way too flat to their ear. [/quote]

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