Ste and Sam

Hi all

My wife and I and our two boys (10 and 8) wish to move to France from UK.

We hope to rent our property here in UK for a year whilst renting a property in Spain. This rental period to hopefully give us practical experience of living in Spain, learning the language and all of the other factors which we may encounter.

We intend to homeschool the children initially but in the longer term will be considering local Schools etc. My wife teaches English and would hope to use this skill at some stage whilst I am a cognitive therapist but have an internet based business which I am still developing.

Any advice wqould be really appreciated.

Especially re best place to live ie in terms of reasonable rental rates, warmth of locals, Schools, employment etc.

We would require a sound broadband connection.

Any advice on best company to rent from and any specific problems in terms of rental? Are there a lot of properties available for long term rental and any specific problems with regard to this that we need to be wary of?

We do recognise that moving for a year will involve a lot of effort and energy on our part especially in terms of learning Spanish language and general beruacracy and simply adjusting to a whole new life.

Hope someone can offer constructive advice

cricketman

France or Spain?

Your Q is near impossible to answer. Spain is a huge country, it depends what you want.

I would urge against home schooling though, I dont think that is even legal in Spain and at your kids ages, the earlier they start learning Spanish the better.

ClosedAcc0101

Good luck we're doing the same thing in April this year and have two kids 7 and 9.

But as above home schooling never entered our heads as I dont think it legal either but willing to be wrong.

Schooling seems to be in 3 streams full state, private but state funded, fully private i.e. international school, but these seems to be approx €300 per month a kid... Steep for us.

Ste and Sam

Hi

We have considered Olvera in Spain but keeping options open

Homeschooling is a much misunderstood issue. Here in UK the term "compulsory Education" is very misleading. If you read up on homeschooling you might be surprised at what you find ie Education via a School is NOT Compulsory and that it is perfectly legal to homeschool in most countries in Europe (except Germany) and in fact very easy to do. Provided you follow a recognised model (in terms of socialisation) and link in with other homeschoolers then children can bebefit greatly from this form of teaching

We do want to intergrate fully though and recognise the need for mixing with the locals and learning/living within their culture

Hope we can keep in touch

We plan to move May/June

Ste

Ste and Sam

Hi

Thanks for your reply

We are considering Olmera region

Homeschooling is legal in Spain so far as I know.

We want to rent for a year whilst we discover what best suits us.

Thanks

Ste

cricketman

I am not sure what you mean by "Olmera region"? Do you mean the village of Olvera in Cadiz province? If so, then it is beautiful area, but I really have no idea how your kids are going to be able to make friends if they dont go to school to meet the local kids and learn the language.

I can only imagine how lonely it will be for them

lynnxa

I heard recently that home schooling is now legal in Cataluña

Ste and Sam

Hi

Yes the village of Olmera Souther Spain

When we say homeschool we do mean initially whilst we intergate and consider factors such as Schools. We still have a lot of research to do as you can tell ha ha. The boys need to intergrate with other children of course they do. We may link up with expats too of which I believe there are more than 50 British families in the Olmera region.

We are going to start spanish lessons very soon and do recognise that the language is perhaps the biggest barrier to integrating fully whilst also one of the reasons we want to relocate to Spain

Bye

Ste

cricketman

You may want to start by working out how to say the name of the village you want to move to, as google maps cant find anywhere called Olmera

lynnxa

no, homeschooling is NOT legal in Spain - except in exceptional circumstances

although as I posted, I believe it now is in Cataluña

Ste and Sam

Yes it is Olvera you are so correct and thank you so much for highlighting that

As I mentioned we are very early on in persuing our dream so not finetuned anything yet.

Please accept my apology

cricketman

Step 1. Spell the name of the village correctly
Step 2. Find Spain on a map?

I'm sorry, I am only joking. I wish you all the best. Keep us updated on how you get on!

Ste and Sam

Thank you so much for your help and support

I just did a quick google search and it seems very unclear whether homeschooling is or is not legal. Seems it is LEGAL provided you meet with appropriate authorities first. Some folk says it IS legal some (like the test case in Dec 2010) seem to suggest not?

Hope someone can clear this up for me?

Ste

lynnxa

some friends of mine have looked into this VERY carefully recently

it isn't legal - the 'appropriate authorities' won't allow you to home educate except in extreme circumstances - usually if there are medical reasons

adra04778

Legal or not, I think your children will be better in the local school, they will soon make friends and be speaking Spanish, why waste valuable time home schooling if you intend putting them in school at some point, they are more likely to be better off thrown in the deep end, 4 months down the line they will be translating for you