Would you go home for just a year?

[DeliveredByKiki]

We live in the US, coming up on 8years when we thought it would be 4. DD1 is 9 (4th grade/yr 5) and DD2 is 7 (2nd grade/yr 3) and I honestly don’t know if we’re likely to move home in the next 2-5years and if we’re still here in 5 then I feel we should stick it out so as not to uproute DDs as they’ll be well into teens by then

But I wondered if anyone had considered going home for just a year? The main reason I want to go home would be for them to experience a british upbringing, now they’ve missed out on a British childhood...would doing a year in the U.K. be ridiculous? I suppose my feeling would be we’d be trialling it, no promises to move back permanently but getting a better sense of what it would be like to move back than just what it’s like when we visit in the summer?

[Racecardriver]

I wouldn’t. We’ve debated ping to my country of origin but keep putting it off. Given the option I wouldn’t move my children out here for just a year. Too disruptive.

[OlennasWimple]

No, I wouldn't do that unless I was seriously considering moving back permanently

Plus it would be a break in residency, which could make getting citizenship harder (if that is a consideration)

[anniehm]

I personally wouldn't uproot them just for the experience. School curriculums are quite different so it's not a case of picking up where you left off. Summer holidays are really long in the USA so an extended holiday then is far better (from 5 they can even fly alone with BA eg to grandparents).

If you do need to return permanently that's different, with help from the school any gaps will be filled, but after secondary school begins it gets increasingly difficult because what is taught varies even more. I'm not sure which system is best even, they are just different, and we specialise in the U.K. much younger, a levels are like many is degree first year programmes

[DeliveredByKiki]

Ugh you’re all probably right that’s pretty resounding feedback!

Went to bed very homesick last night, we have a very good quality of life here and I’m trying to build a career which makes sense in the city I’m in though is transferable once established but the thought of being here permanently is like a pit in my stomach

[Stupomax]

I met a British woman the other day who had gone back to the UK for a year. She said they enjoyed it, and it was good for her kids to build up their relationship with their family there, and to get a taste of life in the UK compared to the US.

They've since moved back to the US, and her oldest is now looking at colleges in the UK as well as US.

Another US friend has just spent two years in the Netherlands with her children - they went to an American school out there, but got to experience a very different lifestyle. The parents loved it, but the children definitely wanted to come back to the US after two years. I don't think it's compromised their education (they're 14 and 12 now).

If you are going to do it then I'd do it sooner rather than later as the education systems to get further and further apart.

There aren't any rights or wrongs in these decisions I don't think. It does sound though like you'd really like to move back to the UK permanently, and going there for a year might just make it harder for you to settle in the US. How would you feel if at the end of the year you desperately wanted to stay in the UK, but your children really did not?

[VimFuego101]

It would be hard to jump between the two school systems. Could you spend the school summer holidays in the UK to give you an extended stay?

[DeliveredByKiki]

Vim we go home every summer but not for the full 10weeks because I have to work

stupomax you’re probably right, I think the likelihood of me not wanting to come back would be high....but maybe not....