To take my children off school and travelling for a year?

[EliS667788]

Just the title really.

They'd have guaranteed school places for when they return.

Just looking for opinions and pros/cons while my husband and I consider.

Do it.

The very worst thing that could happen would be your eldest repeating a year, but you are going to have them learning so that shouldn't happen. I would limit schooling though, maybe 2 hours a day but with them keeping a journal or blog.

I do have another idea, which is I will come along with you as a private tutor.

Do it. By parents did this with us when I was 14 and it was an amazing year (and without trying to sound twee, it changed my life). Early teens is a hard time for kids in school anyway with peer pressure, puberty, etc, so going away was a wonderful chance to breathe new air outside of that bubble. Loved it so much that I have now as an adult been an expat for nearly 15 years. We homeschooled and I was ahead of my peers academically when we got back.

My friend did this with her two in the USA. I can send you the blog if you like. When they returned to dc she found it very hard and they have decamped to Mexico to help people through the immigration process she and her husband are lawyers. Kids are thriving

I think this is a very personal decision and that it's impossible to know whether it's right for the family without knowing the children and what the travel arrangements would be. If it was me I would start with a summer of travelling - 6 weeks is still quite a long time. Would you have a camper van or be staying in hotels? I think the latter would be quite exhausting and unsettling for children tbh.

Sounds lovely for adults but I think it would not be appreciated to its full value by your children. I d be gutted if my parents had taken me to travel for a year at 4 years old and I could not remember a thing! Same with slightly older ages I am not sure you appreciate the full significance of what you see till older. I think I would prefer to go down the route of three or four summers of travelling which all would remember. I would expect the kids to carry out the research and do a big chunk of the planning to get them involved and interested .