Does anyone split their time between two countries with school-aged DC?

[Polipenguin]

DC are 6 and 8. Mine and DH's business means that we will now be in the UK for 9 months of the year and in another country for 3 months (most likely feb-april or May-July). Does anyone else split their time between countries like this?

DC currently go to a small village school, so i know this wouldn't work in the state sector, as they would just give away the places everytime we went away for 3 months. However, is it an arrangement that a private school would be open to? They would of course be attending an international school during the 3 months.

You can but ask. My school isn’t full so they’d probably agree to this, some fees are better than no fees after all.

I think it would be very disruptive to your children though - it is unlikely the international school would be covering the same stuff at the same time as the English school so they’d end up repeating bits and missing out other bits. There might be some subjects taught in one school but not the other too.

some schools do take boarders from 7 however, might be worth considering and less disruptive to their education, but it is very young to be away from parents for months at a time.

I know when we lived in London, there were many of international families moving here and there throughout the year, between different homes. I just wondered if anyone here had experience of this.

Boarding is not an option, at least for the next few years and DC are well travelled and very adaptable, so I don't think it will cause much disruption in that regard. We also do a lot of learning at home already, as the state school here seems to already be far behind that of the private school they attended in the city.

It's not that unusual in some private schools, you'd have to pay to keep the places.

Would you home we in the other country?

I would look into online school, or hire a tutor perhaps which may be favourable cost wise to private ed for 2 kids. It's very disruptive to take them out of lessons, not just for your kids but for their classmates. People who travel a lot tend to homeschool

Can DH flex the dates slightly? If he was away mid May - Mid August, you could use half term and most of the summer holidays in the second country, without compromising the schooling.
Moving schools is hard work. Would the international school take the kids if you didn't have a residents permit? I'm assuming you will be visitors, not residents. Certainly residents permits were required to register the kids when we moved abroad.

I think you should let DH go alone, and join him in the holidays, or permanently plan on home schooling so you can bounce round the world together.

Our private school has, with sone negotiation, let the odd student take a term elsewhere, though I think in each case the child was home schooled while abroad. They also offered flexi boarding so the child could have boarded for that one term. It wasn't an ongoing thing though.
Would the curriculum be the same in the other school? How disruptive would your kids find it? Why isn't boarding an option for those three months?
Those international families tend to not go back and forth - and as exams loom probably opt for boarding to keep it consistent.
I think a combination of homeschooling and remote learning might be an option.

Having children similar ages, I can imagine this being incredibly disruptive for the children. Especially socially.

My dad worked away when I was a teenager. My parents made decision after deciding it would be too much disruption to my siblings and I.

Would online school work? People that I know who move country regularly seem to find this a good option.

If you do go down the other route would the international school follow the American or UK curriculum? A lot follow American so that might be tricky to match up.
Other thing to think about is how long will this continue for? A few years while they're in primary maybe but long term it's going to get very tricky.

Homeschooling is an option whilst abroad to make things less complicated. As said previously, we already do a lot of school work at home, so it would be no different.

It's more about a school agreeing to the arrangement. Surely if they're getting paid the same, and we are keeping up academically, it would be ok?

I live in a university town and there is an international primary school that seems to be happy to do flexi- schooling for home Ed families (eg 1 day per week) and can have some flexibility for children of visiting academics etc (don’t know the exact situation, but might be worth asking those schools which do have an option of flexi schooling as they may be more open?)

Have you approached the education authority for advice? My relative lived part of the year in Ibiza, they had a seasonal business out there. Children went to school in Ibiza and the UK. While they are here they are entitled to have access to education. The traveller children attend state school for short periods. I used to know children from Pakistan who went part time to school here and then were homed schooled when there because of a difference in schooling.

Poor kids. Could you not be abroad one at a time?

I think it depends on the school. DC's (private) school is heavily over subscribed, and I think their preference would be to take DC who were going to be in school for the full 3 terms - and they have plenty to choose from who would. They wouldn't want the risks of having to help children catch up on any work missed when they return, nor to have to set work for children away for a term.

The pace at private schools can be quick and you'd have to be absolutely certain that you/an international school could maintain that pace. If you're looking for a school to work with you on this, I think you'd need quite a compelling reason as to why they would take your DC over others applying.

Yes of course the school wants the fees, but they also want a present kid who can contribute to the school in other ways and be part of their community. Otherwise they'd all have a camera and teach via zoom to kids all over!
It's a tricky one and you'll have to talk to the particular school.

I think you're asking an awful lot of your DC here, I know you say they're flexible but don't push it too far.

I would do everything I could to maximise time in the UK. Do you and DH both need to be out there for the full three months or could one of you stay behind for a few weeks and then other one come back a few weeks early, cutting away time down to 6-8 weeks? Or could the DC be left with grandparents for a couple of weeks to maximise school time?

I'd then homeschool while you're abroad. I'd also try as hard as possible to have your abroad period be during the school holidays. Feb - April is probably better because you'd have half term and the long Easter holiday in there. Or ideally be away during the summer holidays.

I think homeschool would be fine whilst away if private school when in uk. Most private schools have 1 month off at Easter and finish end of June for the summer holidays. So you would only have about 6-8 weeks homeschool.

Ideally I would aim for June/ July/ August abroad. As then you would only miss 3-4 weeks at the end of the year and could easily cover that at home

Well they're 6 and 8 now but they won't be for much longer. This isn't a sustainable plan for their education.

I know someone who did this they spent 4 months a year in Belgium. Kept their place at school, Scotland so rules are your catchment school will find you a spot, even kept the free bus transport. It was fine for a few years. Moved permanently over to Belgium before high school.

A relative of mine requires to be overseas for his work every January and February.
They used to go as a family but once kids started school the mum brings them back late January and their (private) school has been fine about them having an extra 2 weeks off at Christmas holidays as it's work related. They are still at primary.

Was going to be too disruptive to take them out until March, not just school but also Rainbows, cubs, gymnastics, swimming etc. even although fees were paid these all had waiting lists and would give up places if children missed most of a term.

This works fine for them as a family and children have continuity of school, friendship and out of school activities and they're only away from dad for 5-6 weeks

Some good friends of mine did this for 10 years or so and it worked out fine.
The children stayed put though, and I think that's the only way to do it in order to give them stability. The children stayed in the same home and went to school in the same school and the parents took turns to work in the other country. I think there was a month or so a year when both parents had to be working away together, which they tried to make coincide with school holidays and they took them with them, or got grandparents to stay.