Missing year to travel

[Jiboo]

We have been talking about taking a year out to travel with our children aged 6 and 2.

There are lots of reasons we want to do it as adults and to strengthen us as a family, but the only thing holding us back is worrying about taking our 6 year old out of school for a year. It’s the 2nd year.

We could home school or pay for tutors, but I’m more worried about the social development side of losing friends and daily interaction with kids. She is quite shy, and what if she found it hard to re-integrate? She is quite settled at the minute with friends and after school clubs. Though she surprises us with her resilience sometimes, she is a little quiet and shy so we are a little nervous to upset the apple cart.

Financially etc it’s fine. This is the only thing stopping us. I feel like it could be a selfish move.

A year is a long time. What about a term?

Do it! Plan it so she has chances to interact with other kids. Being shoved in a class of 30 all day doesn't help a shy child. Working in her confidence will!

Is it a state school - you will lose your school place and be reliant on another local school having a vacancy.

I wouldn't do it with school age children personally but then I don't even taken them out for a weeks holiday

Will she be going to a middle school? If so you could plan to do it the last year of her first school, that way when you return, she'll be changing schools along with all the other children so she won't be the only one trying to settle/fit in.

Yes we would be taking her out of state school but could put her in private on return. It’s the 2nd year of primary we would be missing.

It’s not worth doing it for a term as it would involve giving up jobs and losing the school place. Again both are fine financially but it’s a lot of disruption for a 12 week trip....

Do people see the value of the upside of seeing the world, getting her out of her comfort zone, more quality time with family, one on one homeschooling. Not trying to convince anyone, I am just weighing up the pros and cons in my head.

Lots of parents do this. How successfully I dont know. Why don't you go for 6 weeks during the summer holidays, get leave of absence from your jobs, as a trial.

I would just do summer holiday - you can get a lot in then and not worry about disrupting her education. The 2 year old also won't remember it when they are older. We did Australia last summer only for 3 weeks but you can still get loads in within that time within planning - we did Sydney, Great Barrier Reef, tree kangaroos, koalas, whales, dolphins, pademelon, possums etc, rainforest, crocodiles, scuba diving, breakfast with a koala, sandboarding, Blue Mountains, kangaroos. You could easily add Singapore onto that as its a stopover, not sure I would do it with a 2 year old though. Or Uluru.

It's the perfect age for a year out I think - too young for it to be disruptive. Yes you will lose the school place but fortunately have the option of private on your return if there aren't places available. Your children will really grow in confidence whilst travelling and this will help them to re-settle. Lucky family!

Do it, it will be something you remember forever. And education is so much more than what you learn in school. Not quite the same thing, but DD was HE for a year and we went abroad twice in that time, and the whole experience was the making of her - she went back to school so much more confident.

I also know another family who did it at a slightly older age than yours - 8 and 10 - but they felt the same and didn't regret a thing.

Go for it! We are doing exactly this in July. Children will be 8, 6 and 5. I really don’t think they will be missing out socially, they will have an entire year of family time and will be meeting so many new people and experiencing so many new things not just the same 29 children of the same age they see every day at school.

I agree that the experience will be tremendous for her. A family I know are on a sabbatical in Africa, children 5 and 8 I think; the older one is a very cautious soul and I'm really looking forward to seeing how she'll have grown from their time away.

I know a family that did this. Amazing experience for their children, including language learning at one stage. Mum was a primary school teacher though so I guess she was able to deliver the basics pretty easily. I think it's a great thing if it's well planned

While I think it's an excellent idea in principle, and I would not be too worried about missing a year at Year 2, you may be disappointed in the future to find that your 6 year old remembers very little of the experience and so it may have little long term value. I have a 15 and 13 year old who have moved countries a few times (giving us an opportunity to see accurately what they remember of previous schools / locations etc) and they remember only a few experiences from that period of time. Much more from when they were 9 ish onwards.

Wasn't there a program on tv called my family gap year? Painted white an interesting picture.

We lived in quite a few countries when kids were small, not traveling though, just living a few years here and there.

The kids were 3 & 6 when we came to the UK

They are teens now and can't remember a thing about it

It's something DH and I had to get out of our system. Tbh, the kids always preferred stability and predictability....

There are some good points here, thanks. I do think if we plan carefully we could take her out of her comfort zone and grow her confidence more than the year in school, where I suspect she sticks with the same few girls anyway.

Definitely do it. I wish we had. Watch The Bucket List Family on YouTube - it’s amazing to see what their children have gained from travel.

DO IT

Absolutely do it.

It doesn’t matter if they don’t remember it in later years. What you do with them as small children imprints, it forms who they are, not what they remember. Nothing beats a family year, certainly not Y2 at school.

As you can (financially) and want to, you’d be mad not to.

There is nothing wrong with sticking with a few friends! Poor child might never see them again. It will be very disruptive for her. She won’t remember what she does abroad at age 6/7. If you are lucky, she won’t remember her friends either. Be honest, this is about you. It’s not about friendships for your child who you happily condemn to having to start all over again!

It’s not about friendships for your child who you happily condemn to having to start all over again!

If she's going to start a new school soon, then she will be starting again anyway.

Having said that, only you can decide whether it's the right thing for your family, OP. Even quite adventurous kids like routine and familiarity. If you are able to swing an extended leave every few years from work that might work better for the kids than a single very long trip. But I appreciate this might not give the adults the 'life-break' feeling. There's no better feeling than going off on an adventure without a return ticket and it could be an incredible experience for the whole family.

Note - if your employer won't allow a sabbatical, you can ask for 2 weeks unpaid parental leave per child in a year. With 2 kids you could take the whole summer off.

Travel with a 2 year old? Oh god. Maybe I was just lightweight.
Or had a hardcore 2yo.

It does create some restrictions though.

In general; travel? Go for it.

My only concern would be losing the School place but as you say you will probably go Private on your return (and Private schools near you usually have places) then I say go for it

The 2 year old would be my concern. They might be realllly hard work without a routine. They also won't remember it and would be happier at home is my guess. I'd work hard to make sure that you maintained a good routine for her.