I'm more of a floater then a poster so I hope you don't mind me asking for your opnion....
DH and I have lived in Germany now for about 10 years. We have always worked/socialised in English speaking environments which is why our German isn't up to so much. We have 2 dc's both born in Germany..
We like it here in Germany - the place where we live is great for the kids, lots to do, nice standard of living etc.....
However, our eldest DC is coming up for 4 soon and this has started DH and I thinking about school.
Dh and I don't know the school system here in too much detail but we have heard bad things about it - that there isn't much help available if you're not a native German speaker and the structure of the schools when they move to secondary leaves a lot disadvantaged if they get stuck in the wrong school (as I said, not sure if this is actually true - just what I have heard).
DS1 is a bright boy we think - he seems interested in learning and likes to practice writing etc but I can't get over the feeling that he will be massively disadvantaged from the offset because of the language. He goes to German kindergarten and can chit chat with his friends but this is a far cry from sitting down and listening to a teacher all day and having to read and write in German. I also get the feeling that he will struggle at schoool - he is bright but has a very hard time to sit still and concentrate for a long spell of time. We would get some afterschool help for him as DH and I with our very limited German would not be able to help him with his school work.
I guess you can see where this is heading?.....
DH may have the possibility of moving back to England with his job. Something which has been mostly driven from the fact that if we lived in England, DS1 would start school later this year.
I guess what I am asking is that, if you were in our situation, do you think that a move back to England would be the right thing??
Other points for England would be us being closer to family and it maybe easier for me to get back into work.... The idea of moving fills me with nerves but maybe a change of scenery would be a god thing for us - force us out of our comfort zone.
Thanks for reading.