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How to Move Abroad with a Family

Moving Our Family Overseas: Two Years of Expat Life in Spain

August 26, 2020 by familymoveabroad

Moving our family overseas was something my husband and I had always talked about. Like, from when I was pregnant with our older child. Yet that vision lingered in the background for most of our kids’ childhoods. Finally, the time had come. Our sons were 8 and 12. Act now on our dream of moving our family overseas, or it might pass us by.

However, it quickly became apparent we had no idea how to move abroad. My husband had lived in multiple countries before we met, but he’d always gotten work visas. We, on the other hand, were moving just because we wanted to. And, initially anyway, we weren’t totally sure what country we wanted to move to.

Spain was a top contender from the start. I’d fallen in love with the country the one time I’d visited nearly thirty years earlier. But more importantly, our most well articulated concrete goal was to bring our kids home bilingual. Spanish was the most obvious contender for that. Of course, that made us wonder, should we consider South or Central America? Hmmm. No, we want Europe. Spain it is.

The fact remained, however, we had no idea how to move to Spain. We had zero personal contacts to guide us. We knew nothing about how to get Spanish visas. And even less than nothing about education in Spain. But even more fundamental to our quest, Spain is a wondrously diverse nation. Where was the best place in Spain to live as a family?

A Podcast Interview on Moving Our Family Overseas

Admittedly, looking back on our sheer lack of knowledge at the time, it’s hard not to question our sanity. And yet, after more than two years living in Seville, Spain, I know we’re not the only crazy ones. In this interview with BigDreamsBoldMoves podcaster Malia Russell, I speak honestly about our expat life in Spain, including:  

  • The challenges we faced researching how to move to Spain
  • Our crazy journey to get the Spanish Non Lucrative Visa
  • The many problems getting settled in once we got there
  • Education in Spain and issues you might consider for your kids as non native Spanish speakers
  • Getting our kids adjusted
  • Adaptation considerations your kids might face moving to Spain from the US 
  • Additional psychological and logistical advice for expats moving to Spain as a family

Looking back on our journey to move our family to Spain for a year, it’s easy to see where we could have made better choices. But despite the many hardships before, during and even after, the experience changed our lives forever.

https://player.acast.com/5cac8e6ff08339e732709ad1/episodes/expat-family-life-in-spain-an-honest-assessment-after-two-ye?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1&fbclid=IwAR0eSrl_yKHwQmrcsr3dHJ55TMScE0dO-PrzYOlAcElpoBIBmGmmkSjukTU

Listen to the interview on Spotify and iTunes.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Expat Life in Spain, How to Move Abroad, How to Move Abroad with a Family, How to move to Spain, Moving Overseas with Family, Moving to Spain as an American Family, Moving to Spain from US with family, Spanish Non Lucrative Visa

How to Move Abroad as a Family: 7 Tips For Choosing a School

August 18, 2020 by familymoveabroad

Move Abroad as a Family Tips Choose School

My husband and I had always wanted to move abroad as a family. It turns out, we were clueless about the entire process. At the start, for example, we weren’t even sure what country we wanted to live in. Secondly, even after we honed in on Spain, we realized we knew absolutely nothing about visas. Or how to buy foreign health insurance. Find housing. Or just about anything else an international relocation would require. But most importantly, given its impact on our children’s well being, we had no idea how to choose a school for our kids while living in a foreign country as a family.

Move Abroad as a Family Tips Choose School

Researching How to Move Abroad as a Family

With overwhelm quickly settling in, I got down to research. Specifically, I dug into education in Spain, options for public school versus private school, and bilingual education.

After all, I was “that mom.” I’d banked serious hours volunteering in my kids’ classrooms. I showed up at those parent teacher conferences ready to advocate for their unique learning needs. I’m the go to homework helper in the house. Certainly, I was qualified to evaluate schools for a family move to Spain for a year.

Turns out, I didn’t even know the right questions to ask. The reality is, choosing a school for your kids in a foreign country requires evaluating considerations that are all but irrelevant in your home country.

You might never consider private school at home, but it might be a better fit when moving your family overseas. In your home country, you expect to drop your kids off in the morning, and not see them until the end of the day. But in the foreign country, they might have the option to come home for lunch. Should you take it? And what about sports? Grading systems? What’s the standard for parent teacher communication?

Living Overseas with Family: How to Choose a School

Here in the US, you likely already have some knowledge about what you might expect from your local school district. Sure, there’s variation from state to state regarding start dates and the like. But, generally speaking, there’s a similarity to school day hours, lunch times, recess and core curriculum.

In Moving to Spain as an American Family: 7 Things I Wish I Knew About Choosing Schools In Spain, I share helpful tips of things to consider when researching schools for your child overseas. From “language of the playground” to other expat education related lingo, these 7 tips will be helpful for any family moving abroad with kids.

Read more here. And if you haven’t yet, pick up my free guide to your child’s expat education.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Education in Foreign Country, Education in Spain, How to Move Abroad, How to Move Abroad with a Family, How to Move Family to Spain, Move Abroad As A Family, Moving Overseas with Family

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