Next year I will have an opportunity to take a year long sabbatical from work.
I am a single parent with a 7yr child (8 nxt yr).
I dont want to plan everything in advance because I think being a bit spontanious and flexible would be good.
However, where to start? where to go? how much money will i need to have ?
and schooling what best ?
experiences and opinions will be greatly revceived
cosmic_katt
1
super_grover
I think you should decide if you want to travel around alot or be in one place and then travel when she/he is off from school. I had a friend whose family moved to new zeland from canada for her grade 4 and she really liked it. They stayed in the same place for the whole time she was in school. Less fun for the famile re:travel but more stability.
Also had a friend who went around the world for grade 5 year and had to repeat when she got back.....she hated that part of it.
depending on your situation you might want to try to hook yourself up with a homsechool curriculum so that you can at least get credit for the year if you are traveling. you could still put the little one in school if you are going to be somewhere for like three months....hoe good are they at making friends? do they see this as an adventure? by 8 they should have some kind of say in what they want to see..
Also, where do you live now? do you want to total opposate or something similar? ie. US to Canada or US to Thailand ??
pm me if you want more opinioins....I hate to ramble on....
2
perfect_strangers
i met a single australian mother traveling for a year with her 8 years old daugther. so far she is home schooling her daugther. they are just starting their journey on a RTW.
for cheaper option, you may want to try indonesia? malaysia maybe? somewhere in asia would be your best bet since it's cheap. also if weary, you can send your child to an international school, however this can be quite pricey. assuming you are thinking of malaysia, you would need living cost for you and the little one about USD$30 a day = RM100, which includes basic food, hostel accomodation and a few misc.
3
mebanese
It's not terribly difficult to homeschool a child of 8 or 9 - except for mustering the self-discipline to take time out for teaching. Basically, keeping up with math and reading are the essentials, although I should think that you would want to reinforce your travel lessons with the associated history, science, and social studies. We homeschooled all of ours for a month while we traveled, and they were never more interested in learning.
4
elisaholquist
just a thought entirely out of left field, and my apologies in advance for being at all pragmatic, but if you're really entirely indifferent as to destination, given where asia in general and china in particular are going in the world, i would think any exposure to especially china would be a terrific gift to give an 8 year old westerner in 2005.
however, if there is someplace you've always wanted to go: go there. you'll love it. she'll love it. have fun!!
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