# Moving to France with 13 year old.



## Ride.the.wave

Hi there,
I’m thinking about moving to France for about six months with my 13-year-old son. We both speak a little bit of French and would love to improve. My idea is that I would obtain a student Visa and study French and my son would most likely be homeschooled although I am open to other ideas. Has anyone else done something like this or has any tips on short-term schooling, great language schools, places to live etc. I realise this may sound a bit vague but I am still in the planning/thinking phase! Just after positive creative ideas! I have moved around quite a bit and will be able to work out the logistics of finances and visas.
Thank you
Bec


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## ccm47

Hi there,
It's a shame that nobody has been able to give you any type of reply. My concern when I read this initially was not about how you and your son spend your time in France but what happens when he returns to the UK.

Schools don't keep places open on the off chance that a lad may, or may not, return. So where else could be go?
The curriculum in France is not the same as that in the UK hence on return he will be behind in some subjects and ahead in others so he will struggle with some and be bored in others. No state school will have sufficient resources to provide him with a tailored education.Have you yet researched how he could cope? Would that be affordable on a long term basis and would he value or resent it? 

Has he shown interest in any sports or group activities? If so he'll also have to requalify to regain his places .

He presumably has a group of friends with whom he mixes now, but they will also have grown away from him in his absence. That 6 months could lead to him becoming isolated when he does return.

I know all of that reads like I'm a pessimist, I'm not. I've just seen it several times first hand both as a comprehensive school teacher and from family. The most recent family case being a lad who was doing really well, but then had a major accident which coincidentally caused him to be off school for 6 months. He couldn't then cope academically, tutoring didn't help and he could no longer be in the county rugby team for his age group. He has ended up going to university a year late after transferring to a specialist school out of county and receiving psychiatric counselling. He's had to cope with more than his fair share of knocks as well as going through the Kevin's.

My feeling is that this is not the right stage in your lives to go ahead as this is a really important stage in his life but if you do both decide that you will go ahead with your sabbatical you may find this link useful if you haven't seen it already. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...MQFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1NeqPNXhM78W5O_1_ZjBKv


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## EuroTrash

I just can't grasp the logistics of how this would work.
So you are at college during the day, who is going to be "homeschooling" your 13yo? Who is he going to talk to since all the French kids his age will be in school or doing out of school activities with their classmates?
Also as a French resident you need a specific reason to homeschool a child, it's not a mainstream option open, I guess that wouldn't apply to a visitor but maybe best to check. OTOH I'm not sure that dipping into a French school for a couple of terms at that age would be of any great benefit either to him or to the class he dips into. As soon as he started to settle in, he'd be off again.
But I think I must be missing something here so feel free to ignore my nitpicking. In general I'm all for travel and experiencing other cultures, but 6 months seems too long for a "taster" visit and not long enough for a proper immersion experience.


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