# Considering moving to Cyprus - questions



## gulliver (May 9, 2014)

Me and my wife are considering moving to Cyprus but as usual there are the questions bit. So here they go:

*1. Home schooling*
1.1 I is possible to home school your children?
1.2 Does Cyprus have mandatory curriculum or is it similar to the UK system where you can teach your kids based on your teaching philosophy?
1.3 Is it mandatory that a home-schooled child learn Greek?

*2. Freebirth*
2.1 Is it legally allowed to have freebirth at home without a midwife?

*3. Kindergarden*
3.1 Is kinder-garden mandatory?

*4. Costs of living*
4.1 What is the approximate (mid range) cost of living for 2 adults. Paying rent for a 2 bedroom apartment, low usage of a small car, buying food ingredients from the local market, cooking at home. For comparison we do this from about £30K in North London.

Thank you!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Hi Gulliver,
Welcome to the forum.

The questions you ask are a bit unusual to say the least
Kimonas is the best person to answer your questions about schooling when he is online but from the questions you ask about childbirth etc and the fact that you ask about the cost of living for 2 adults it would appear that you do not yet have any children so maybe these questions are bit premature.

If you read some of the threads on this forum you will see that there have been a lot of discussions on the cost of living.

You don't say whether you have jobs to come to or ifyou are intending to come and just hope to find work. If that is the case I would advise you to rethink as jobs are in very short supply here these days and there are plenty of eastern europeans willing to work for very low wages. If you intend to have children here it will be very very hard to earn enough to support a family.

Regards
Veronica


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Home schooling is not generally understood to be legal in Cyprus and heavy penalties are in place for those breaking the rules (although the regulations are complex and variously interpreted by different officials). It is illegal to home school if either parent is Cypriot, for others, the legality of home schooling would depend on your country of origin, and whether home schooling is legal there. You therefore need to be prepared to wade through red tape and stand your ground if home schooling is in the plan. Generally home schooling in Europe is on the wane with tougher regulation on the cards (and in the UK). You would have to make a case for home schooling to the authorities here and prove that you and or your partner were qualified and resourced to undertake your children's education. Of course in Cyprus there are groups of expats who do homeschool without permission and it may be worth joining a social media groups to find out more. In my experience home schooling is generally frowned upon here and not encouraged with officials at best looking at it as an eccentricity not to be promoted and at worst as a form of child abuse. 

I don't know anything about home birth, but there may be information in other threads, I personally do not have a good experience of either the state of private healthcare systems here. 

Most people find the cost of living to be about the same as they experienced back in the UK. Apologies if this all seems a bit negative, despite appearances I am very happy to be in Cyprus, but it is better to give reality check information, the keys to successful relocation are lots of research and being prepared to compromise.


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## gulliver (May 9, 2014)

Veronica said:


> Hi Gulliver,
> Welcome to the forum.
> 
> The questions you ask are a bit unusual to say the least
> ...


I know these may sound unusual questions but these are very important for me and for my wife. We do not have kids yet but we want to move to a country where our beliefs are supported with giving birth and education.

I own a UK limited company.


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## gulliver (May 9, 2014)

kimonas said:


> Home schooling is not generally understood to be legal in Cyprus and heavy penalties are in place for those breaking the rules (although the regulations are complex and variously interpreted by different officials). It is illegal to home school if either parent is Cypriot, for others, the legality of home schooling would depend on your country of origin, and whether home schooling is legal there. You therefore need to be prepared to wade through red tape and stand your ground if home schooling is in the plan. Generally home schooling in Europe is on the wane with tougher regulation on the cards (and in the UK). You would have to make a case for home schooling to the authorities here and prove that you and or your partner were qualified and resourced to undertake your children's education. Of course in Cyprus there are groups of expats who do homeschool without permission and it may be worth joining a social media groups to find out more. In my experience home schooling is generally frowned upon here and not encouraged with officials at best looking at it as an eccentricity not to be promoted and at worst as a form of child abuse.
> 
> I don't know anything about home birth, but there may be information in other threads, I personally do not have a good experience of either the state of private healthcare systems here.
> 
> Most people find the cost of living to be about the same as they experienced back in the UK. Apologies if this all seems a bit negative, despite appearances I am very happy to be in Cyprus, but it is better to give reality check information, the keys to successful relocation are lots of research and being prepared to compromise.


Thanks for your response. I'm sad to learn that home schooling is not generally accepted or viewed as a great alternative. I'm not going to allow my kids to enter public or private schools so it seems Cyprus will not be a good place for me.

I'm also astonished to learn that the cost of living is very similar to the UK. That would not help me a lot then.

Thanks for the info!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

There's not much more we can say then is there


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