# secular homeschooling in Mexico City



## cococricketsmama (Dec 28, 2008)

Hi there, 
We'll be moving soon to Mexico City from the States, we already have an apartment in Lomas de Chapultepec, and I homeschool our two daughters (ages 8and 5). I'm looking for friends/playgroups/etc. for secular homeschooling families. If anyone has any info or recommendations on that, we'd sure appreciate it! Thanks! 
Danielle


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## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

Welcome to the forum!


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## pedro (May 15, 2007)

let me start by saying i am an atheist. why this huge concern about finding a "secular" playground for your children in a primarily catholic country no less. your kids will not be "fouled" by playing with mexican children. au contraire, they might actually learn to play and interact with many other children outdoors as all the mexican kids in my neighbourhood do instead of sitting in front of the tv, computer and gameboys. try it , they'll like it.


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## cococricketsmama (Dec 28, 2008)

pedro said:


> let me start by saying i am an atheist. why this huge concern about finding a "secular" playground for your children in a primarily catholic country no less. your kids will not be "fouled" by playing with mexican children. au contraire, they might actually learn to play and interact with many other children outdoors as all the mexican kids in my neighbourhood do instead of sitting in front of the tv, computer and gameboys. try it , they'll like it.




First off, let me say I was raised Catholic and went through K-8 Catholic School, have nothing against the religion or any religion, and my children were baptized Catholic. It's just personal choice that from the past experiences we've had with secular playgroups and Christian/Catholic playgroups, religion starts to become a focus of everything. My best friend is Jewish, my other good friend is Buddhist, another Pagan. As I think there are many wonderful Catholics out there, I want the playgroups we join to be just that, play, not bible study. I completely understand Mexico is a Catholic-based country and we are excited to experience it's many customs and it's culture. My kids have always been exposed to many different religions, customs and lifestyles. So don't worry, I'll try and be more aware and make sure my children are not "fooled" and hopefully I can drag them away from the tv long enough so they can play outside and meet other kids.


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## Rodrigo84 (Mar 5, 2008)

The tv is pretty bad down here, even for kids, and that goes for even if they are watching sky satellite tv or cablevision. My nephews will watch the cartoons, but I found with young children of expats they wound up playing video games with their Mexican friends.

Yes, the Catholic religion is the largest here without a doubt. But even if you go to places like Polanco, Judaism is alive and well and very much noticeable. The religious groups get along quite well. There is actually a large Protestant following here (and they have a very large church just north of downtown).


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## pedro (May 15, 2007)

the majority of playgrounds/parks are "public" and have nothing to do with secular,hindi,muslim,judaism,etc. . a park is a park is a park. my neighbour kids play on the street quite safely since it is a dead end and they're out well after dark and there are always adults around chatting with each other about everyday things-nothing secular or religious enters into playtime so as i said your children will not be "befouled" in public. as a parent of 2 grown children i never felt the need to segregate them from any other children in the neighbourhood. fortunately children at the age of yours are interested in making friends and playing-not phylosophysing[sic] about the "proper" place to do it in.
i don't know which part of nob you're from but any place i've been in mexico-the people are not interested in jamming things down your throat. the primary goal is to interact and have a good time and that's one of the reasons why some of us moved here.
there have been fiestas[primarily religious] here all week and no one pontificated to me about religion or anything else for that matter. except for the ****** jehova witness who knocked on my door this morning. i offered him a snack of some fine blood sausage but he wasn't interested just as i wasn't interested in what he was offering. if anyone is interested , i got it at the new walmart in san antonio.


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## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

One of the problems with home-schooling is that the movement really started in the south, first as a way of keeping children out of integrated schools, and then as a supportive effort for fundamentalist groups that didn't want their children enrolled in secular schools. Therefore, in selecting the group programs that your childrem will participate in, it's important to not get them involved in those that are primarily religious in nature.

I think the posters that responded have not understood the kind of groups you are talking about. From what I've seen in Mexico, I don't know that the whole idea of 'playdates' and the totally organized social life that American children seem to have has caught on. They are talking about taking your children to a playground, and you are talking about organized and formal groups with controlled access.

I don't know how popular home schooling is here in Mexico, and how popular it is among the English speaking community. I think you may find that the extensive support structure that has been developed in the US doesn't exist here. Also, even the idea that you want to set up 'playgroups' for your children may seem a bit strange.

So, anyone here who knows anything about home schooling in Mexico? Is it even legal, or are you required to send your children to school? I mention this because when I was young it certainly wasn't legal unless you lived in an area so far away from a public school that you had no choice.


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## cococricketsmama (Dec 28, 2008)

synthia said:


> One of the problems with home-schooling is that the movement really started in the south, first as a way of keeping children out of integrated schools, and then as a supportive effort for fundamentalist groups that didn't want their children enrolled in secular schools. Therefore, in selecting the group programs that your childrem will participate in, it's important to not get them involved in those that are primarily religious in nature.
> 
> I think the posters that responded have not understood the kind of groups you are talking about. From what I've seen in Mexico, I don't know that the whole idea of 'playdates' and the totally organized social life that American children seem to have has caught on. They are talking about taking your children to a playground, and you are talking about organized and formal groups with controlled access.
> 
> ...


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Thanks for the reply,

Our attorney and the US Embassy said that is legal in Mexico to homeschool. While my husband is a full-time resident/expat worker there, we (my children and I) will be flying back and forth from Mexico to the US as we have a house in the States. It is our understanding through the Embassy and our expat attorney there is no restrictions on homeschooling. 

The playgroups I mentioned were yes indeed a more structured group, that meets at scheduled, regular times to develop a particular community. We are in no way against just hanging out at a park or in classes with other non-homeschooling families. We enjoy meeting families from all walks of life. 
I have found a few other American expat families homeschooling in Mexico City via the internet, but is not as popular as the Philadelphia area where we currently reside. And honestly that's fine, we do our lessons at home, and around 2-3 we go out and do other classes/lessons/play at parks. My reason for homeschooling is a personal one, but mostly because due to my husband's job, we have moved every year for the last 4 years. The moving and in and out of schools is too emotionally taxing for my kids. Homeschooling is the only constant in their lives. No matter where they are living, they don't have to worry about being thrown into a new school for a few months and then taken out, thrown into another. I know the whole homeschooling concept sounds strange to some people, but we feel it is the best thing right now for our childrens' emotional security and it's only for the next couple years until we stop moving so much. 

As for the lessons we will put our kids in, it's just regular art, tennis and swimming. 

Thanks again for your information and helping to clarify my original post.


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## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

If you want the children to learn Spanish, looking for some activities where communication is in Spanish will help a lot. Sports are good because there are usually physical demonstrations of everything, so that even if the kids don't understand at first, they can see what is going on.


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## cococricketsmama (Dec 28, 2008)

synthia said:


> If you want the children to learn Spanish, looking for some activities where communication is in Spanish will help a lot. Sports are good because there are usually physical demonstrations of everything, so that even if the kids don't understand at first, they can see what is going on.



Thanks so much. Yes, we will put them in swimming, tennis and if they want soccer. They also want to do dance and art again. Luckily, we are also renting an apartment in a great complex that has a lot of other families and there's a pool, playground, basketball court and a rec room on the main floor where most of the families "drop off" their kids a couple hours a day to play with the other kids (there are babysitters/attendees there watching the kids). We are also taking Spanish language lessons 2-3 times a week.


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## annaetal (Jan 3, 2009)

Hi we are planning to move to Mexico City too, and are not sure what to do about schooling? I have two daughters ages 9 and 6. My husband is a student doing research, so we will be on a tight budget. We definitely cannot afford private school, and I'm not sure were we will live and the public school system there. Actually I'd love to hear any advice on family oriented (and not so expensive,) neighborhoods to live too! 
We are planning on moving in August for 6 months to a year, depending on how much funding my husband gets. 
For us homeschooling wouldn't really be our first choice, but might be best choice for our kids?
Can anyone explain the public school system works in Mexico City?
How much is it, do you get a choice where you go, are some better than others, etc.
I'd really love for them to integrate and experience the culture while we are there, but they're not too happy about having to go to a school where they can't speak the language.
And to be honest, I think Mexican public schools are a little more advanced than American public schools, and I'm afraid they will be behind going in and become frustrated.
Therefore, homeschooling may be a better solution?


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

annaetal said:


> Hi we are planning to move to Mexico City too, and are not sure what to do about schooling? I have two daughters ages 9 and 6. My husband is a student doing research, so we will be on a tight budget. We definitely cannot afford private school, and I'm not sure were we will live and the public school system there. Actually I'd love to hear any advice on family oriented (and not so expensive,) neighborhoods to live too!
> We are planning on moving in August for 6 months to a year, depending on how much funding my husband gets.
> For us homeschooling wouldn't really be our first choice, but might be best choice for our kids?
> Can anyone explain the public school system works in Mexico City?
> ...


The private schools where expat children usually go are probably expensive, but Mexico City is full of small-scale private schools for locals which may be much more reasonably priced. My kids when to one of these and the entire cost for full-time schooling was the same as what I had been paying for piano lessons one half-hour a week back home!

You used to be able to choose your public school but I heard that the system was changing to a geographic-based one. I don't know whether this has already happened. Yes, the quality of public schools varies widely, and the resources and equipment can also vary greatly between schools. Also, class sizes can be very large; 40–50 kids per class. A strongly motivated learner with good home support can do very well. Otherwise, they will probably be in for problems. 

For public schools, textbooks are provided, but you have to buy school supplies and uniforms (don't worry; very inexpensive). There will probably also be a fee which the parents association collects for projects to upgrade the school, also not very much (100–200 pesos per year in my experience, not sure how much this varies from school to school).

My kids went to elementary (_primaria_) at one of the little neighbourhood private schools that I referred to above and switched to a public school for _secundaria_ (junior high).


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## cococricketsmama (Dec 28, 2008)

*are you still here?*

Hi there,
I just saw your message. Are you still here in mexico city? We live in Lomas de Chapultepec by Polanco. Did you decide to homeschool? I'd love to hear about your experiences and what you've discovered. 
thanks!
Danielle





annaetal said:


> Hi we are planning to move to Mexico City too, and are not sure what to do about schooling? I have two daughters ages 9 and 6. My husband is a student doing research, so we will be on a tight budget. We definitely cannot afford private school, and I'm not sure were we will live and the public school system there. Actually I'd love to hear any advice on family oriented (and not so expensive,) neighborhoods to live too!
> We are planning on moving in August for 6 months to a year, depending on how much funding my husband gets.
> For us homeschooling wouldn't really be our first choice, but might be best choice for our kids?
> Can anyone explain the public school system works in Mexico City?
> ...


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