# spain for a year, single with kids



## jennieb (Jul 9, 2013)

I've been widowed for 3 years now and have kids aged 11 and almost 13. I'm in a position right now where I don't have to work and would love to take the kids and live in Spain for a year. I'm Cuban with Spanish descent and I'm a fluent Spanish speaker. My kids understand and speak some but I want them to become fluent too. I don't care where we live (although I prefer the south of Spain) but I want them to be in a very good school -maybe a bilingual school (English/Spanish). They are very smart and are in a challenging private college-prep school right now and would be going back to that school the following school year. It would be a hard transition for them so I want them to take full advantage of this experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, does anyone think they'll enjoy this more when they're a little older (high school). Please help


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

Perhaps wait until they've left school?Seems a bad time in interrupt their education.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jennieb said:


> I've been widowed for 3 years now and have kids aged 11 and almost 13. I'm in a position right now where I don't have to work and would love to take the kids and live in Spain for a year. I'm Cuban with Spanish descent and I'm a fluent Spanish speaker. My kids understand and speak some but I want them to become fluent too. I don't care where we live (although I prefer the south of Spain) but I want them to be in a very good school -maybe a bilingual school (English/Spanish). They are very smart and are in a challenging private college-prep school right now and would be going back to that school the following school year. It would be a hard transition for them so I want them to take full advantage of this experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, does anyone think they'll enjoy this more when they're a little older (high school). Please help


:welcome:

I'd probably wait until they were older unless I could find a school here with the same curriculum

the other thing is visas? Have you checked out what sort of visa you could get - or would the Spanish descent make a difference?


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

jennieb said:


> I've been widowed for 3 years now and have kids aged 11 and almost 13. I'm in a position right now where I don't have to work and would love to take the kids and live in Spain for a year. I'm Cuban with Spanish descent and I'm a fluent Spanish speaker. My kids understand and speak some but I want them to become fluent too. I don't care where we live (although I prefer the south of Spain) but I want them to be in a very good school -maybe a bilingual school (English/Spanish). They are very smart and are in a challenging private college-prep school right now and would be going back to that school the following school year. It would be a hard transition for them so I want them to take full advantage of this experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, does anyone think they'll enjoy this more when they're a little older (high school). Please help


There are American schools in the major Spanish cities and indeed American Universities. So they might be able to get into one of those and still follow the US curriculum. To be honest I agree with other posters who say that it isn't the best age for your children to do this, since they'll need to be learning a lot of other things as well as perfecting their Spanish and adapting to a new culture, and also since those schools teach in English, they might not be exposed to that much Spanish anyway.

By the way, I was in Havana a few years ago and many Cubans told me that the Spanish government was giving Spanish citizenship to Cubans who could prove they were of Spanish descent. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but it seemed to be causing quite a stir at the time, even though most Cubans of Spanish descent had no way of proving it.


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

I know the American school in Bilbao is offering IB content. That might be a good choice for your kids. I think the public system would be WAY too much of a shock for them since it's an entirely different way of studying.


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## jennieb (Jul 9, 2013)

thanks so much to everyone that replied. It was much helpful. I think I'm leaning towards just spending next summer with them in Spain while theyre off school. They get almost 3 months anyway. I think it would be a better experience at their age and a lot less drastic. Maybe I leave the expat experience for myself when they go to college and I'm on my own.


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## jennieb (Jul 9, 2013)

"By the way, I was in Havana a few years ago and many Cubans told me that the Spanish government was giving Spanish citizenship to Cubans who could prove they were of Spanish descent. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but it seemed to be causing quite a stir at the time, even though most Cubans of Spanish descent had no way of proving it."[/QUOTE]

yes, Spain is giving cubans with spanish descent citizenships. I have several relatives who have gotten them. 2 of them (women in their twenties) have immigrated to the US since getting them because now they can finally travel abroad without being scrutinized so they have taken the opportunity to "escape" the country. It has caused a lot of immigration to the US. I don't know how Cuba is allowing it . I bet they are not happy about it.


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