Homeschool World Forum

[sharon67]

Hi everyone,
New to the forum and glad I found this site. My concern is, that I have two children, my son 14 a freshman, and daughter 17 a senior, both homeschooled. We live in Acapulco, Mexico, and both kids speak very little Spanish. My daughter takes ballet and my son Tae Kwon Do - this is all the exposure they have to kids their age. They do not socialize with anyone from their classes as the language is a problem, as well as the cultrual differences, not to mention that they are 'teens', and picky about making friends. They assure me they are fine and not depressed, and yes, friends would be nice, but they 'talk' to all their American friends online. My daughter is going to university in Mexico City next year, so my concern is for my son. What do families in very remote areas (no kids of similar age), or non-english speaking countries do? I feel terribly guilty, but our opportunities are here right now. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Theodore]

The language / culture barrier is of course the major problem. You have two choices here - either have your children learn Spanish (preferably with an immersion course tought by someone who speaks Spanish), or look into ways your children can interact more online, preferably in collaborative projects of some sort. There isn't really any third option, assuming you don't have many English speakers living nearby.

If all else fails, your children will probably survive until college - I say this as someone whose health problems have kept me mostly at home. Online interaction isn't the same as real-life interaction, but it's enough to get by on if nothing else is available.
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[sharon67]

Thanks for your reply. We did put them into the local school here - grade appropriate to make friends and to be around kids who spoke Spanish. They sat through half a day of classes, including English, however the Spanish was too advanced and they got bored. The friendship thing, with teens being teens didn't blossom as I hoped because of the cultural differences, combined with the language. We've looked into immersion programs here, but all they offer is English. We had a native tutor here in the beginning, but it was so expensive, and when she left, the kids reverted back to English. I think it all would have been easier if the kids were younger, as I think they think they will just 'put up' with the situation and 'escape' when it's time to go to college!!