Managing Children Overseas

Treading into some difficult territory, parents should do a great amount of reflection and formal evaluation when bringing children overseas.   This is not to say that the children themselves (where age is appropriate) don't have a role in the discussion.   One must consider both the personality and psyche of the child to a new home, country, culture, and school.   My son was only a year old when we arrived.   If you consider moving overseas with children.   Do it while they are young!!  

Now I've listened to others, with older children, relocating overseas.  They stated it was not all that bad.  I've them come to find out that they attended International Schools (English only) and acquired a subscription  300+ channels from Sky Network.    Not what I considered immersion into a new culture.    Oh, did I mention that Heidelberg International School costs between 11.000 and 15.000 Euro per year!?  

If you have aspirations of putting your children into the local school system, then you'd better plan on staying around for three or more years.   Older children will have a slow adjustment to the new language, and that will hold them back in some classes and grades.   If you pull them out of (host) German schools and rush back to home country of America, United Kingdom, or elsewhere kids will likely be held back a year.  

In summary, if kids are young and under 6 years old, they will easily adjust to a new language and make rather smooth transition to local schools.   If they are older than 7 and older, they will have trouble with the language and much of the standardized testing in schools.   You should opt for International Schools to keep them on consistent curriculum.   Read more about readiness of children here.