The Waiting Game

After doing more research over the past few days on Europe I have found it very difficult to move the kids with us- no matter where we go.

Once kids are teenagers it is not advisable to move them to a foreign country (where they do not know the language) unless you plan on shelling out the dough for an international school- which can run in the thousands per child each semester.  I mean we could possibly move to an English speaking country like Ireland or the UK but that would take away some of what we wanted to gain from this experience.

So, my initial plan of waiting until the kids are out of school looks to be in effect.  By then it would be much cheaper for housing (as we would only need a 1 bedroom and possibly a smaller second for guests) and not have to feed 4 people or worrying about schooling.

An alternative would be to take the kids with us during the summer and spend about 2 1/2 to 3 months.  That way the kids would get a nice little taste of living abroad without missing school and we could look into a house swap to reduce housing expenses.  A house swap would mean that we live in a house over seas for the duration that that couple or family would live in our place here in the states.  We have a nice enough place around Malibu that I am sure would be ideal for anyone doing this swap- it would just be weird having someone living in our place for a few months.

Either way, it now looks like I have a solid plan in mind of how to make this happen- now I just have to be patient enough to wait a few years.