Being a foreign exchange host..
Russ & Julie Anderson
I am curious to know if anyone on the list has experience being a host
family for an exchange student.. we were contacted tonight and it was a
surprise..but we are considering it..what a benefit to our two daughters to
get to know someone from another culture! Any advice or comments would be
appreciated..not sure what they would think of our very unstructured,
unschooling, laid back way of life! Also I'm not sure about how to handle
being involved with the public school system in this way.
Julie in MO
family for an exchange student.. we were contacted tonight and it was a
surprise..but we are considering it..what a benefit to our two daughters to
get to know someone from another culture! Any advice or comments would be
appreciated..not sure what they would think of our very unstructured,
unschooling, laid back way of life! Also I'm not sure about how to handle
being involved with the public school system in this way.
Julie in MO
Joylyn
We had two years of hosting girls from Japan. It was wonderful. I'd do
it again in a heartbeat if I had an extra room.
Joylyn
Russ & Julie Anderson wrote:
it again in a heartbeat if I had an extra room.
Joylyn
Russ & Julie Anderson wrote:
> I am curious to know if anyone on the list has experience being a host[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> family for an exchange student.. we were contacted tonight and it was a
> surprise..but we are considering it..what a benefit to our two
> daughters to
> get to know someone from another culture! Any advice or comments would be
> appreciated..not sure what they would think of our very unstructured,
> unschooling, laid back way of life! Also I'm not sure about how to handle
> being involved with the public school system in this way.
> Julie in MO
>
>
>
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In a message dated 2/25/2003 10:45:31 PM Eastern Standard Time, joylyn@... writes:
I would think that Germans and Japanese would have similar views on our "relaxed" lifestyles! <G> All four of our "live-ins" came away with VERY different views on child-rearing and education---compared to what they arrived with! And that was BEFORE we found unschooling! <G>
I think the biggest thing EVERYONE needs to understand is that this is TEMPORARY! No one is asking that this girl live with you forever; it WILL end. Your "job" is to live your life as normally as possible, and she should "adapt" to your daily American life. She shouldn't be treated as a guest or a servant or an alien---she's your daughter for a year (or so).
Our "son" called us Mom & Dad---NONE of the other nine exchange students that year referred to their host parents as mom & dad, but as Mr & Mrs So&so. Simon WAS our child for ten months, and we treated him the same as we would our other boys (which ain't too shabby! <G>). Simon's been gone two---almost three years, and Duncan STILL says that he has two brothers---one just lives in Germany with his other Mom.
I was also his mom at school---I helped with homework and taxied him everywhere (they're not allowed to drive). I was "homeroom mom" and attended his parent-teacher conferences (none of the other exchange moms did). He made the basketball team, and we were there for every home game to cheer him on (although he played VERY litle---he'd never played before!).
If you treat her as you would your own child who was in school (and HAD to be there---it's a package deal), you should be fine---just love her and care for her---and remember she's a teen and grown up enough to be living away from home for a year in a very foreign country, so sometimes you might need to keep your mouth SHUT! <G> Love her and care for her. A lot.
E-mail me privately, and I'll be happy to talk further about it!
~Kelly
> I am curious to know if anyone on the list has experience being a hostWe hosted a German exchange student the year before we left school to unschool, so we don't have the schooling while unschooling experience. We DO have lots of experience with "foreign folks" in our house, though, as we've had two au pairs!
> > family for an exchange student.. we were contacted tonight and it was a
> > surprise..but we are considering it..what a benefit to our two
> > daughters to
> > get to know someone from another culture! Any advice or comments would be
> > appreciated..not sure what they would think of our very unstructured,
> > unschooling, laid back way of life! Also I'm not sure
> about how to handle
> > being involved with the public school system in this way.
> > Julie in MO
I would think that Germans and Japanese would have similar views on our "relaxed" lifestyles! <G> All four of our "live-ins" came away with VERY different views on child-rearing and education---compared to what they arrived with! And that was BEFORE we found unschooling! <G>
I think the biggest thing EVERYONE needs to understand is that this is TEMPORARY! No one is asking that this girl live with you forever; it WILL end. Your "job" is to live your life as normally as possible, and she should "adapt" to your daily American life. She shouldn't be treated as a guest or a servant or an alien---she's your daughter for a year (or so).
Our "son" called us Mom & Dad---NONE of the other nine exchange students that year referred to their host parents as mom & dad, but as Mr & Mrs So&so. Simon WAS our child for ten months, and we treated him the same as we would our other boys (which ain't too shabby! <G>). Simon's been gone two---almost three years, and Duncan STILL says that he has two brothers---one just lives in Germany with his other Mom.
I was also his mom at school---I helped with homework and taxied him everywhere (they're not allowed to drive). I was "homeroom mom" and attended his parent-teacher conferences (none of the other exchange moms did). He made the basketball team, and we were there for every home game to cheer him on (although he played VERY litle---he'd never played before!).
If you treat her as you would your own child who was in school (and HAD to be there---it's a package deal), you should be fine---just love her and care for her---and remember she's a teen and grown up enough to be living away from home for a year in a very foreign country, so sometimes you might need to keep your mouth SHUT! <G> Love her and care for her. A lot.
E-mail me privately, and I'll be happy to talk further about it!
~Kelly