Schools For A Us Rising 6Th Grader Next August.

[syngirl]

Panama and Costa Rica I believe have more options for following the American calendar. If the child were in grade 10 or beyond losing a few months would be more of a concern, but at that age I don't think it should put an end to the idea of living in Argentina for a year. Look into the IB (international baccalaureate) schools -- they tend to be more flexible with allowing kids to join mid-year.

 

[mmoon]

If you are open to having your child do a partial year of two grades, you might want to consider a bilingual school inside of the city. Our child went to Belgrano Day School, which was very welcoming to foreigners (maybe 2-4 in each class) and helped our son get up to speed on Spanish very quickly. They could not have been more accommodating. Also, they are located in Belgrano R, which is a great place to live. There is a train station there, and it is also not far to the Juramento subtle station on Cabildo, so you can be downtown quickly. Our son made a bunch of Argentine friends there, and he was speaking great Spanish in a couple of months. It's not cheap, but it's definitely more affordable than Lincoln.

 

[Tilda]

From what i have seen on-line it's fairly easy to get a permission for home schooling in the USA. If your worry is about how he will fit back into the system later on maybe that is an option. You'll probably be provided with what he is supposed to know by the end of that year and you can be more relaxed about his Argentine schooling.

Naturally, if the school doesn't cover what you have to teach you will need to pick up that at home.

But, speak to your school in USA and get everything in writing so that you have something to support you if they change their mind when you come back and they want him to do sixth grade again.

When I worked at St Andrews they dedicated five or six personal hours per week to new students that didn't speak Spanish yet. But, St Andrews is not in the city. I have heard very good things about Belgrano day school as well.

 

[citygirl]

Oh interesting, I had some friends from Central America and they had same sched as US schools but maybe they went to int'l schools? I also think all (some?) of Ecuador follows the US calendar as well.

 

[nikosdj]

@ghost I did call BAICA and arranged to visit the school at the end of this month. My family is contemplating this move for next June. @citygirl We love Buenos Aires, we have very good arg friends there, and it reminds me of Europe , which is where I am from. The exchange rate is also a factor as both me and my wife will work with the US from our laptops.
I ve been to Central America and the lack of a sizable middle class is unsettling.
Busing to school sounds great, although a beautiful suburb I don't want to live in San Isidro. Probably Palermo, Belgrano, or somewhere else in the city. Again, thanks to everybody for the super useful feedback, I was thinking we regard to visas to renew it as a tourist visa every time we go out of the country. The idea is to do as much traveling as we possible can with the kids in the surrounding countries. Is that recjless you think? I dont know how else to get a longer visa, any ideas?

 

[nikosdj]

@ Tilda,
we have never home schooled although i could be open to it. I just think to move my son all the way to Buenos Aires to be alone for most of the day is not what the vision is.
Quite the opposite. I would like him to mingle, soak up and socialize as much as possible. BAICA looks like they have a pretty solid foundation from what i saw in their website.

 

[DCexpatstudent]

Belgrano Day School I hear good things about but again a lot of the good schools here follow the argentine calendar. But yes noruega only Mexico follows the North American Calendar.

 

[Tilda]

Im sorry, I didn't explain very clearly. I meant that you can apply for homeschooling in the USA and still enroll him in school here. Your original school may be more open to him having been home schooled than having done two half years in a country that they cant even access the curriculum for.

I think that what your are doing for your son is fantastic and that you are doing it at the right time in his life as well.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

In addition to Belgrano Day School as mentioned above there is a Lincoln school about 5 blocks from me also in Belgrano. They don't follow the NA school calendar, though.

From my own experience kids are much more flexible and resilient than we adults give them credit for - both in schedule and in language assimilation.

 

[ghost]

Andrés Ferreyra 4073, La Lucila, Buenos Aires, Argentina
+54 11 4851-1700, LINCOLN SCHOOL, where is Lincoln in Belgrano? Must be some new adjunct to the la Lucila Campus????