One of the big reasons we landed on Panama as our relocation destination is because of schooling. We had entertained a handful of other countries, but one of the linchpins in all our decisions was the cost of international schooling. A lot of the countries we looked at only offered public schooling to natural-born citizens. Having our daughters attend school (not just homeschooling) is very high on our list of necessities. We want them to have a social life outside of us, develop skills to make friends, and be more immersed in the community. Not to mention, I was not cut from a cloth that has the patience to facilitate schooling all day, everyday. This meant that the option for school in a lot of the countries we looked at would be a private international school. These schools are insanely expensive, sometimes $6,000+ per child per semester. So having a schooling option that was reasonably priced and good quality became one of the first items to research.
The school year here varies based on school, some follow the North American September thru May-ish school year and some follow the March – December (around harvest season) school year. The one that we have (mostly) landed on is the March – December school. It is a bi-ligual school, so half the subjects will be taught in English and the other half in Spanish. Which means, we have about 6 months to get good enough at Spanish to manage. Yikes! This also means that our daughters are looking at not attending school for 9 long months and this is after the covid school year, which was a challenge anyway.
Our daughters are 12 and 7. Our 12 year-old has a pretty solid grasp on schooling and is insanely smart. Our 7 year old, bless her heart, is so new to school I was worried her brain would turn to mush and she would forget everything from kinder and first grade. So in the midst of relocating to a new country, I decided that I would take on homeschooling! Luckily for me, they will be returning to “normal” school in just a few months, so it reduces the pressure of having to be perfect. There are a ton of different curriculums out there. It’s overwhelming. I decided to go with time4learning. Mostly, because it seemed the easiest to hit the ground running with. It also offers Rosetta Stone at a discounted price ( lord knows we need all the help we can get).
Overall, homeschooling has been a fun adventure. I am acutely aware of where my kids need some additional help, and with the 12 year-old I can’t offer a ton of assistance. There is a lot of rewatching the lesson together and both of us working together “killing the science game!” or “slaying these math problems!” Lots of me asking what she would pick and hyping her up on correct answers.
I do feel like I get to see a completely different side of them while they are learning and we are teaching. I wanted to come here to get some extra time with them, because time goes so fast. I blink then they are going to school then again and middle school then one last blink and they are moving away. So far this move has given me that extra time. While schooling time is challenging to stay focused and patient, it has allowed me to take on another role to them and be able to connect in a different way. I’m so grateful for these few months of homeschool before they go back to “normal”.
the eventually home 