Sounds like it made her kids interested and interesting. I predict good admissions results for them. 
http://theweek.com/articles/703660/moved-kids-america-best-parenting-decision-ive-ever-made
“Maybe I just got lucky with genetically programmed great kids.”
This.
I would have been too nervous to do it, probably, though we did explore homeschooling at sea.
Glad it worked out for them. Wonder how often they came back to the states?
My other concern would be maintaining extended family relationships.
My childhood best friend and his wife homeschooled their kids at sea (and on land in any number of exotic places, mostly but not entirely in the Southern Hemisphere) for 7 years, then adopted a much simpler lifestyle than their previous one (which only their older child could remember at all, anyway) when they returned. The kids and parents all came out great. They probably would have been great if they had stayed put where they started out, too.
They didn’t have terrible trouble maintaining extended family relationships, but it certainly helped to have well-heeled extended family who were thrilled to meet them on the other side of the world for extended time together. They did miss a bunch of weddings and funerals.
"In America, it seemed every third child was taking pharmaceuticals to treat behavioral issues, anxiety, or depression. High school students were unloading automatic weapons into their classmates. Opioid use was reaching all new highs. Bank executives were defrauding their customers and Wall Street was walking an increasingly thin tight rope. It felt like The American Dream as we knew it was all but gone, "
An alarmist statement in my view. You can find plenty of caring communities right here in the US .And taking your kids out of country away from family doesn’t seem like healthy relationship building to me.
My kids are interested and interesting without going anywhere.
I think that seeing part of the rest of the world is a huge benefit, and will give the kids a much stronger and healthier perspective on both the US and the world in general.
The quote that is repeated in post #4 is indeed alarmist and a bit excessive. There are a lot of good things happening in the US that don’t get much press. However, there are also a LOT of kids in the US who are on medication for stress related issues.
Funny that, fleeing the competitive consumerist culture in the US, she’s being competitive in her own way by thinking the children’s experience would look good on those competitive college apps…
I don’t think that is why she did it, though.
I do not think that family has any advantage by moving. Their kids should get into a college on their merits, not based on the family having the luxury of choosing a different place to live. The kids will need to have the same credentials- test scores/grades/courses taken that any other applicants have.
This family chose a life style. They merely traded one set of experiences for another. Baseball/soccer. Bugs versus any other ethnic foods different US kids get based on family. I see nothing special about them. Hopefully they are getting as good an academic education as the one they left in the US. I predict college acceptances no better than if they had taken advantages of opportunities in their US town.
btw- kids with immigrant parents also get the cultural exposure- the best of both worlds as it were. We only get to live one life and for every experience gained there are myriads not possible. I LIKE post #4’s seeing beyond this family’s arrogance. The article parent was indeed alarmist and the views do not reflect most places, including small towns (also to be defined- some think anything smaller than the largest US cities are small…).
@intparent, perhaps not – but she’s clearly planning to leverage the experience which makes her just a bit hypocrytical.
BTW, I’m all for broadening your children’s horizons, and that includes exposing them internationally. But let’s not pretend that having the privilege of being an expat for some 10 years makes her somehow a better parent
Wait until she gets those US college tuition and fees costs. The colleges aint gonna give her in-state rates. Would her children be willing to attend an Ecuadorian University?
I want to add that in our blue collar US medium sized city I coached little kid soccer, baseball was available but not as popular a couple of decades ago. There were also the immigrants who spoke Spanish and Hmong, adding to my half Indian (the country) son’s exposure to other peoples. Plus he got instate tuition at a first class flagship. I got to learn how to deal with an entirely different culture through my inlaws (H was Americanized when I met him) including a very different cuisine, religion et al. The world came to me.
@katliamom Where in that essay does she say her kids will have an advantage on college apps? She just thinks they will have an advantage in life which I’m not sure if it’s an advantage but I think they will have a different perspective. it remains to be seen if that is an advantage. I’d at least say being bilingual is an advantage over not being bilingual.
Loved this part. As someone with a spouse from Ecuador I understand this greatly.
The thing is she moved to a small, rural village. If she had moved to Quito or Guayaquil she would have seen a lot of those same things that she was escaping. She may have been able to accomplish a lot of what she wanted in certain rural parts of the USA but still not exactly the same as being immersed in a foreign culture like she did.
“In America, it seemed every third child was taking pharmaceuticals to treat behavioral issues, anxiety, or depression.”
I don’t find this statement alarmist but very accurate. My kids have been surprised by how many of their peers fit this, including for more performance enhancing reasons.
^^ I once saw a mapping of this and it’s funny how it’s mainly a northeast US thing - at least at that time. It probably has spread more to other parts of the country now.
Oh- that nothing starting on time. Sounds like an in America Indian event. Or Puerto Rican highly educated neighbors here in FL sense of time contrasted with the other German origin one’s precision. America is full of diversity.
@dolemite – it’s implied in this statement, perhaps not even consciously.
“Eventually my boys will return to the U.S. to attend college and build their adult lives. When they do, they’ll have a leg up.”
But I agree with you that it’s good to be bilingual, and speaking Spanish is particularly useful.
Certainly, in many communities, the statement about kids on drugs would be an understatement. In an inner city school I used to work in, more of my kids were on ADD/ADHD meds than not.
Mr R and I are very seriously considering raising our kids somewhere other than the US. We’re just not doing it because we want them to get a leg up in college admissions or anything.
If you choose to the US please have a positive reason to do so, not a negative “leaving” reason. Do it because of job opportunities or to experience life elsewhere. There is always a tradeoff. You will never know all of the bad things until you are there.
Hey, folks- all of our ancestors were new to this country/continent at one time. They left the old for a better life, no matter how many years, generations ago.
Another thought- the article family traded diversity for a different but much more uniform culture. They will be just as provincial as they were, just with a different mindset. IF they end up at US colleges they will experience a culture shock as well. Another learning curve.
Canada doesn’t count.
I appreciate @wis75 's point. But she may be exaggerating the uniformity of Ecuador, even in the countryside. South America has its own complex history of slavery, oppression, and migration, which is reflected in daily life. Also, there’s really no chance the children will be as provincial as they would have been had they grown up (and not been very intellectually curious) in some very homogeneous US suburb. If no one else where they live is very diverse, they will have grown up very aware of their own difference.