Relocating Family to Argentina

[RockAndSage]

DLI was hard,

But that post, man...some of the prettiest views of any base in the world.

 

[Mojave]

My first wife and half her family were homeschooled. Her experience after high school graduation is very close to that of every other person we met that also grew up home schooled. Home schooling sounds like a good idea, but every single person who came out of it was way behind everyone else. It’s a lot of work to teach kids and once the fun wears off home school turns into no school, or barely half ass school. Other folks may have a totally different experience, we just never met anyone that wasn’t also playing catch-up well into their 20’s to actually learn the things they should have in heir teens.

Over the years a number of coworkers home schooled their high school age kids, and it was a lazy way of not having to deal with their problems in school and very little was expected of them.

Our oldest wants to home school his kids - neither his nor his wife have the interest, energy, or personality to teach kids - they like hanging out with them and doing stuff with them, but that’s not an education. He tries to get me in on it because I like to train smart motivated adults how to do woodworking and I remind him that I’m not interested in teaching kids all day or I’d be a grade school teacher - it’s real work.

We have home schooled our kids about half way. My wife is a professional teacher with state certifications K-12 in 4 states.

Home schooling is not for every parent, and it sure isn't for every kid. I have 3 daughters that have gone through the process and I don't think they came out of it equally.

We used Bob Jones curriculum, a Christian based one. The sciences are very bible driven, and kind of a lot of Bible direct to history dogma theory I have had to correct. The math, English, kindergarten and other classes are excellent.

Our kids and my wife returned to the classroom last year for 2nd, 4th and 6th. They are currently in 3rd, 5th, and 7th. The two younger kids thrived in both environments, the older kid never did well at home and is doing very well at school. They are way ahead of the kids in their classes, as they had a lot of extra bonus classwork we added to make it work.

Patagonia would be amazing. We as a family have lived in 5 states and 3 countries. Travel is good for everyone except the family that is at home in the states. My kids don't really have a sense of any place being their home. Australia, Germany, the US. Or any great since of national identity.

 

[SchwarzStock]

My kids (B/G Twins) were born in Germany, mother is Kroatian who grew up in Germany. Grandparents are Kroatians who lived and worked most of their adult lives in Germany. We made many trips to visit the extended family in Kroatia so the kids felt at home there as well as in Germany.

Now why did I tell you this? It is because my kids had a connection to the country and customs. From birth they were speaking English, German, and Kroatian. They understood the culture and were not the odd ones in the schools. This will not be the case with a foreigner dropping their kids into another culture and its systems. When we moved to Arizona it was a big adjustment although I have family out west. The kids had no connection and felt very alone despite phone calls, email and skype. Was just not the same with suddenly Grandma appearing at the door with some strudel....

I would suggest lots of vacations to lots of countries to get exposure to other lands and cultures but don't burden you kids with learning new languages and customs.

 

[SchwarzStock]

Military was fun, but also a pretty easy place to excel (as with every civilian job I have had). I should say, .

So, what is it you did in the military that was so easy?

 

[RockAndSage]

We have home schooled our kids about half way. My wife is a professional teacher with state certifications K-12 in 4 states.

Home schooling is not for every parent, and it sure isn't for every kid. I have 3 daughters that have gone through the process and I don't think they came out of it equally.

We used Bob Jones curriculum, a Christian based one. The sciences are very bible driven, and kind of a lot of Bible direct to history dogma theory I have had to correct. The math, English, kindergarten and other classes are excellent.

Our kids and my wife returned to the classroom last year for 2nd, 4th and 6th. They are currently in 3rd, 5th, and 7th. The two younger kids thrived in both environments, the older kid never did well at home and is doing very well at school. They are way ahead of the kids in their classes, as they had a lot of extra bonus classwork we added to make it work.

Patagonia would be amazing. We as a family have lived in 5 states and 3 countries. Travel is good for everyone except the family that is at home in the states. My kids don't really have a sense of any place being their home. Australia, Germany, the US. Or any great since of national identity.

Great point to bring up, on the kids' cultural identities. Just a few years in one country shouldn't be a problem, but it's still important to know about.

OP, the international community (mostly diplomats, NGO workers, and career international business types, along with some military-adjacent types) have been raising kids outside of their home cultures for a long time, and the issue of kids not having a "home culture" is a very real thing. It can also be a very dangerous thing for the health of those kids as adults, as many end up just never feeling at home anywhere. For example, they may look, act, and largely think like Americans, but can end up not actually feeling like Americans when they go back home. Like they're out of place, and don't really belong. The term for this, btw, is "third culture kids".

This is an excellent book about the issue.

You'll want to make sure to keep things at home rooted in US culture, and take extra measures to root them in our culture. Especially if you have them in international schools - which are excellent schools generally, for the record. It's not about creating jingoistic nationalists or anything, just rooting their sense of identity in your own home culture, and having a sense of value for our culture. Put extra effort into watching some sports as a family, US TV shows, and daily hometown news info. Celebrate the holidays, and use the week or so leading up to each one as an educational opportunity, studying the history and reasons behind that the holiday.

 

[Archerichards]

My Wife and I have been talking about temporarily relocating to Argentina. We have a 5 year old girl and 2 year old boy and we are looking to slow time down a bit and really enjoy the time they are young and give them a unique life experience. I spent some time down there out of college and really enjoyed it, specifically Patagonia. The idea is 2-3 years until about middle school age for my daughter.

Wife works in the online world, and I work in the industrial one. She has really been pushing me to hang it all up and do something I love. I am researching outfits I could volunteer/work for in the fly fishing and stag hunting realm. Cost of living down there is such that my income likely will not be needed. We have good savings and investments.

I am looking for people who have spent time down there. Vacationing, hunting, fishing or just living. Curious about your experiences, what was great, things to avoid.

Also very interested in people who have experience with non traditional education for children, i.e. homeschool or world school.... still coming around to this idea for the kids.

Broad net, I know... Just thought I would try some like minded individuals in the Rokslide community. Appreciate it!

Well, this is a real post. I am not sure online forums will yield the best advice, but I will give you my two cents. I lived in Venezuela for three months many years ago, have traveled extensively in Patagonia, and lived in both the UK and Spain for several years. Also fathered and helped raise three children in the UK. So I have a slightly relevant background. Some random thoughts:

• Patagonia is a truly beautiful part of the world and probably a lot like the American West in the first half of the 20th century. To be sure though, you are far, far away from a lot of things we Americans take for granted, so you need to be alert to what you are giving up (medical care, dental care, police protection, courts of law, engagement with people like yourselves, etc) before signing up for it.
• We took our four kids to Spain when they were btw five and 12 years old. Today we are all bilingual and proud of it. Our kids today-- all four of them -- would call ourSpanish life the most difficult period of their lives, but the one in which they matured the most and learned the most about the world around them. On the whole, they are proud of the experience, but it wasn't easy. Going with young kids, like yours, will be a little bit easier. as the saying goes, "kids grow where they are planted".
• Homeschooling yields better results than conventional schooling IF and only if either you or your spouse are going to develop and deliver a sound curriculum. It requires a great deal of planning and a high level of commitment from one of you. I would pin that down before considering it much further. It is also easier and probably more successful if you merge two or more families together so as to allow kids to grow socially and learn from one another.
• Finally, I will tell you that when a family embarks together on a great adventure in a remote and exotic part of the world the experience will bind you together in a way that ordinary American life rarely does. You will depend upon and care for one another like you never would otherwise. That is the most important reward.

So, just some thoughts that I hope are helpful to you.

 

[Mojave]

My kids are 100% third culture kids. They were military kids, then diplomatic kids in Australia and now they are overseas civil servant kids.

Could be worse, they could be like half the half-Germans in Germany that are a product of a serviceman and his German Frau. Then grow up in the American system for a while and then the German system for a while. These half-Germans went to DOD schools on base, most don't really speak German well enough to work in the German culture. So they exist between the fringes working for the US Defense or a contractor here mostly for low pay. They have no sense of cultural identity as Germans, and most Germans don't consider them to be German. Of course their parents still live here and they exist in the fringe.

My kids mostly feel like they are Australian-Americans.

I knew quite a few folks when I was working at the Embassy that were 3rd or 4th Generation diplomats. Or worse they go to be diplomats as foreign born US citizens. How can we trust that, they will ride for the US and not for another nation?

A friend of mine in the diplomatic corps' was born in Argentina, grew up in Israel, Spain, Mongolia, Kazakstan and then joined the foriign service after college and ended up in Mexico then Pakistan and she was in Australia with me. She had zero knowledge of America beyond her time at college.

It can happen as an adult as well. I grew up in Wyoming and then spent 20 years in the military where I lived overseas for 16 of it. Then I got into the foreign then civil service and have spent half of the last 12 overseas. It is always awkward going back to the USA. In the Northern Rockies I feel like home, but man any place else is weird as hell.

I don't feel any shared anything when I visit the South or Eastern USA.

 

[Marbles]

So, what is it you did in the military that was so easy?

Easy place to excel and easy are not the same.

Of course easy and hard are relative terms anyway and I rarely do anything hard. And, done enough, hard becomes easy. New jobs are like that, the first few months with lighter work loads are harder than the heavier work loads a few years in.

 

[SchwarzStock]

Easy place to excel and easy are not the same.

Of course easy and hard are relative terms anyway and I rarely do anything hard. And, done enough, hard becomes easy. New jobs are like that, the first few months with lighter work loads are harder than the heavier work loads a few years in.

Can we guess you were an "excelling" admin specialist? I don't care what you did, every military job has a purpose but the say it is easy to excel in the military pretty..... I can't write all the adjectives here

In my 27 years of military service there were always challenges to overcome. Somethings became routine but that did not mean they became easy (to excel at). I saw a lot of guys come and go over the years who could do the job well but couldn't function over the long haul and not as a team member.

 

[Jmort1754]

Can we guess you were an "excelling" admin specialist? I don't care what you did, every military job has a purpose but the say it is easy to excel in the military pretty..... I can't write all the adjectives here

In my 27 years of military service there were always challenges to overcome. Somethings became routine but that did not mean they became easy (to excel at). I saw a lot of guys come and go over the years who could do the job well but couldn't function over the long haul and not as a team member.

Well DLI would be a starting point,

Second, I never found the military hard to excel at, more like hard to move up in with tall the bureaucratical bullshit that went on. It's a whose ass do you kiss world.

 

[lukebrowning]

The most interesting people I know are those who lived abroad as kids.

Patagonia is great. I wouldn't hesitate to move my young family there once you work out the details.



Are you suggesting he fly from one side of the country and back again in one day just to see how his family will handle a 12-hour flight.

Here's how ... it will suck. As all flying does these days.

But at the end of that shitty day they will be in Argentina, embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, and the plane will be forgotten five minutes from the airport.

I cannot speak specifically about Argentina, but I agree with this. We spent 8 years living in the UK and moved there when the kids were 6 and 8. Not Argentina but kids living in a different part of the world. We traveled all over Europe, sometimes using long weekends to visit different places. Saw incredible sights, learned about new cultures, met super interesting people from all over world. The kids are back in the US now but they are so much more well-rounded than many of their cohort. If you’ve done the research and have the finances I say DO IT. You can always cut it short and move back to the US if you’re homesick.

Make sure you look into the tax situation and whether there is a double taxation treaty between the US and Argentina. If not, you might be on the hook for full taxation for Fed, State and abroad.

Btw, the kids love taking international flights now. I see the same people complaining and avoiding long flights also spending their entire weekend on the couch binge-watching Netflix.

 

[Mojave]

Well DLI would be a starting point,

Second, I never found the military hard to excel at, more like hard to move up in with tall the bureaucratical bullshit that went on. It's a whose ass do you kiss world.

Yes easy to do well, the numbers game of promotions is another thing.

 

[butcherboy]

How do I say this without sounding like a dumbass….

Have you tried to do 7th grade math lately?

Disclaimer…I graduated high school with a 4.33 (straight A’s with bonus AP class scores) and went to a very highly ranked college… not trying to brag, just trying to defend myself since I can’t help my 7th grader with her math. Rise over run…I don’t remember it…

My wife has to help my 7th grader with his Algebra homework all the time and she has a hard time remembering as well. It’s been 36 years since I had anything to do with math in 7th grade. The extent of my math now deals in pounds and ounces on a daily basis.

 

[EdP]

It is impossible for our American minds to understand the level of corruption and how their society can even live.

...and the culture is incredibly positive.

These two statements strike me as diametrically opposed. Is not endemic corruption part of a culture? What specifically did you find positive?

This is the country that tried to take the Falkland Islands from the UK by force in the 1980s. It was a political move by the unpopular gov't in power at the time to generate support because taking the Falklands was thought to be popular with the people. It was until the Brits started kicking their butts. It cost a bunch of lives on both sides for nothing. They do make pretty good wine though.

If I was in your situation I would take a look at Spain rather than a 3rd world country. My thought being lots more culture available to learn about in Europe, better medical services, etc.