Homeschooling in Spain

[sren]

Originally Posted by micheleb

I live in Nerja, near Malaga and home school my 2 daughters ages 13 and 15. They are studying GCSE's and everything is going really well education wise. I have organised for them to sit the IGCSE exams at a college in Malaga in November. Just wondered if there are any other parents out there who home educate kids of a similar age as I feel the only drawback for the girls is lack of interaction with people their own age. They talk to people their own age via the net all the time but only have a couple of friends they see here.

can you please tell me if you had problems with the authorities when you moved to spain regarding the homeschooloing of your children as i home school my daughter through oxford diatance learning in the uk and i am moving to spain early 2009 and am concerned as to what reaction i will get once there
also do you have to follow any procedures to homeschool when i get to spain

[chris(madrid)]

As stated earlier - It is illegal theoretically.

I asked the Councillor for Education where I work - Her "offiline" answer was:-

That if you were ever reported or it was officially determined they a child is NOT attending an "official school" - you could expect all sorts of hassle. If nobody ever cottoned on you'd probably get away with it. But be aware that the Spanish will notice it. They "notice" far more ime than Brits.

Personally I think you'll find that isolating them has more minus than pluses if your intention is to make Spain your (and their) home. Kids who take Spanish on as their daily language often as not stay - The one's who don't are soon outcast - many run back home.

[sren]

Originally Posted by chris(madrid)

As stated earlier - It is illegal theoretically.

I asked the Councillor for Education where I work - Her "offiline" answer was:-

That if you were ever reported or it was officially determined they a child is NOT attending an "official school" - you could expect all sorts of hassle. If nobody ever cottoned on you'd probably get away with it. But be aware that the Spanish will notice it. They "notice" far more ime than Brits.

Personally I think you'll find that isolating them has more minus than pluses if your intention is to make Spain your (and their) home. Kids who take Spanish on as their daily language often as not stay - The one's who don't are soon outcast - many run back home.

thanks for that i would love my eldest daughter to go to public school in spain as my youngest will be doing so but my eldest is ill and is unable to go to school this is why i homeschool her and is why i have to concerns about her being made to go to school as she is not fit i was just wandering how other brits manage to homeschool does it make a difference if your are a resident of not

[SteveHall]

If you are not a resident and if you keep below the radar I can't see it being a huge problem. You are just yet another "tourist" who bends rules to suit him/herself. Life. The truancy among expats kids here is appalling and most of the teachers would rather not have those who do not want to learn in the class and do not make an issue of it.

In any case, I am sure you can get a medical certificate.

If it becomes an issue then you just move on.

[sren]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

If you are not a resident and if you keep below the radar I can't see it being a huge problem. You are just yet another "tourist" who bends rules to suit him/herself. Life. The truancy among expats kids here is appalling and most of the teachers would rather not have those who do not want to learn in the class and do not make an issue of it.

In any case, I am sure you can get a medical certificate.

If it becomes an issue then you just move on.

we were planning to rent for a year with an income from a holiday let would that make us a resident or not i have been doing a lot of research but cannot sen to get the hang of what classes you a a tourist or not can you be a tourist but still work r u a resident if you keep going back to england every few month ahhhhhhh its so confusing

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by sren

we were planning to rent for a year with an income from a holiday let would that make us a resident or not i have been doing a lot of research but cannot sen to get the hang of what classes you a a tourist or not can you be a tourist but still work r u a resident if you keep going back to england every few month ahhhhhhh its so confusing

If you come here with the intent to live, irrespective if you pop back to the UK every so often, then you are obliged to register as a resident within 30 days of arrival here. Simply, if you live here you are not a tourist

Popping back for a while wont really count

[SteveHall]

There is a BIG difference between being resident and being A resident (i.e. officially registered)
If you were here for a year then, yes, theoretically you should apply for residencia.

If you are asking me whether most expats do apply then that is another story for another day. If you are working "officialy" then YES you will have to pay into the system.

Are you suggesting that you are only looking to be here for a year, will be making regular trips to the UK and are only looking to rent? If so, you will be likes 10s of thousands of Brits who "get lost" over here. That said, how are you going to get your other child into a state school? For that you will need NIE numbers and registered on the padrón etc etc

I don't think you can have your cake and eat it.

[sren]

Originally Posted by Stravinsky

If you come here with the intent to live, irrespective if you pop back to the UK every so often, then you are obliged to register as a resident within 30 days of arrival here. Simply, if you live here you are not a tourist

Popping back for a while wont really count

so how do i keep under the radar as the earlier post stated as the homeschooling issue is concerning me but to help improve my daughters illness we need to move to spain does the homeschooling problem differ as to were in spain you live

[sren]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

There is a BIG difference between being resident and being A resident (i.e. officially registered)
If you were here for a year then, yes, theoretically you should apply for residencia.

If you are asking me whether most expats do apply then that is another story for another day. If you are working "officialy" then YES you will have to pay into the system.

Are you suggesting that you are only looking to be here for a year, will be making regular trips to the UK and are only looking to rent? If so, you will be likes 10s of thousands of Brits who "get lost" over here. That said, how are you going to get your other child into a state school? For that you will need NIE numbers and registered on the padrón etc etc

I don't think you can have your cake and eat it.

i dont want my cake and eat it we need to move to a warmer climate for my daughters illness and do want to make the move perminent but because she is too ill to go to school and is enrolled in a distance learning program with oxford with only a year to go before she sits her gcse's and turns 16 i need to know how we can get around this

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

There is a BIG difference between being resident and being A resident (i.e. officially registered)
If you were here for a year then, yes, theoretically you should apply for residencia.

If you are asking me whether most expats do apply then that is another story for another day. If you are working "officialy" then YES you will have to pay into the system.

Are you suggesting that you are only looking to be here for a year, will be making regular trips to the UK and are only looking to rent? If so, you will be likes 10s of thousands of Brits who "get lost" over here. That said, how are you going to get your other child into a state school? For that you will need NIE numbers and registered on the padrón etc etc

I don't think you can have your cake and eat it.

So are you suggesting more brits should just break the Spanish law then?
If you are living here and pop back to the UK for a couple of weeks every few months then you are a resident, and according to Spanish laws you should have residencia.

You could say the same about the many Brits who quite happily drive around in UK reg cars ... many of which are now paying the price as the authorities tighten up.

Amazingly I have heard of people being asked to produce their certificates here, and at least one occasion one had to produce a cert to register a car in their name (although that one was a little lost on me)

Its all here, use the UK button if you dont speak Spanish
http://extranjeros.mtas.es/es/index.html