I have the professional opportunity for us to move back to Japan in the next couple years. I’m American and my wife’s Japanese, I lived there close to a decade previously, and through the first 5 years of our marriage. We’ve been in the U.S. for the last 5 years. We have 3 young kids now.
The big question we have is how to maintain the kids’ English skills. This move would be permanent and the kids would grow up there. That said, we’d like them to have the opportunity to come back to the U.S. (or anywhere else) if they so choose as they get older.
Is there anyone else who has had this experience or observations, and could tell me how this went? How did you do it? International school? Supplementary education on the side? Something else?
So more insight: my older two are in 1st and 3rd grade in the U.S. now. We already spend 2-3 months a year in Japan, where my oldest has gone to public elementary school by my in-laws place in western Japan during the U.S. summer breaks since first grade.
This is where we’re inclined to go back to, and there are international schools in the area, but she has friends in that school already and with family nearby, we’re eyeing building a house in the same neighborhood. So, my preference is at least to keep using Japanese public elementary school for now, but open to options to meet our goal above.
by Bridge-Over-Oceans