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Location: Never in one place long | My husband and I are thinking of hosting an exchange student for the next school year... we've gone back and forth with it for some time now as we know it's a big commitment.... we are in our late 20's and don't have any kids so have always just had to take care of us.... Just wondering if anyone has had experience with exchange students... if so do you think it's a good idea? should we get one or two? I thought if we got two they could hang out so we wouldn't have to always "entertain" them.... also, we travel on and off, what do you do with exchange students when you travel if you can't bring them along?? I've always wanted to do this but want to make sure we can be a good host family and don't get in too deep! Do you recommend having them a full year or just a semester? I've heard you can do both?
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
 
| Is there a financial benefit to you for hosting them? |
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Expert
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Location: Never in one place long | Whiteboy - 2014-03-26 1:49 PM
Is there a financial benefit to you for hosting them?Â
Nope, I think they have to pay for anything they do outside of the home and toiletries but you pay for their food/meals etc. so it would be a financial commitment. |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | I would start off with just a semester if at all possible. My husband's family took two while he in highschool and one girl was here for a year; she was great. The other kid was here for about a month until, long story short, he got sent back a few weeks later.
My sister and law and her husband (16 year difference between husband and this sister) took two in and they had a great experience and their own kids loved them.
No offense to you, but I think it might work better if you had kids that were around the same age so they would have someone to help introduce them to others and get involved with school activities and have a more normal experience. The travelling might pose issues. I'm not sure if there are rules about their supervision while they're here, but would you be comfortable letting teenagers stay at your house all by themselves? |
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 Extreme Veteran
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Location: south arkansas | my husband and I hosted a student a few years ago, we also have teenagers in the home so that was a HUGE help....... Our experience was GREAT!!!!! You DO NOT get any reimbursment for it and we didnt let her pay for anything like meals if we went out, toiletries or any of the normal stuff. She was very involved she did sports, went to prom, homecoming etc. It was an AMAZING experience for our family and we still keep in touch with our "german daughter" actually our kids have gone there and stayed with her and her family as a graduation gift. She comes back every year and stays with us for a 2 week visit. If you have the time and funding available I would recommend it.  |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| DLV - 2014-03-26 1:51 PM Whiteboy - 2014-03-26 1:49 PM Is there a financial benefit to you for hosting them? Nope, I think they have to pay for anything they do outside of the home and toiletries but you pay for their food/meals etc. so it would be a financial commitment.
I'd just get another horse, lol! But I'm sure there are blessings out there for people who do this. |
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Expert
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Location: Never in one place long | Longneck - 2014-03-26 1:52 PM
I would start off with just a semester if at all possible. My husband's family took two while he in highschool and one girl was here for a year; she was great. The other kid was here for about a month until, long story short, he got sent back a few weeks later. Â
My sister and law and her husband (16 year difference between husband and this sister) took two in and they had a great experience and their own kids loved them.
No offense to you, but I think it might work better if you had kids that were around the same age so they would have someone to help introduce them to others and get involved with school activities and have a more normal experience. The travelling might pose issues. I'm not sure if there are rules about their supervision while they're here, but would you be comfortable letting teenagers stay at your house all by themselves?
I've thought of this but it would be a LONG time before we had kids that age, IF we ever do, I'm not sure I want to ever have kids but have always wanted to host an exchange student or foster. I have heard that the exchange students can go stay at another hosts place while their hosters are gone but not sure if that is standard? It would depend on the student, if they were really mature and we got along well I might leave them home alone, if not then we would have to make arrangements.
I've heard great stories and I've heard some bad... another thing we have to consider is we have 4 dogs and many other animals so we'd have to make sure and get kids that liked animals. |
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Expert
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Location: Never in one place long | Whiteboy - 2014-03-26 1:56 PM
DLV - 2014-03-26 1:51 PM Whiteboy - 2014-03-26 1:49 PM Is there a financial benefit to you for hosting them? Nope, I think they have to pay for anything they do outside of the home and toiletries but you pay for their food/meals etc. so it would be a financial commitment.
Lol! Great idea :) well I already foster horses and dogs so thinking this would be another big step! :) |
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Expert
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Location: Never in one place long | lizzy - 2014-03-26 1:56 PM
my husband and I hosted a student a few years ago, we also have teenagers in the home so that was a HUGE help....... Our experience was GREAT!!!!! You DO NOT get any reimbursment for it and we didnt let her pay for anything like meals if we went out, toiletries or any of the normal stuff. She was very involved she did sports, went to prom, homecoming etc. It was an AMAZING experience for our family and we still keep in touch with our "german daughter" actually our kids have gone there and stayed with her and her family as a graduation gift. She comes back every year and stays with us for a 2 week visit. If you have the time and funding available I would recommend it.
Wow, sounds like my In-laws, they hosted a German exchange student while my husband and his siblings were in High school, she fit in PERFECTLY, they actually fly her back to the States every few years, she even came to our wedding and my husband has visited her while he was traveling in Europe! Very cool story. Thanks for sharing. |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | DLV - 2014-03-26 2:00 PM Longneck - 2014-03-26 1:52 PM I would start off with just a semester if at all possible. My husband's family took two while he in highschool and one girl was here for a year; she was great. The other kid was here for about a month until, long story short, he got sent back a few weeks later.
My sister and law and her husband (16 year difference between husband and this sister) took two in and they had a great experience and their own kids loved them.
No offense to you, but I think it might work better if you had kids that were around the same age so they would have someone to help introduce them to others and get involved with school activities and have a more normal experience. The travelling might pose issues. I'm not sure if there are rules about their supervision while they're here, but would you be comfortable letting teenagers stay at your house all by themselves? I've thought of this but it would be a LONG time before we had kids that age, IF we ever do, I'm not sure I want to ever have kids but have always wanted to host an exchange student or foster. I have heard that the exchange students can go stay at another hosts place while their hosters are gone but not sure if that is standard? It would depend on the student, if they were really mature and we got along well I might leave them home alone, if not then we would have to make arrangements. I've heard great stories and I've heard some bad... another thing we have to consider is we have 4 dogs and many other animals so we'd have to make sure and get kids that liked animals.
I'm sure there is a rule book floating around on some website that would cover supervision!
Best of luck to you! I'd love to go somewhere with a bunch of animals! |
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