One of the forums raised the question of education today.  I have a set of 14yo twins, I have thought about this months ago during our planning / saving process. I will be cyber schooling the twins. The education in Belize is not up to US standards, and as the twins may want to live differently than I am once they are grown, to take their education away is just child abuse. Luckily, our local school district offers a cyber program for students who have goofy parents that drag them 3000+ miles to an underdeveloped nation. I have worked extensively with students who have used a similar program because they either had attendance issues at a traditional school, or because they were removed from public school for some other reason. I find the biggest drawback to such an education is that students don't complete their lessons when left to their own devices. Ahhh...but this mom is going to get ahead of that. I will block all other programs from the twins' laptops. If they want to Facebook, or Instagram, they will have to use MY computer...If they want to use MY computer, they will have to show that the school work is complete. Simple. Effective. And only a little bit mean. ;)

I believe that they will have to return to PA each year for their finals. The flight home will still be more affordable than a good private education in Belize. Also, the twins still have family and they will want to visit. I'll ship them home in time for finals, and they can stay here with their family until the weather turns cold again... Then fly back to sunny tropical Belize with Mama! What teenager wouldn't love that?!? Well...mine. lol As I touched on before, Abby seemed to be excited with our plan and Ben was not quite as gung-ho! Ben will miss his Friday Night Lights...Big Dog in the hallway of high school. I am torn about weather I should allow him to stay with his father for the school year. I had thought that might be a good idea, until I remembered how irresponsible that father is...sigh. And Ab is kind of getting cold feet. For the longest time, she seemed excited about a new culture, and 5 hours of cyber classes each day. The closer we get to time to fly, the less excited she seems about it. I thought I had a good plan, but I might be changing it up...think on my feet. I may allow the kids to try out staying with their dad for the remainder of this school year. That would give me several months in Belize without them. I would take a bunch of beautiful pictures and send them off in hopes of bringing the twins around to how much fun I'm having. If their grades and attendance are good with their father, then the choice is theirs. If their schooling slips (as I predict) then they are not so far behind that I can't help them correct it via cyber school. This is all so confusing. I don't know how it will play out...SIGH