Schooling

In an ideal world expats get the chance to visit their new country before finally agreeing to move there. One of the priorities for families with school-aged children is usually to check out various schools and enroll their children into the one that best meets their particular needs (or to ensure that they will be happy with the only school available to them). This is my third move overseas and the third time I've missed out on a 'look-see' visit. This time it was because my husband had just undergone surgery and didn't want to fly so soon after it and also because it was so close to Christmas and we had visitors booked in to see us in Trinidad. Anyway, I spent hours on the internet reading school reports. Houston has thousands and thousands of schools and I was really beginning to get bogged down with it all. Should I go private, move to an area which was renowned for great public school or go with a catholic school? I really didn't know what to do. In my heart I really wanted a catholic school as I'd had a great experience with catholic schools as a child, but I wondered whether the religion element would be too instense. Since I hadn't got the chance to visit I thought the best bet would be to enroll him in the British school to start with, and then reconsider once we had somewhere permanent to live and we were all more settled. We spoke to the school and arranged to visit the school a couple of days after arriving in Houston. We were taken to the classroom 3 year old would be joining and he stayed there whilst we toured the school. After the tour we went back for him. He refused to leave. That was the start of his official education in Houston. Since that first day he has attended 3 days a week, but asks every weekend can he go to school. I think that is an excellent picture of how much he enjoys it! He is still enjoying it and has settled in well. Whilst the school doesn't look as fancy as some of the other private schools in Houston I am more than happy with what he is doing and how well he's settled. I think we made the right decision.