We do not write about this option very often, but students can become an important force in the swapping world. Mobility programs abide and there’s no better way to solve the accommodation problem than to swap houses with a student coming to your city (does not need to be to the same University).

We have the Study exchanges forum for people who specifically want to swap houses driven by academic related motives. Right now, there are mostly offers of people looking for an opportunity to improve their skills in a foreign language by experiencing it first hand, living as a local - one thing home exchange is perfect for. But, you can expand this and swap houses while you take a semester or a post-graduate program in another country. If you find the right partner you won’t have to sub-let your place, it will be taken care of, and you’ll have a home away from home without spending any extra money. It also works for teachers, professors and researchers!

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Field trips are probably one of the most interesting activities one gets to experience in school. If you are home schooling your children then you can use home exchange to take your kids to destinations never reached by school field trips and you can do it more frequently. You can swap both within your country and abroad, without being drawn back by the costs. As you may know by now, home swap is close to being the perfect option for family travel and costs much less than the other lodging alternatives.

Some lessons that can be learnt while swapping:

Geography - travelling could help in several topics related to geography, like:
– Natural environments: you can visit parks, reserves, Natural Heritage Sites, areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
– Different cities that sustain their economies on different activities or have different organization patterns (fishing towns, cities with ports, cities in rural areas, small cities, huge metropolis).

Image by Rosemary Ratcliff /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Science/Biology - while travelling your children could get in touch with different species, different environments, natural cycles, tides, climate… If you live in the city and swap to a rural house you will have hands on training on plant growth, farm animals, and depending on how far from a big city you get, even an astronomy lesson in a clearer sky.

Languages - the advantages of getting your kids hear a foreign language from native speakers and interact with them to practice their own pronunciation is priceless.

History/Arts - visiting museums and art exhibits, taking tours in historic sites where tour guides can tell the story with those interesting little details that get kids involved, attending different musical shows, listening to traditional music from different areas/countries.

Physical Education - Trekking, biking, swimming, surfing, skiing, attending sport matches or learning about non-professional sports…

Extra lessons:
– Respect other people’s possessions.
– Learn about how differences make people interesting.
– Get in touch with different cultures.
– Using the Internet.
– Trust.

As we always say, home exchange may fit into several plans and home schooling seems to be one of them. There is another plus: as you won’t be tied to school schedules you would probably be able to travel during the off-season which means you can get better deals at attractions, less crowded tours and many other advantages.

Some useful resources about home education:
HEAS - http://www.heas.org.uk/
Education Otherwise - http://www.education-otherwise.org/
A family that shares their experience

Image by jscreationzs /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many people are choosing to teach their kids at home instead of sending them to school. There are different reasons one may opt to do this:

- Have children learn in a non-structured way and at their own pace.
- Have your kids spend more time with their family.
- Reduce the stress that many kids often face in school, specially regarding grades are tests.
- Explore the real world directly and not as much from books. This is related to providing an education that is centred in knowledge itself and not gaining the skills to pass a certain exam.
- Introduce ethical considerations in the “lessons” and share your beliefs with your children.
- You are obligated by the circumstances (for example, you have to travel a lot with your family due to work commitments)

The statistics show that home schooling is not the choice of any special group, this option is chosen by ordinary people around the world wherever this option is admitted. Among the countries that allow home education are Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the US, the picture varies and each State has its own policies. In the UK, there is no obligation to send children to school, the Directgov website puts it this way:

“Most parents send their child to school, but you do have the right to educate your child at home. As a parent, you must ensure your child receives a full-time education from the age of five.”

If you are interested in this option, we recommend you start your research in the Directgov website dedicated to the subject by clicking on the following link: Educating your child at home

Things that could vary from one country/state to the other:
- The need to have a special qualification to teach your child at home.
- The obligation to follow a certain curriculum according to your child’s age.
- The need to sit exams on a regular basis to prove your child’s progress.
- The rules to withdraw your kid from the regular school system legally.

The flexibility of both home schooling and home exchange may give you a great opportunity to combine them and we will get into this in our next post (or posts)

Spain has the largest number of listings in HomeForHome. We have previously featured Barcelona and Malaga, two highly desired Spanish destinations, but there are several other pleasant destinations just waiting for you. An advantage of such an exchange would be the opportunity to practice a foreign language. We said it almost a year ago:

“The best way to learn a language is to get yourself in a country where it is spoken. This way you really drench yourself in the culture, you are constantly absorbing new vocabulary from the road signs, the posters, the conversations you over-hear on the metro – and most importantly of all – you make friends you can talk with.” (28-01-2009)

To maximize the gain and fully absorbs the daily conversations, it would be a good idea to start the immersion in advance. Fortunately, the Internet provides us with such wonderful tools these days, we can do this at home.

For example, for those wishing to try home exchange with someone in Spain or other Spanish speaking country we found this great website called Lenguajero, that not only allows you to practice your Spanish skills but also has some great tools and resources to help members expand their vocabulary and improve their writing. Lenguajero allows English and Spanish native speakers to interact and have conversations in both languages.

Lenguajero has a growing community of over 4000 members, split equally between English and Spanish learners from USA, UK, Canada, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and other countries. If you check out this site and its blog, you may also find some advice on living and travelling (maybe through home exchange) to South America, so it’s a learn-learn deal!

Taking time off to enjoy a relaxing vacation is not the only opportunity to exchange homes, as we have mentioned in previous posts. This time we will highlight one of the many situations in which home exchange may simplify things, not only from an economic perspective, but also for its practical advantages.

There are thousands of short educational alternatives these days, from short seminars to congresses and continuos development courses. Many of them offer a great opportunity for people looking to build up their careers and are most likely to take place in a different city or even a different country. As in most trips, lodging may end up accounting for an important part of the cost.

Home exchange benefits potential students in a number of ways:

1. It eliminates lodging expenses.
2. It lowers extra expenses that arise when other alternatives are chosen, like buying meals/refreshments or even local transportation if car exchange is included in the swap agreement.
3. It opens the possibility for the family to tag along, and maybe even enjoy a relaxing weekend away after the course is completed. For those that need to travel with small children, contacting your exchange partner in advance may offer the possibility to get ideas about trusted day care facilities or babysitters that could be useful while you are attending the event.

HomeForHome offers thousands of worldwide exchange opportunities for you to match your needs.

If you’re a student or just someone who is interested in doing some temporary work aboard, the internet really is the best way to go about organizing your trip.

To start with, home exchange can cover your accommodation. If you’re thinking of staying abroad for a few months, you’ll have to make sure that you search for people who are interested in a medium-term exchange too. It depends on where you want to go and how long exactly you’re planning to be away. It’s best to try and be flexible and open to different ideas. At the same time, don’t be afraid of making suggestions to other users about longer term exchanges.

In order to find yourself a job, you can have a look on some of the international websites that offer job listings. It’s a very simple process, and all you have to do is put up your CV and fill out some personal details. For example, http://www.infojobs.com can help you find jobs across Europe and South America. It’s a great resource to have if you’re looking for temporary work.

So if you’re planning to work abroad for a few months, get planning straight away! The internet puts the world at your feet.

Depending on which country you come from, television and film abroad can be riotous.

Alternatively, they can leave you flabberghasted, wondering, “Do people actually watch this stuff?” I often wonder how anyone can enjoy a TV film when there is a commercial break that lasts up to 25 minutes half way through. 25 minutes!!!

But one of the brilliant things about being abroad, from a lanugage perspective, is that you have such ample opportunity to listen and practise the foreign tongue.

You can relax at home in the house of your exchange partner, with a deliciously home-cooked dinner, bursting with freshly picked out local ingredients… and the simple exercise of watching TV at home will be transformed into a new cultural experience.

In the same vein, if you’re a lover of cinema, there are plenty of international picture houses across Europe. You can treat yourself to a genuine romantic cinema experience in a foreign country, in a foreign world.

Another great idea is going to a film festival during the summer. If you’re a cinema fan, there is no greater pleasure than sipping a chilled beer on your deck-chair, surrounded by palm trees gently swaying in the night-time breeze, absorbing to your heart’s content 7 varieties of short films from all across the world.

Films and television are a couple of the many media through which you can practise and learn a new language. All made that little bit easier through home exchange.

Depending on the time of retirement, sometimes it can be difficult to maintain the speed and activity of your social life. If you are amongst the first of your friends to retire, it can feel a little isolating.

Conversely, finding the pace and rhythm of life that suits you the best can often be trying. It can be question of getting around to doing those things that you never had time to do during your working life. Or it can involve enjoying your interests, pursuing leisure or educational pursuits.

Getting involved in new communities and making new friends who are at a similar stage of life is also important. As is travelling. As a home-exchanger, one of the fruits of the process is that you come across a rich variety of people from all walks of life. But as a retired person, it can also be a way of finding new friends within the retirement community, across the globe.

Not only will fellow retired exchangers have the same time flexibility as you, but they will also be able to take longer exchanges. This can easily result in a close and worth-while friendship.

It can also be a way to aid with other common retirement goals. Study of a foreign language, architecture, history, sports, writing, or photography for example. Overseas travel can aid all of these activities by providing ample space and opportunity to develop new skills, draw inspiration, and find new subject matter.

Friendship and personal development are very important concepts throughout the whole of life, but in retirement specifically. Home exchange is a great way to expand upon these within a friendly and worldwide community.