I am very curious about the educational system in Uruguay. You are not quite ready yet, but when your kids are old enough how do you plan on schooling them? Home schooling is always an option, and my wife and I have decided that is probably the best way for us to go when we leave the States. International schools are great, but generally very expensive. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
By the way, you site is amazing. Thanks for all the hard work you have put into it. You have us convinced that Uruguay is a great place to move.
First, be aware that homeschooling is not allowed in Uruguay (otherwise we may go that route). Your children must attend school.
Public school is free, but from what we've heard it's very basic and only around 4 hours per day. Private schools are affordable. I'm sure there are some that are more expensive, but we've heard you can send your child to a private school for around U$S 3000 per year.
When it comes time to send our girls to school, we'll be looking into virtual schooling. These are schools accredited in the US that your children attend online. Since we'll be living away from Montevideo (where most of the good private schools are), we feel this will be the best option for us.
Again, this is a few years off for us, so perhaps someone with school age children can provide some input here?
Hi, well that's a fly in the ointment for us because we were planning on homeschooling for the rest of the year since we're planning on moving in January. Hmm! Do you know if Seton Home Study is considered/would be considered online school since it's accredited and work is submitted online for grading, etc.?
Well, at that time you'll still be here on a tourist visa, correct? I would think you should be fine. Plus the kids in Uruguay will be out on summer vacation until around March. I'm honestly not sure about Seton Home Study. The virtual schools we were looking at actually hold online classes and use webcams.
Hi All ! Public School system USED to be excellent until the 80's. Nowadays, there are some excellent public schools and there are some bad ones, depending on the neighborhood, town, etc.
For your guidance, there are at least 4 kind of public schools 1- regular (around 4 hours / day) 2- full time schools (from 8am to 5pm - meals included) 3- nursery schools (for little kids from 3 to 5) 4- special schools (for handickaped children) 5- fine arts school (to learn music, i. e.) 6- language schools (to improve english, french, portuguese, italian and german) 7- rural schools (8am to 5pm) 8- at home teaching (a teacher is sent to homes under "social risk"
In addition, as from 2007, One Laptop Per Child program has been applied, so a Laptop is granted for every pupil of public elementary school, and to high school commencing on 2010).
Regarding private schools, there is a wide range, from confetional to secular ones, and many belonging to ethnic communities like British School, Lycee Français, Scuola Italiana, Deutche Schüle, etc, etc.
When I was a child, all those learning by homeschooling and wanting to gain the necessary credits to continue studying at high schools, needed to pass an exam.
Mandatory education is up to 9th grade. Little kids from 4 to 5 years have also compulsory education. Summarizing, mandatory education runs from 4 years old to 15 years old, being 11 years, 2 at schools for little kids, 6 at school and 3 at pre-high school.
Anyway, all those not completing high scholl (10th-11th & 12th grades) are facing big problems when applying for a good job.
Ii is true that grammar school is 4 hours per day but uruguayan education is superior in every sense (grammar and high school, through college) than almost anywhere. I tell you from experience and from what I've seen. I've been all over the world and would not trade my uruguayan education for anything anywhere. Even physicians and engineers are better trained. A high school education in Uruguay is pretty much equivalent to a regular college education in the USA, particularly in the humanities and social sciences.
I fully agree with Julian, I believe BOTH public AND private schooling is AT LEAST as good as public and private schooling at any other western educational system, and professionials as well as children's education is up to par universally. In fact, often professionals who emmigrate may have sometimes challenges with their language ability, but VERY rarely with their professional or educational formation. Any of the top private schools in Montevideo, have many graduates who have excelled at universities, even like Harvard, MIT and London School of Economics, just for your reference. Mind you, there are not few graduates from PUBLIC Universities, who have ALSO gone on to specialize in such schools abroad.
