Have you ever walked on a rickety wooden bridge in the middle of a lake and been completely surrounded by waterfalls in Croatia?

Have you visited another country’s huge, open field full of yellow chamomile flowers whose beauty took your children’s breath away?

Have you seen the bright, twinkling lights in crisp, cold air as you walk the street markets shopping for Christmas in Berlin?

Have you stood on the Charles Bridge in Prague that was built in the 1400s out of sandstone and eggs with wonder that it still stands today?

Have you watched the pink sunset reflecting off the peaks of the High Tatras, part of the Carpathian range in the spring?

HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED MOVING OVERSEAS, BUT THINK YOUR CHILDREN AND THEIR EDUCATION WOULD SUFFER?

You may not know what you’re missing!

My husband Dan and I have two daughters, Brittney is 16 and Melanie is 14. Six years ago, my husband worked in the aerospace industry and I worked in medical transcription. We lived the typical American dream. Our jobs were secure, we lived in our own home with a front porch and a fenced back yard, and our children went to a great public school in Michigan. All of that changed one summer when we went on our first mission trip to teach English and felt God calling us to come and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people in Poland. As a family, we prayed about this and had full unity about moving to Poland. We believe God was with us as we sold our house, without an ad in the paper or a sign in the yard. We took a deep collective breath, went to missionary training, started raising support, and purchased one-way plane tickets for all of us.

Our first challenge to loom before us was how to educate our children. Our oldest daughter Brittney has always resisted change. In Kindergarten, it was often necessary to inform her well in advance that tomorrow might be different. Even then, difficulties often arose. A substitute teacher would put her over the edge, and she would call me to come and get her from school. How would this huge change affect her at the tender age of 10? Melanie’s personality closely mirrors a daredevil, often adventuresome to the point of danger, but somewhat shy in a group.

With incredibly diverse personalities, we had some serious decision-making regarding our girls. Do we put them in national schools? Do we homeschool? Is this possible? We decided on homeschool because we knew the difficulties involved in adjusting to a different language, a new culture, and a foreign school all at the same time. I envisioned maybe one year of homeschool. We later attended a conference held by SHARE, an organization who helps homeschool families overseas decide on the best schooling options. At the conference, we heard that on average it takes 5-7 years to excel in a national school as a foreigner. They asked questions like, “What is the national anthem? How many kids’ camp songs do you know?” These are issues that require time for children to learn in a foreign culture – if they ever do. You typically don’t learn street talk and idioms in a second language.

Armed with new information, we decided to continue indefinitely with homeschool. We also decided the girls would need Polish friends as well as language acquisition, so we enrolled them in Polish schools for one day a week. We explained to the teachers that they would attend classes to listen to Polish and meet the other children.

One teacher decided to go ahead and give Brittney a test, but Brittney answered everything in Fahrenheit and the Polish use Celsius. We never did see a grade on that test!

There are a wide variety of homeschool programs available depending on the level of involvement you desire in teaching your own children. Teaching my children is definitely not my gifting, so six years ago, we chose a program on CD. In the last few years, our daughters have attended an online school with “real” teachers. This program best suits our family as one daughter is now in high school, with the second starting next year. They have separate deadlines they have to meet. I do not set them; so I don’t need to be flexible. Similarities abound to any other high school. They attend class 1.5 hours for each subject and have work assigned for each day. We see how this helps them to become well organized, self-motivated, and timely.

We were surprised to see the benefits of homeschool far outweigh the drawbacks. Our daughters each have a laptop and they can attend school from anywhere in the world. They only need high speed Internet. Traveling all over Europe seeing and experiencing more than we ever dreamed possible, our daughters have developed a worldview of life and not just an American view. We feel truly blessed to have lived first in a large city, Poznan, Poland for 1.5 years and now in a small town in Northern Poland for the last four years. With the changes in the Internet, they stay in contact with their friends in the United States but also they have developed other friendships that span the world! Because we live in Poland, they have learned Polish but also, because multiple languages are necessary and encouraged in Europe, Brittney studies German and Melanie studies French.

My daughters stay close to home, much more than when they attended public school. Sometimes all the “mom things” I need to do (i.e., menu planning, cooking, laundry) present timing problems when mixed in with school and ministry. This issue becomes something you learn to work around, finding ways to blend the responsibilities.

Our home has become the center of teenage girl activities; meetings, Bible studies, card games, board games and just about everything else. How do I feel about it? I absolutely love it!! Sometimes, I don’t have just two daughters but four or five. We also see this as an opportunity to train our children, and their friends, in the ways of the Lord. We have had to set limits on what times of the day Polish teenagers can come and visit, so that it will not interfere with school; but overall it has been a great experience blending the two cultures in our family.

Spending the last six years with my daughters, helping them grow and mature, and teaching them not only school subjects, but organization, cooking, respect--some of the finer points of a life education--has been an incredible time.

As I write this article, my family is preparing to experience some major changes. In June, we will be moving to Amsterdam, Holland so that my husband can attend seminary for the next four years. Our research revealed that it is illegal to homeschool in Holland. So, next year, Brittney will be a junior and Melanie will be a freshman and the girls will begin their transition out of homeschool. While we can apply for an exemption, we have decided the best solution at this time is to switch our daughters back to attending regular school. It took some discussion, time, and tears for us to start looking forward to this as a new adventure. I give the girls credit for their willingness to be open to checking out the new school and trying to decide what it means to them. Both girls have learned to trust what the Bible teaches, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”

Both daughters love their life abroad and have told us they feel blessed to live overseas. They have mentioned on several occasions that they think living in Europe is one of the best things we have done as family.

As we start looking ahead towards college, it seems that our children have unique qualifications. Not every applicant has lived abroad, traveled extensively, and speaks three to four languages. After completing her PSAT, we made a telephone call to Brittney’s first choice for college. They are ready to sign her up and have offered an attractive package.

Dan and I know that in helping our children learn a broad worldview of life, they will probably never live next door to us. Possibly, they won’t even live on the same continent. Brittney has a heart for Chinese girls. Melanie has a heart to study medicine to help people and wants to return to Poland to study to be a doctor. We’ll see where God leads them.

Over the years, we’ve had many different types of people who have talked with Dan and I saying, “Oh, I think God is leading me to go __[you fill in the blank]__, but it’s just not the right time for my wife or kids.” In our thinking, the right time may never come but if you think God is asking you to do something – it is the right time.

Most Christians who follow what Christ teaches have verses from the Bible that have great meaning to them. One of my favorite verses teaches me to ask myself, “How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?" As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.” You could be those feet!

What adventures would you like to take? What’s stopping you? Is it the thought of your children being deprived or left behind in some aspect? Is it fear? Evaluate your reluctance. Go, give it a try, have fun. Create great experiences and memories for you and your children.

You can always try it and try something else after a year or two. Turn it into a decision you make as a family. The experience is worth the risk, it has been for our family.

For now, Christine lives in Poland with her husband Dan and daughters Brittney and Melanie. As a family, they dedicated their lives to sharing Christ’s love by loving their neighbors as themselves. They entertain, build relationships, take new friends with them on outings—anything to display God’s love. Visit their Website at www.defeverfamily.org and learn how you can get involved or contribute to their support. Contact Christine at defeverfamily@hotmail.com

Scripture references: Romans 8:28 and Romans 10:14-15, respectively.