Life in Aguadilla and Homeschooling

Welcome on Expat-Blog PRdreaming

I hope that other forumers will bring their input to your several queries soon.

Best of luck for your relocation

Regards

Greetings PRdreaming,

  Best of luck on your move to Aguadilla. When do you plan to go there? I don't know a whole lot about Aguadilla but we stay at the El Faro hotel when we go to visit PR. It seems like a nice enough pueblo. It's got a number of nice beaches, a mall and a waterpark nearby. It's always been a pleasant place for us to be. The only thing I didn't like about it was the absolutely horrible traffic on Rt.107 just before it intersects with Rt.2. Just try to make sure you don't have to go through that area any more than you need to. We will be neighbors at some point. My wife, daughter and I will be moving to the Rincon/Aguada area. I know nothing about home schooling there. But after doing some research I found a very good and new bilingual private school for our 8 year old daughter on Rt.2 right at the border of Aguada and Anasco. If you can't find any good home schooling options you might want to check out the MASIS school at www.masispr.org. Also go to www.clasificadosonline.com and you can see what some of the houses that are for rent or sale look like. Go to Google Earth and look at Aguadilla from there and you can get a good idea of the layout of the area. Good luck to you all and I hope you get more information from others.

Gregg

I know nothing about homeschooling in Puerto Rico, but I know that there are bilingual schools in the area. A quick google search reveals this one:

http://www.froebelbilingualschool.com/faqs.html

The one that Greg mentioned is another option. You might also want to contact the department of education to inquire about homeschooling. This is their website:

http://www.de.gobierno.pr/

And of course, the website is down, as usual.

Greg's description of the area is pretty accurate. Aguadilla is the most developed of the northwestern towns of the island. It has a small movie theater, a water park, two bowling alleys, an ice rink (seriously), a small mall, a small airport, a small golf course, some small colleges, a few small parks, a sports stadium, some excellent beaches, etc. It used to have a small air force base. Some of its amenities still stand today and some US government installations are still active, guaranteeing a few other expats in the area.

I have lived in Aguadilla and now live in nearby Isabela. We are a military family and are very familiar with Aguadilla and what it is to offer. Everyone's accounts are accurate and I am not sure what more I can add, but if you have any more questions please feel free to email me. A number of the military spouses on base in Aguadilla homeschool. There is a DOD school here for government dependents/military dependents, but it is not up to par with the States so many people choose to homeschool. They don't have a group formed, as they pretty much do it independently. There a number of other expats in the area too you could probably link up with over time. As everyone mentioned there are great beaches! What are your son's hobbies? There is a very organized swim team in the area. I also know of an excellent martial arts studio that offers children's lessons. I take kickboxing there and it is great!  Not sure what other options are available for non-military, but I am sure there are more than I mentioned. If you don't mind my asking, why did you pick Aguadilla? Just curious...

Hi Everyone - thank you for your replies. Very helpful! I was hoping that a free online homeschooling service would be available in Puerto Rico as it is in states. It is available but costs between 3k - 5k. I will keep searching for the best option for my little guy.

To answer Sunkissed question we are considering four different areas in Puerto Rico. But Aguadilla is number one on the list for its location, it also looks to be an area where my husband could use his aviation experience or medical experience for secular work and the most important reason is that we are volunteers in a worldwide Bible education work. We currently live in KY and are helping where the need is great in this area which is in a Spanish congregation. Puerto Rico has a need for english speaking volunteers to search for those are interested in learning the truth about the Bible. From what we understand Aguadilla has a large english speaking population.

We will be visiting in May - Aguadilla and a few different areas to get a feel for what would work best for our family.

Best of luck to you! Let us know if you have any other questions. People here are quite helpful.

We too are interested in Aguadilla and have been home schooling for over 20 years.  You should attend a HS conference.  They ate very informative.   You may like Son light curriculum.   You shouldn't have to spend 5k but, it will involve participation on your part.  Have you moved yet?  We are hoping to visit sometime before the fall.