Raising kids in Belize

Belize is a wonderful place to raise kids. It's never cold, so they can always play outside, even when it's raining. Most belizean kids spend a lot of time playing outside, so there's loads of playmates. Kids are not hovered over here. They are allowed to be outside unsupervised starting pretty young. They get the kind of childhood many of us remember having that kids in the US aren't allowed to have anymore. It's super safe. I don't worry at all about my kids getting taken. I seriously worry about crocodiles more than kidnappers. There's so much beauty, natural science, history, archaeology, and more. It's a natural learning environment. Nobody gets up in your grill about how to raise your kids. I do get a little flack for homeschooling, but that's it. None of the meddling granny crap you deal with daily in the US.

When i moved to Belize in 2004, I had several thoughts- home schooling or was it better to immerse them in the culture and head off to Local school. After looking at both options I chose to have them attend Sacred Heart and can share this was a great choice. They met friends, ( still to this day they have), and learned more about Belize then I could have imagined, quite quickly. The challenge was the History lessons of course, were about Belize, and so we worked hard to learn this. The following year, my Daughter wanted to home school in order to do her Junior and Senior year at once on an advanced program. I was a bit concerned about this option, and agreed to do it as a trial. She surpassed my expectations, and this ended up to be a terrific route to have ventured into.
As to raising teenagers in Belize, the concerns I had was for their safety of course, not just their education. So, i followed the same route as I did in the USA, met their friends, spent time with them with their friends and kept an eye with whom they were hanging around.
The things my Children got as a bonus of living in Belize, was the opportunity to see and live in a foreign culture, being willing to reach out of their comfort level and learning that truly relationships matter more then things.