moving to Germany with middle school child

@Kittie Sullivan

Home schooling is forbidden in Germany; not going to go into why but that is the law. Get her along as far as you can and upon arrival you need to contact the local authorities to inscribe her. They should test her abilities and likely put her into a special program to concentrate on getting her German up to par. There is the possibility she ends up falling behind a year academically but not a big deal in the long run. The gain of such an experience can well outweigh cost of a year. Most important is to get her German good enough to get along.

What can help is to get a private tutor in addition to school, say for an hour or two a couple of times a week. Many university students offer such services for much less than a professional and if they are good they might make up for a lack of professional training  and experience with enthusiasm and tailor-fitting to your child's needs with one to one instruction.

Many schools offer ”Förderklassen” that bring foreign kids up to speed in the language and other subjects. Ask your local ”Schulamt” which ones do! Depending on prior knowledge and adaptability, your child will be able to join normal classes after 6 - 18 months.

I don’t know what ”middle school” means, but if it is after primary school (i.e. above 10 years age), then you should also inform yourself about the avalable school types ”Gymnasium” (which has nothing to do with the English word!), ”Realschule” and ”Hauptschule/Werkrealschule”.

@Kittie Sullivan I'm I'm the same boat as you. My son is 10 and attends private school here in ATL. I've been researching intl schools in Germany and they're between 22 and 25k which is twice the amount I pay here. Do you know if the intl schools are the only ones a child can attend and reintegrate themselves back into the school system here without having to repeat a grade or do extra stuff?

My daughter(13 year old) has been recently accepted into a German gymnasium and she will be moving from her international school to Gymnasium this school year.  We moved to Germany from India without any knowledge of German language. There was no option except international school for first year. Then last year November we contacted gymnasium and expressed our interest for a change as we can’t afford international school for long time. The provided us with a year long process that my daughter has to follow. Most importantly B2 level German and good mathematics and another European language.  It’s not easy but she was able to get B2level and then she has to write few exams in school and attend classes. They assessed her interactions with teachers and students.

After all this now we finally got mail that she is selected and can join Gymnasium.

Important note: she has to repeat class 7. If she performs extraordinary good they may consider upgrading but it’s not easy.

Without deutsch nothing works

We purchase books of gymnasium class 6 and studied them at home for last 9 month. Maths and German. Remember maths test will be in deutsch and knowledge of B2 level will be useless if you have not studied mathematics terms in German language.

Last but not the least. Timely communication with gymnasium. You will not get response if you reach out too late.

All the best. It’s difficult but your daughter can do it with your support. Just keep her motivated.