Relocating abroad with children is rarely just a logistics problem. Parents can arrange the visas, the shipping and the housing, and still be caught out by something simpler: a child who falls a year behind in maths, or who loses the language of instruction they will need when the family moves home again. Keeping up with the curriculum from the home country is the usual answer, and for French families abroad that often means an online platform covering the national programme — learn more.
Decide early what “coming home” looks like
The single most useful question is whether the children will eventually re-enter the school system back home. If the answer is yes, or even maybe, curriculum alignment matters more than the prestige of the local school. Systems diverge quickly: the order in which topics are taught, the exams that count, and the point at which pupils specialise all differ from one country to another.
The three usual options
• A local school: the cheapest route and the best for integration, but the curriculum will not match home, and instruction will be in the local language.
• An international or home-country school: closest alignment, strong continuity, but places are limited and fees can be substantial.
• A local school plus online coursework from home: a middle path many families end up with, keeping the social benefits of local schooling while maintaining the home curriculum in core subjects.
Where children actually fall behind
Experience from relocating families points consistently to the same subjects. Maths suffers because topics are sequenced differently, so a child can miss a whole unit that is assumed knowledge later. The home language suffers because reading and writing in it stop being daily activities. History and civics suffer simply because they are national by nature.
Science and modern foreign languages usually travel better, so they are rarely where the effort needs to go.
A workable routine
Families who make this work tend to keep it modest and consistent rather than ambitious:
• two to three sessions a week in the home language, 30 to 45 minutes each;
• one maths session a week following the home curriculum sequence, to catch gaps early;
• reading in the home language most days, including books the child actually enjoys;
• a check against the home curriculum each term, rather than a panic in the final year.
Online platforms suit this well because the material is structured by year group and subject, with exercises and corrections, so a parent does not have to teach the content personally — a real consideration when both parents are working in a new country.
What to check before you go
• the enrolment rules for returning pupils in your home country, including any assessment on re-entry;
• whether the local school recognises previous years of schooling for placement;
• which national exams your child may need, and at what age they are taken;
• the cost of international schooling versus local schooling plus online resources;
• whether your employer contributes to education costs, which is common in relocation packages.
Keep it proportionate
Extra coursework on top of a full school day in a foreign language is demanding, and the first few months abroad are already an adjustment. Start light, protect weekends, and increase only once the child has settled. A year of steady, modest effort beats three intense months followed by refusal.
In short
Moving abroad does not have to cost your children continuity. Work out whether they are likely to return, focus on the two or three subjects that genuinely drift, and keep a light weekly routine in the home curriculum. It is far easier to maintain alignment than to rebuild it later.
