EMQ » January–March 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 1
The Globally Mobile Family’s Guide to Educating Children Overseas
By Karen A. Wrobbel
Wipf and Stock, 2021
147 pages
US$21.00
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Reviewed by Lynn Thigpen, emeritus IMB missionary and adjunct professor at Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia.
When my daughter was two years old, I attended my first homeschool conference. Exploring the convention for resources for our upcoming overseas journey was daunting. Would I need to homeschool? What were our educational options? The Globally Mobile Family’s Guide to Educating Children Overseas by Dr. Karen Wrobbel would have been most welcome those twenty-plus years ago. The book definitely fills a gap in the literature addressing the educational needs of third culture kids (TCKs) and missionary kids (MKs). Every family intending to work overseas would be wise to include this small volume in their luggage.
Well-researched and written by an expert with extensive experience, this resource covers virtually every possible educational option. Wrobbel formerly taught Christian school students and TCKs in Spain and Venezuela and now serves as a dean and education professor at Trinity International University. She has administrative and practical experience as a globally mobile mother and teacher.
After two introductory chapters about overseas moves and living, chapters three through eight address international schools, host country schools, homeschooling, distance education, boarding schools, and even one-room schoolhouses or homeschool cooperatives. Chapters nine through twelve discuss special needs, transitioning between educational options, transitioning to university, and thriving in the host culture. Each chapter explores the positives of the educational option, potential limitations, and additional considerations. Finally, each chapter ends with questions for reflection. Finally, Wrobbel includes four appendices with helpful resource lists.
Making decisions about the schooling of children overseas can be challenging. According to Wrobbel, “corporations and agencies who ignore the family when making a global assignment do so with a known risk to a successful adjustment and completion of the assignment” (123). To adapt an adage, when the children aren’t happy, nobody’s happy, and families can be tempted to leave the field. This guide could help tremendously by walking through the pros and cons of the available options. Wrobbel’s questions and discussion of limitations and positives helps families consider various factors. Applicable to any globally mobile family, this guide addresses the needs of missionary kids but includes options available to children of government and business employees. The book discusses realistic options, similar to those our daughter experienced with homeschooling, a homeschool cooperative, video school, and international school in three countries. As an adult, she studied education and ran her own one-room schoolhouse overseas. Wrobbel’s text covers all of these.
Do you know a new missionary family departing for the field? Gift this book. If you work with a sending agency, familiarize yourself with its content as you guide families. Some organizations have education consultants. They should carry this book as a reference and give it to every family they serve. Provide a copy to families during pre-field training and explore the text together as they prayerfully make decisions about the education of future overseas workers.
For Further Reading
Misunderstood: The Impact of Growing Up Overseas in the 21st Century, by Tanya Crossman (Summertime Publishing, 2016)
Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, by David C. Pollock, Ruth E. Van Reken, and Michael V. Pollock (Nicholas Brealey, 2017)
EMQ, Volume 59, Issue 1. Copyright © 2023 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
