Attracted to a slower pace of life and beautiful beaches, more foreign families are uprooting their kids, quitting their jobs, finding new ways to support themselves and moving to Mexico’s small coastal communities. Educating my child in Mexico is one of the best decisions I ever made.
Towns are responding and developing international and bilingual schools that cater to foreign children and accepting more foreign students into local public schools.
We are one of those families. In 2015, we left our jobs and home in the United States, moved to the small beachside community of Chacala, Nayarit, and enrolled our daughter in El Jardín y La Selva, a nonprofit community school. We had no idea when we dropped her off for her first day of preschool what a positive experience it would be.
As she is about to graduate from primary school, I’ve been reflecting on what she’s gained by attending a small school in coastal Mexico. I share these perspectives to help other families considering making a similar move.
Kids won’t “fall behind”; they’ll be light years ahead
One of the fears I had pulling my daughter out of the American school system and placing her in a small-town Mexican school was that she’d fall behind her peers in the U.S. True enough – when we returned to the States those first few summers, many of her friends were more advanced reading in English.
But I learned over time that the social and emotional skills she gained at El Jardín were far more important. Thanks to her time there, she’s more confident, creative and collaborative. Plus, now she reads and writes fluently in Spanish and English and is doing great in core subjects thanks to the school’s strong academic program.
Being plopped into a Mexican school without knowing the language or culture forced her to figure out how to advocate for herself, be more observant and experience what it’s like to be different. It humbled her as much as it frustrated her at times, but in the end, the experience made her more resilient and adaptable.
Small-town schools foster a culture of sharing
Like most beach towns in Mexico, in Chacala there are vast differences in the local population’s economic situation. Some families have lived here for generations, supporting themselves through fishing, domestic work and tourism. Others are relative newcomers from foreign countries and large cities in Mexico with greater wealth.
This means that both high and low-wealth students are part of the school community. While this is also true in many U.S. schools, because American neighborhoods are more economically homogeneous, the differences are starker in Mexico.
Our school has about a 4:1 ratio of low to high-wealth kids. So everything the school does needs to take this into account, from the way it fundraises and distributes scholarships, to how it plans school activities, fundraisers and excursions. Each child is given equitable access to the educational and extracurricular offerings according to their needs.
This fairmindedness extends to how the children treat each other. My daughter and her classmates come from all these backgrounds. They see the differences and disparities but instead of forming cliques, they have created a culture of sharing, not comparing. It amazes me to this day to see how generous they are with each other, regardless of their economic situation.
Celebration is an essential part of life
In addition to all the Mexican national holidays, coastal communities like Chacala have local celebrations, such as Mariner’s Day, Saint Raphael Week and arts and environmental festivals, in which students participate. Small community schools like El Jardín add other celebrations, such as Teacher’s Day, Family Day and International Children’s Day. The school year is longer to accommodate all the in-school celebrations and days off, but seeing your child experience so much joy, gratitude and community connections is so worth it.
Downtime is not “lost time”
Schools in small Mexican beach towns generally don’t have much going on in the way of after-school activities. The activities we do have are either at the school or within walking distance. Kids generally fill their time outside of school playing at each other’s houses, on the beach, at the local playground, on the plaza or relaxing at home.
There are times when I look at my friends’ social feeds and see everything that their kids are doing in the U.S. and feel like my daughter is missing out. But then I talk to these parents and they are exhausted from the frenzy of activities and their kids have zero downtime.
I’ve come to learn that there’s nothing wrong with downtime. It allows kids to connect with their friends and family, pursue a craft or hobby or — god forbid — spend time alone. Sometimes my daughter is bored. But I’d rather she be bored than oversubscribed.
Our experience has shown that there is nothing to fear and everything to gain by educating your child in a coastal community school like El Jardín.
El Jardín is one of many coastal schools dedicated to providing quality education to local children. Learn more about El Jardín and how you can support the project here.
Debbie Slobe is a writer and communications strategist based in Chacala, Nayarit. She blogs at Mexpatmama.com and is a senior program director at Resource Media. Find her on Instagram and Facebook.
Great insights and beautiful photos. Thank you.
Thank you Barbara!
If there had not been a private school to send your daughter to and she attended a public school, would you have been as satisfied?
Hi Bárbara, that’s a good question. As you probably know, the public school system in Mexico is not without its challenges. There is no public preschool in Chacala, so it would not have been an option for us. When we were doing our school search, we were looking for bilingual preschool options, which I think are probably only available in a private school setting.
I live near a small public school in Manzanillo. Certainly, there are challenges. For example, during COVID, the schools were closed and many of the children did not have access to computers for online classes. The classes were done by televisions (brought back memories for me). Fortunately, that spurred community donations to purchase 30 chromebook computers for the school. I have witnessed many of the things that Debbie spoke of – particularly the aspect of sharing. This is an engrained part of the culture in Mexico, borne out of necessity. I will say that the private schools do have some cliques (having discussed this with my young parent friends). However, it is more with the parents than the children. For example, my friend felt like she was being put down for not spending as much time with school activities because she had work obligations, whereas most of the other mothers did not have to work.
Great story, thank you! Your name sounds familiar and I wonder if we met in 2016 or 2019 at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference, where I gave a workshop on how to take advantage of a consultation with an agent. Does that ring a bell?
Hi Louisa yes! I was there in 2016 and totally remember your workshop! Nice to hear from you!
I totally agree. We lived in Mexico City for a few years in the late 1990s.
Our daughters attended 2nd/3rd and 5th/6th grades there.
They are both still bilingual now, and when we returned to the USA, they were miles ahead of their respective USA students. They both have used Spanish in their careers.
I spoke with my youngest, who is now in her mid-thirties, the other day and she said that she told one of her friends that living in Mexico was one of the best experiences she ever had. She also attended a Mexican school in Manzanillo for several months when she was in 9th grade. Invaluable experience!
Hi Lane, Thank you so much for sharing this. It’s heartening to see that your daughters valued their education in Mexico and are still using their Spanish in their careers. I hope my daughter can look back in 10-15 years and say the same!
Your experience is one of the many positive stories I hear every day. I am the editor of Lakeside News in Ajijic, Jalisco, one of Mexico’s 3 bilingual newspapers, so young famines talc to us about their stories and use our paper as a Spanish language teaching tool. In the 8 years since we bought our house here, I have found that the slower pace of life, more intense personal relationships, celebrations and music and art have made me younger, not older. We have a saying here on Lake Chapala: people retire her to die and they can’t because they are having too much fun.
Good comments Patrick,
Is your newspaper available on line? (Is it subscription?).
Have been to Ajijic 3 times, and am likely there in January 2025.
I also love my (part-time) life in Zihuatanejo.