Comments on: Growing Up Around the World: A Global Link Up!

By: Michelle Salerno

Michelle Salerno

I love this — I’m even using it with my older girls – soon to be 8th & 10th graders!

By: Natalie

Natalie

What an exciting idea! Kids so enjoy learning about other kids and how they live in our travel destinations. Once, while visiting Morocco, the local school let out for lunch and throngs of elementary school aged kids ran through the streets. It was a sweet moment to see that kids are alike in that way all over the world – RECESS!!!! 🙂 We will enjoy looking over the places you have listed! We have moved a lot and have spent time in Tulsa, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and now Austin if you’d like a bit of info from any of those places to add to your list! I see you have Austin already.

By: Malaya and Rainah Smith

Malaya and Rainah Smith

We live in Western Pennsylvania (45 minutes east of Pittsburgh).
We are a family of six (four children). The children’s ages range from 9-16. Dad has lived here for 26 years, Mommy, 19 years, and the rest of us have always lived here.
It is a nice small quiet country town where the librarians know us by name, and the local restaurant waitress remembers us and our family.
English is spoken here.
The foods here are the typical American foods.
Our summers are humid/sticky, our falls, mild and beautiful (usually), our winters can be mild to really cold and snowy, and our springs are pretty wet.
Most of the children attend public schools, although many do attend parochial ones, too.
We have always been a homeschool family.
There is a yearly festival held every Labor Day Weekend in Somerset county; it’s called The Mountain Craft Festival, and it celebrates our nation’s heritage. It is a very interesting festival. It’s like Colonial Williamsburg but not as big. We learn something every time we go.
If we ever had to move away, we would miss the small “towness” of our home.
We do not have a favorite book about our region.

By: Louisville, KY, USA

Louisville, KY, USA

– We are a family of 4 living in the Germantown/Schnitzelburg area of Louisville, KY with extended family nearby. Our immediate family has been here for 10 years.
– Louisville is not truly representative of Kentucky as a whole. It is a wonderful city with lots to do and see. It can feel like a southern city, and yet not. We are the home of Kentucky Refugee Ministries, an organization that works with local churches to bring refugee families here and set them up with an apartment/home, work if possible, furnishings, and some small comforts. We have resettled about 6000 families since the mid-eighties!
– English is the primary language spoken here, although with so many refugees resettled in our city, there are a lot of other languages spoken too.
– Louisville can claim the “Hot Brown” as an original dish created at the Brown Hotel. We also have Mint Juleps as an original.
– Our climate gives us 4 seasons with beautiful springs and autumns, and varying winters and summers. We usually get some amount of snow, and the summers can be very hot and dry, or full of thunderstorms.
– Most kids attend public or private schools, although numbers are growing for homeschooling.
– We homeschool.
– Lousville is known for the Kentucky Derby Festival. It now begins 2 weeks before the actual race with Thunder Over Louisville, a massive fireworks display. The week leading up to the Derby includes the Pegasus Parade, Great Steamboat Race, and hot air balloon race. Kids get out of school for Oaks Day the Friday before Derby, and the Derby itself is run on the first Saturday in May every year.
-If we had to move we would definitely miss friends and family, church and all of our wonderful parks.
– We do not have a favorite book that takes place here.

By: Camille Osterkamp

Camille Osterkamp

Muleshoe, Texas, USA
– Tell us about your family.
Our family is a lot of women! We have 4 girls ages 7, 5, 3 and 1! Plus 6,000 cows! My husband is a 4th generation dairy farmer. His family moved their dairy from California 11 years ago and his great grandparents moved to California from Holland around 1914.

— Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
We live in a small town in West Texas in the Panhandle. We’ve been here just over 10 years. It is very flat here and lots of farm land and not many trees. It’s cool in the mornings and evenings but gets nice and hot during the day!

— What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
There are no big buildings out here. At night you can see all the stars and where we live you can easily watch the sun rise and set on the horizon.

— What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
Mostly English however there is a large population of migrant workers in our area so a lot of Spanish too.

— What are some traditional foods there?
Being in South I’d say BBQ but Mexican food is also popular in our area! For our family a traditional meal would be Pulled Pork, Beans, Coleslaw and Pecan Pie, but our favorite place to eat out is a local Mexican restaurant and we love Chile Rellenos and enchiladas!

–Tell us about the climate where you live.
Mostly sunny, hot and dry. We do have regular seasons and in the Spring it can be very windy. We don’t normally have snow, but once or twice in the winter.

— What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
Most children go to public school. There are a few homeschool families but mostly everyone attends local public schools.

— What does school look like for your family?
We attend a nearby public school.

— Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
We are pretty remote, and there is nothing unique as far as activities go for our area.

— If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
There is no traffic at all! I grew up in a big city but I’ve definitely become accustomed to the slower pace of life out here. Also there is an amazing community that is very supportive of its members!

— Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
My girls enjoy L is for Lonestar, a Texas Alphabet! It’s helped them learn all about our state!

By: Jamie Martin

Jamie Martin

In reply to Amanda Gregg. That should be fine, Amanda, I'll keep it in mind!

By: Jamie Martin

Jamie Martin

In reply to Shannon. No worries, Shannon!

By: Jamie Martin

Jamie Martin

In reply to Mia White. That means so much, Mia, thank you!

By: Mia White

Mia White

Far and away the best link-up I’ve ever seen, let alone participated in. I’m over the moon with all of these incredible posts highlighting family life around the world. Thank you for your work in curating such a worthwhile collection!

By: Amanda Gregg

Amanda Gregg

Jamie – I totally goofed on the form. I submitted one for both of my girls, and then read we could do one per child. I did a second one in just my youngest’s name. Sorry for the mix up!