Home schooling

What was legalized last year is that students who are home schooled can now take their 12th year exams in Bulgaria to prove their education and get their diploma. Most of those exams will be in Bulgarian, but whether your child will have to take them depends on whether you will be here or will return to your home country before then. I believe most foreign families that home school actually bypass the Bulgarian system completely by getting a yearly curriculum from their home country (the US has MANY curricula available, not sure about the UK) that they follow and send in to a governing board in their home country every year--- which will eventually result in a degree that is recognized by some universities but not all.

Hopefully someone with actual experience will jump in because that is just what I know from following the news about it. (Our littles are not in school yet).

We would like to know how to start with home schooling here in Bulgaria, as we don't like our daughters to go to school here.    They speak English and Bulgarian and they are at age of 10 and 7 years old.
Where do we get information  on how and what to teach the children, internet schooling, or what is needed to do all the administration to be in line according the law with Bulgarian home schooling.   I understood that it is allowed officially since 2016, but can't find any more information as the governmental institutions try to keep it away, due the lack of students at primary schools. 
Any links or information some one?      my email is;  xxx
hope to hear you soon as we received very angry phonecalls from people who told us to sign protocols or they would send us the police ?!

Lucimilena wrote:

We would like to know how to start with home schooling here in Bulgaria, as we don't like our daughters to go to school here.    They speak English and Bulgarian and they are at age of 10 and 7 years old.
Where do we get information  on how and what to teach the children, internet schooling, or what is needed to do all the administration to be in line according the law with Bulgarian home schooling.   I understood that it is allowed officially since 2016, but can't find any more information as the governmental institutions try to keep it away, due the lack of students at primary schools. 
Any links or information some one?      my email is;  xxx
hope to hear you soon as we received very angry phonecalls from people who told us to sign protocols or they would send us the police ?!

If you don't know what or how to teach, you aren't equipped (right now anyway) to be homeschooling.  Successful homeschooling requires dedication and preparation.  As they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!  While many people think it's a great idea, they (or the children) just aren't suited for it.  You have to consider not just covering the "curriculum" materials, but also finding extra activities for your kids where they can explore what they like and interact with their peers and have friends.

If you're already receiving pressure and threats of police, you might want to go ahead and send them to local schools for the time being since they speak the local language, until you can properly explore and prepare for homeschooling.

Some useful links though which can help:
Bulgarian Homeschool Association
HSDLA's Bulgaria Page

To go off of Kojidae's post, you can go under an "umbrella" school, like USA's HomeLifeAcademy or West River Academy, which is open to families worldwide of any nationality.  You technically have your kids enrolled at a "private" school for legal purposes, however you are allowed the freedom of homeschooling. 

You might also search for Facebook groups on this subject, local to Bulgaria...

Romaniac
Expat.com Experts Team

thank you for your reply Romaniac, my wife is a teacher herself and we connected already with this organisations.

Hi everyone. We are from Israel and  in the next two months we will live in sofia- Bulgaria. We have 2children 8+10years old and we look for home schooling (we have  enough experience in home schooling) and we look to for   "umbrella" by  west river academy. Please someone have experience with this school? Is it enough for  home schooling  because we just need it for umbrella and to have a legality cover without any problems with the authorities .  So please someone was in this situation? and what the best way to do. thanks

Hi there,

If I do understand your post correctly, you and your family will be living in Bulgaria for the next 2 months, probably July and August.
In this case please note, that in Bulgaria July and August are normally vacation months for all school kids, no matter of their age. So you will have no obligations to any local authorities regarding any type of schooling.
This means that you can do whatever type of home schooling you like with or without a formal "umbrella". This is valid till 15-th of September, when the regular school year in Bulgaria starts.

Even of your stay here starts in June, actually you are more or less in the same situation, having in mind the age of your kids. There are some differences this year, mainly due to the Corona crisis.

However, just to be on the safe side you can check with the provided link for Bulgarian Homeshooling Association

Hi Kristian,
We arrival at bulgaria after 2months and want to stay, so we prefer home schooling. the questions if someone use the service of the school west river academy in Bulgaria? does this school  enough and give us an  umbrella to have legality cover without any problems with the authorities .

Thanks

I it's been few years since this topic was created.
Have the legislation changed since then ?

Hi. I am looking to homeschool my kids ages 5 and 7. Any advice and help on how that work from Bulgaria?

@E.P.

Hi, i thought i may be able to help. I have been homeschooling my 7 year old since he was born, he didnt go to detski gradina (kindergarden)  however he has just started school first class this year.

Now i originally planned to homeschool all the way, but thats not how it works in bulgaria. If you want to homeschool you need to get the curriculum from the school and it all has to be signed off etc.

The school approached me and advised it is mandatory in Bulgaria for him to go to school. Now he is starting to learn the alphabet and doing 1+1 when we are writing sentences and doing long division at home! But i have found out that they only really do half days, and if i wish i can bring him home in the afternoon so i can homeschool. But i feel he needs to learn the language properly, he hasn't picked it up while we home school, so im going to see how it goes and fit in as much as i can at the weekends for now.

If your children have citizenship then i think they are obliged to attend, but its not mandatory for kindergarten.

I found this out on a Bulgarian government website, i will have a look for it and post it if i find it!

Hope that helps

Hello Holly,

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for sharing your experience of home schooling with @E.P.

And yes the official government website will most certainly be useful for members as well

Cheers,

Yoginee

Expat.com team

How will they learn Bulgarian at home?

Hi everyone . I am looking to move to Bulgaria, hoping to buy a house there and start a new life with my children . Does anyone know how easy it will be to get a visa etc ? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you

I believe its more difficult after brexit.

You can apply to your nearest embassy.

You will need bank statements

Health insurance or join and pay for bg

System.

Will need a lichna karte to own property..its a business card and put the property into that..quite simple

Need permission from childrens father and mother.if apart or one is apart.

Check google for most answers.good luck.

Hi everyone . I am looking to move to Bulgaria, hoping to buy a house there and start a new life with my children . Does anyone know how easy it will be to get a visa etc ? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you
-@allana1979

If you have specific questions I would suggest you start a new topic with your questions. 

Allana, unfortunately for non-EU citizens there are plenty of hoops to jump through to get a long term visa and eventually residency! I am assuming from your profile that you hold a UK passport and not an EU one? Brits can stay for 90 days out of every 180 without needing a visa. To get the 6 month D visa, the first step to staying in Bulgaria longer term, there are a number of different ways to qualify. None are especially quick or easy and all will need some advance planning.

There's been loads of discussion on this topic, as since Brexit it's affected many British members of the forum. Plus there are US and other non-EU members here who've been through the same visa process. So a good place to start is to do a search for D visa on the forum, and you will find a huge amount of information. You can see what the various options are to qualify for the D visa, and then be better informed to ask specific questions in a post you start on the topic, as SimCityAT suggested.

Make sure when you read other posts or articles on the topic, either here or elsewhere on the internet, that the person is referring to the post-Brexit requirements for UK passport holders and not a pre-Brexit experience of getting residency. I see some estate agents are still giving the impression in their property listings that you buy a house in Bulgaria and move when it suits you. It's a teensy bit more complicated than that! The property (bought or rented) is just one part of the process.

It's very different after Brexit! Not impossible, but it is more difficult and needs more paperwork and preparation.

    @E.P.
Hi, i thought i may be able to help. I have been homeschooling my 7 year old since he was born, he didnt go to detski gradina (kindergarden)  however he has just started school first class this year.

Now i originally planned to homeschool all the way, but thats not how it works in bulgaria. If you want to homeschool you need to get the curriculum from the school and it all has to be signed off etc.

The school approached me and advised it is mandatory in Bulgaria for him to go to school. Now he is starting to learn the alphabet and doing 1+1 when we are writing sentences and doing long division at home! But i have found out that they only really do half days, and if i wish i can bring him home in the afternoon so i can homeschool. But i feel he needs to learn the language properly, he hasn't picked it up while we home school, so im going to see how it goes and fit in as much as i can at the weekends for now.

If your children have citizenship then i think they are obliged to attend, but its not mandatory for kindergarten.

I found this out on a Bulgarian government website, i will have a look for it and post it if i find it!

Hope that helps -@Holly1

hi

i know your comment is old. i was wondering how long it took for the school to contact you? im moving with my 2 kids (3 and 14). 14 year old is disabled. cant follow main stream education. he follows an international school currently and is doing a lot better than anyone thought he would.

@Suzi Masterson

Suzi, according to what someone said further up the thread, if your child is enrolled in a recognised school, even an overseas one, that should count as being enrolled in a private school, which should meet the Bulgarian government's requirements for compulsory education.

There were some links posted to the Bulgarian Homeschool Association and another homeschooling organisation who might be able to give you more information.

    @Suzi MastersonSuzi, according to what someone said further up the thread, if your child is enrolled in a recognised school, even an overseas one, that should count as being enrolled in a private school, which should meet the Bulgarian government's requirements for compulsory education.There were some links posted to the Bulgarian Homeschool Association and another homeschooling organisation who might be able to give you more information.        -@janemulberr

i missed that

ive just read on the website Private schools must follow government educational standards and must be licensed by the state via the Ministry of Education (Art. 38-40).

if ive read that correctly then the school must be registered in bulgaria. most virtual schools are uk or usa

I think depending where the school is accredited overseas, it should still work. I guess it depends how letter of the law vs spirit of the law they want to be.  They have to show they're making an effort to meet the educational needs of kids from families and groups where education may not be highly valued. A parent who clearly is focused on educating their children to a good standard and showing good homeschooling plans may be enough to tick their boxes.

Maybe check with someone from the homeschooling group, if it's still active? Or there may be a Facebook group?

The school year is winding down now, so I doubt any officialdom will contact you till late autumn at the earliest. Especially as he has special educational needs, my feeling is an international school registration and a good written plan showing what his needs are and how your homeschooling meets them will be enough.  Getting his SEN reports from the UK translated would help, too, if it comes to it.

Just thinking from the point of view of him learning Bulgarian, is there a way to give him some activities with local kids, too?

    I think depending where the school is accredited overseas, it should still work. I guess it depends how letter of the law vs spirit of the law they want to be.  They have to show they're making an effort to meet the educational needs of kids from families and groups where education may not be highly valued. A parent who clearly is focused on educating their children to a good standard and showing good homeschooling plans may be enough to tick their boxes.
Maybe check with someone from the homeschooling group, if it's still active? Or there may be a Facebook group?

The school year is winding down now, so I doubt any officialdom will contact you till late autumn at the earliest. Especially as he has special educational needs, my feeling is an international school registration and a good written plan showing what his needs are and how your homeschooling meets them will be enough.  Getting his SEN reports from the UK translated would help, too, if it comes to it.

Just thinking from the point of view of him learning Bulgarian, is there a way to give him some activities with local kids, too?
   

    -@janemulberry

we dont have a visa yet so legally mt son is home educated through the uk. we are looking at the appointment in august/sept being realistic (allowing the solisitor time to get everyting together and time to wait for the embassy.

i have read that you have to be a qualified teacher to teach at home even in bulgaria! it does seem a tad crazy.

my son does lots of things already. they aremt from proper schools so simply wont meet the criteria. so we need to add to it.

there isnt really a home ed group (ive been looking for one) im trying to find a solicitor to guide me. i cant even find an education solicitor .

its so un clear whats legal and what isnt,

I am so sorry! I hope someone currently homeschooling in Bg will see this thread has been reactivated and share their experience.

@Suzi Masterson

I've never heard of an education solicitor.

I can ask my family, which are pretty much all or ex-teachers and governors of schools if you like?

@SimCityAT

you get them in the uk, usa, france etc.

ive used one in the uk when the local educationan authority over stepped years ago

@Suzi Masterson HI, the school actually came to my house and told me he had to go to school , it's mandatory. This was when he was 7, about 2 weeks before he would start first grade. (They start a bit later here)

I think home school is far better than the institution, however he would not have learned bulgarian or had the experience he has had if he didn't attend school. Plus I can still teach what I want to after school.

If you need any specific information, let me know, I can call the English teacher at the school and ask him. He is very helpful!

@Suzi Masterson

I just came back from a few days in beautiful Bansko. If you haven't been, or haven't considered it, I suggest you check it out!

While there I had a very interesting conversation with a French expat who is homeschooling his two children (and has been doing so for the last year or two, since they moved here).

It seems Bansko is a popular location for hosting events. The do for Digital Nomads is regular thing, I think. But he said there's an event for home schoolers too, and they first came to Bansko to learn about this (and then stayed in Bansko because they liked it so much). So maybe you can track this down? I think they call it World Schooling, and they have a Facebook group, and Dr. Google has a bunch of links you can explore...

https://www.educationnext.in/posts/bans … -the-world

https://www.notextingandtacking.com/13- … ffordable/

He said he's met a number of expats homeschooling in Bulgaria. He said his experience (and his understanding from talking to others) is that Bulgaria will chase Bulgarian children, but is not particularly concerned with the children of expats. I'm not sure this a formal exemption for foreigners, but perhaps they just a blind eye. Although I suppose it might matter whether you are in a city or a large town... if you pick a small village and your kids are 20% of the school-age population, it might be a different story. :-)

    @Suzi Masterson
I just came back from a few days in beautiful Bansko. If you haven't been, or haven't considered it, I suggest you check it out!

While there I had a very interesting conversation with a French expat who is homeschooling his two children (and has been doing so for the last year or two, since they moved here).

It seems Bansko is a popular location for hosting events. The do for Digital Nomads is regular thing, I think. But he said there's an event for home schoolers too, and they first came to Bansko to learn about this (and then stayed in Bansko because they liked it so much). So maybe you can track this down? I think they call it World Schooling, and they have a Facebook group, and Dr. Google has a bunch of links you can explore...

https://www.educationnext.in/posts/bans … -the-worldhttps://www.notextingandtacking.com/13- … ffordable/

He said he's met a number of expats homeschooling in Bulgaria. He said his experience (and his understanding from talking to others) is that Bulgaria will chase Bulgarian children, but is not particularly concerned with the children of expats. I'm not sure this a formal exemption for foreigners, but perhaps they just a blind eye. Although I suppose it might matter whether you are in a city or a large town... if you pick a small village and your kids are 20% of the school-age population, it might be a different story. :-)
   

    -@gwynj

as usual thank you

i think im just over thinking things because im now very commited to the official move . we are very very comiited now. visa appointment is ready to book this month.

ill try and stop over thinking and just get on with it

   
He said he's met a number of expats homeschooling in Bulgaria. He said his experience (and his understanding from talking to others) is that Bulgaria will chase Bulgarian children, but is not particularly concerned with the children of expats. I'm not sure this a formal exemption for foreigners, but perhaps they just a blind eye. Although I suppose it might matter whether you are in a city or a large town... if you pick a small village and your kids are 20% of the school-age population, it might be a different story. :-)
   

    -@gwynj

I'm not sure that this is actually the case: a couple of years ago I had an expat builder working for me; he had his son with him, and he had a lot of trouble with the education authorities.  I don't know exactly how the situation came to their attention, but the local school in the part of Sofia he was living in sent inspectors to his home address, followed by the police when he didn't respond to the notes they left.  Somehow, I ended up as his chauffeur-cum-interpreter, ferrying him to and from interviews with the authorities and even (allegedly ) letting him and the kid live in the apartment I was paying him to renovate, since it wasn't on the school's radar.  They didn't give up, and he eventually headed back to his country of origin to escape them; I wouldn't be surprised if he similarly "forgot" to send the kid to school when he got back there.

Reading the, rather sparse, Bulgarian information on the internet, one of the problems with trying to home-school children here appears to be what happens if they want to go on to tertiary education: in order to progress from primary school to secondary school here, you have to pass the "graduation exams"; likewise, there are graduation exams when you complete your secondary education.  These exams are both based on the official curricula; in order to go to a Bulgarian university, you have to present your secondary school diploma, and pass entrance examinations - there's no provision for entering university purely by passing the entrance exams, although having a secondary school exam pass in a relevant subject, Mathematics for example, will boost the mark you achieve for that subject in the university entrance exam.

I'm no expert in the subject, but it seems to me that attempting to homeschool a child all the way through secondary education, especially in a country where it's all but unheard of, is something of a mammoth undertaking.  There are two or three groups claiming to be devoted to homeschooling here, but they don't appear to be particularly/at all active - and the general reaction to them by the authorities seems to be along the lines of "rich people trying to bypass the state education system".  It all sounds like quite a hassle, especially as most people here are fairly bemused by the notion.

I discussed homeschooling with my Bulgarian lawyer today: in a nutshell, he said he's willing to bet that there isn't a single lawyer in this country specialising in the field.  He also said that he's willing to look at individual cases and research the legislation with a view to advising how the desired form of education and content could be tailored to meet Bulgarian legal requirements.  If anyone's interested, feel free to PM me, and I'll be happy to pass on his contact details.

@JimJ

To be clear, I don't have an ax to grind regarding this issue, I'm not a home-schooler. I am a teacher (or former teacher) so I am interested in wider educational issues, and will happily discuss them when the opportunity arises.

I made it very clear that I was recounting someone else's opinion regarding their experience of home-schooling in Bulgaria. It's hearsay, and while encouraging it's not legal advice. But, still, it seems like a very interesting anecdote when we're told that it's illegal here and you can't do it.

If the basic position is (as it often is) that your child is legally required to attend the local public school system, then there will always be some red tape in bypassing it, or some risks to ignoring it altogether. This is probably some bureaucracy to be navigated, rather than some "mammoth" undertaking.

There are definitely homeschoolers operating in many countries, including Bulgaria, so it's clearly possible.

The Bansko guy talked about the Bansko World Schoolers, so it seems plausible that this group has some insight into how to deal with this issue in Bulgaria. And he did not mention any aggravation being suffered by the others in the group.

I also bumped into someone in a similar group while I was hiking near Plovdiv. I was just relaxing in the waterfall on a hot day, while they were on an "educational field trip". They're based in the Rodopes just south of Plovdiv, and again they indicated that their little community had no issues with home-schooling here.

Separately, I think it's important to note that home-schooling is not synonymous with bypassing the wider educational system, and it's almost certainly better if it doesn't. There are plenty of online educational platforms where you can (remotely) follow a particular national curriculum and then get a relevant graduation certificate. Separately, there are some popular qualifications such as International GCSEs (IGCSEs) and International Baccalaureate (IB) that are widely accepted by most/all universities. Homeschooling a child to an IGCSE in Mathematics, for example, is unlikely to be particularly challenging.

There are also a number of standardized tests (SAT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, etc.) that someone could choose to coach their child for. These are widely accepted as a reliable indicator of academic potential. I had 99th percentile scores in my GRE and GMAT, so I was accepted into multiple top-tier universities (MIT, Oxford, INSEAD) for graduate study, even though I had no A levels and no university degree.

I agree that perhaps these tests and qualifications might NOT get you into a Bulgarian university. But I'm guessing that most expats on this journey are absolutely not interested in this option... especially as many Bulgarians aren't either!

@JimJ

As teacher, my more recent experiences of in-person secondary school education (public and private) were profoundly depressing. Mobile phones, social media, and online gaming are ubiquitous and appear to have a dramatic effect on children's well-being, their ability to focus on learning, and their achievement levels. While we all say we try to provide "differentiated learning", it seems more typical that our classes tend to end up being pitched closer to the lowest common denominator. In Bulgaria, in particular, the high smoking/vaping rate means you have this additional problem too.

I'm very old, and my high school studies are ancient history... but the 16-year-olds in my mathematics classes were struggling with the most basic stuff that I'd done at 11 and 12 (and some even before, in primary school). Now there are so many software tools, and ChatGPT, and easy internet searches that the default behaviour is to cheat and plagiarize (often without knowing that it's a bad thing). Basic literacy and numeracy were shockingly underdeveloped.

Having seen it firsthand, I can totally understand why folks think they will get a lot more done, a lot faster, if they focus only on their own children. While also being to minimize these external distractions.