Host an exchange student

Each year, students from all over the world come to the United States to learn English and experience our unique culture. Hosting one of these students in your home is an incredible opportunity for your family. My parents hosted six students for a year each, as well as countless short-term stints with summer programs from Japan.

Desiring to give a full picture about the hosting experience, here are three different perspectives about what this host mom thing is all about…

Academic Year in America (AYA) host families who have double-hosted exchange students share the benefits of hosting multiple students!

Here's a look at the benefits of hosting an exchange student and some of the hosting requirements to help you determine if it is right for you.

Interested in learning more about hosting an exchange student from a seasoned host mom? Read some helpful hosting tips here.

I hope you found this post because you are thinking about being a host family for a foreign exchange student. I wrote a post earlier offering advice to students thinking about becoming an exchange …

Make rules. If you have kids, expand on their rules. If you don’t have kids (in living the house), make rules. It is better to have too many rules than too few. It’s easier to take away something, or be slack on it, then it is to add a rule. And each student presents you new things that you will need new rules about. For example: I thought it would be common curtesy not to talk to FaceTime/phone on speaker in the common areas where people are trying to do other things. It is not. We had to…

10 Tips for Hosting a Foreign Exchange Student. Hosting a foreign exchange student is an exciting opportunity, but it often comes with a little hesitation as you welcome a stranger from the other side of the world into your home. I’ve hosted 3 students myself, plus I had an exchange sister in high school and I’ve worked with exchange students from all around the world for a few years now, so I feel like I’ve learned a thing or two. Click through to read my best tips.

What is a welcome basket? Well its a basket that welcomes. Duh. Seriously though, we use to introduce our students to some local snacks and goodies, we include some useful items, and of course it is supposed to make them feel welcomed into their new home. So what do we put in them? It varies every year but we do have some standards that go in such as:Snacks and candy (we are from North Carolina, so we lean towards southern goodies but branch out to include just Americanness)(do not forget to…

Has your family considered hosting an exchange student? It's been one of the most rewarding experiences we've had. Here's why we're doing it again!