Though there's still frost in the air, I know that summertime will be here before you know it, and I'm already beginning to wonder what to do to fill the kid's days once the last school bell rings.  While I'm at work and the kids are home between activities, who will take care of them and what will they do?  Long full days of camp are not their thing, and don't quite meet my budget.  But they're too young to stay home alone.

A friend recently told me about a great opportunity to help someone else out while also helping yourself.  She decided to be a host family for an exchange student, and in exchange she received many benefits as well.  As a host family for an exchange student, she offered to provide a host home for a student during the summer months, while they had an opportunity to expand their education, see a new country and learn a new culture.  She made this opportunity possible for the host student by offering to provide free room and board, in exchange for them providing some much needed services for her. 

My friend, Susan, was more than pleased with the way this host exchange turned out.  Her host student was a pleasant addition to her home during the summer months, and while there the host student spent some time babysitting for her kids, walking the dog when the family was out all day, and even spending some much appreciated time with her elderly mother who lives with them.  But she found that hosting an exchange student provided even more benefits than those she had anticipated!  It turns out that opening up her home to a host student enriched the whole family's lives in many ways, offering her family the opportunity to learn more about her host student's culture and getting to see the many sites in her city renewed through the excitement of her host student's eyes.  By the end of the summer, host student and host family felt more like extended family than she could've ever imagined.

I am now looking forward to my recent decision to open my home up this summer to host an exchange student through Host & Care.  They have made the process easy and have helped me realize that it's great to be able to help a student travel and see the world, while also being able to meet my family's needs in the process!