We hadn't really thought about hosting an exchange student until last year. A friend, who volunteers with AFS, contacted us in January with a request to host a student from Egypt that needed a new host family mid-year. We had just returned from a trip to Egypt, so she thought it might be a good fit. We felt didn't know enough about hosting to commit so quickly, so we passed.
Several months later, that friend approached us again to see if we would be interested in hosting. That opened the door to researching it and many family discussions. We started the process with the understanding that anyone in the family had the opportunity to veto it up until the time we selected a student. Our biggest concern was finding the right fit for our family, so AFS allowed us to look at as many bios as we wanted. We selected some base criteria and were given over 150 bios to consider. We quickly worked down to a top 20, then a top 3. We had our friend weigh in on the top 3 and she recommended Max from Germany as a good fit. We agreed with her and set things in motion.
Getting school approval turned out to be a long ordeal. Since it was summer break, we had a difficult time contacting people. It took about a month to get the approval. Then we were finally able to contact Max and his family about three weeks before he was due to arrive. We cleaned out the guest room, bought basic school supplies, and waited anxiously for Arrival Day!
Several months later, that friend approached us again to see if we would be interested in hosting. That opened the door to researching it and many family discussions. We started the process with the understanding that anyone in the family had the opportunity to veto it up until the time we selected a student. Our biggest concern was finding the right fit for our family, so AFS allowed us to look at as many bios as we wanted. We selected some base criteria and were given over 150 bios to consider. We quickly worked down to a top 20, then a top 3. We had our friend weigh in on the top 3 and she recommended Max from Germany as a good fit. We agreed with her and set things in motion.
Getting school approval turned out to be a long ordeal. Since it was summer break, we had a difficult time contacting people. It took about a month to get the approval. Then we were finally able to contact Max and his family about three weeks before he was due to arrive. We cleaned out the guest room, bought basic school supplies, and waited anxiously for Arrival Day!
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