I think that our exchange student is feeling some pangs of being homesick. he has been having a great time here, and in general he seems pretty happy. His sister is having a birthday. I helped him to send a package to her, and he wrote a letter to her.

Ever since we sent the package, he has seemed a little down and out. He has also mentioned not feeling as well, although he appears to be healthy.

I also had his parents send a picture here of the family, and I framed it and hung it up. He talks to them on Skype every week.

I am wondering what I can do for him to help him to feel better. Maybe I just need to let him work this out for himself. Any ideas of how to help him out? I want him to be happy.

Talk to him and make sure that his shcooling is going ok. That there isn't any problem there. Then try to find another family that has an exchange studen close and get together. Do some research on line and see what other families did in your situation.

You don't say where he is from. Is there anything you can do related to his home country, like a restaurant or festival, or maybe meet others from his country? Have you asked him if there is anything special he would like to do here that is within your means?

Do parents have a computer? If so, you should start using Skype. It's free & so easy. Just go on Skype.com & download the program. You can communicate with anyone that has Skpye on their computer. You do need a camera & microphone for computer, but most laptops come with those included. I have a quilter friend in S.America who got me turned onto Skype. Recently, I got my nephew who lives 3 states away to get Skype & he was so excited to be able to see & talk to his aunt. My sister/his mom died in 2001.

What age is he?

He may be just homesick, but like sewmuchmore suggested, talk to the school and make sure everything's going okay, more important though I think, is find out if he's make any friends and talk to them. My granddaughter's school had a couple of exchange students, one of them happened to be a very soft hearted Korean boy, and my granddaughter said he was be harassed by some boys, so bad that he would actually start crying. She told the principal and the boys were "talked" to, but I think that he was probably glad to go home. I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions though.

Being homesick is horrible. Try to keep him busy. Remember idle hands lets his mind wonder about home and friends there. Mostly likely he is just lonesome for familiar sites,sounds, smells and the love of family. Hope things work out for your family