Might be moving to America!

Torndao01

Hi There is a chance we will be moving to America! for 3 years (not def as yet) for my husbands job.

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of their education system. This is my main concern as I have 2 children at school. DS is 10 presently year 5. He is a very bright child who has extra lessons at school because hes ahead. DD is 8 presently in year 3, DD has dyslexia, dyspraxia and and sight condition which means she has extra lessons in maths, english and reading. She will continue to need extra support throughout her education.

The children will attend a private school if we go (were not rich its his job paying).:)

I would say this is my only concern regarding going but it would be the reason that would stop us going.

Also we would be returning as my son would be starting year 9 or half way through. I dont have experience of your high schools now, is this a key time for exams etc.

I have no point of reference except the Web and theres so much to read both good and bad so any comments welcome.

RAS

You need to ensure that your son is in the UK to start his GCSEs no later that the beginning of Year 10, but a lot of schools put kids in for GCSE English and Maths in year 10 (so start the GCSE curriculum earlier).

You need to be aware that the much vaunted American High School Diploma taken at 17 is only equivalent to GCSEs, so they are effectively a year behind UK students.

Can your son attend a school with a UK based curriculum?

Hobo17

Hi,

i highly recommend the britishexpats.com forum, they have a USA section.

We moved over here and my 10 year old stepdaughter started school last September. There was some debate over which year she should be in (eventually she ended up in 5th grade as she is quite academic and English kids start school a year earlier than US children I think - she would be in year 5 in the UK). She is almost the youngest in her year though and is working pretty hard to keep up. She was in the top sets for everything in the UK but is not finding it easy in the normal sets here. The volume of homework is about the same but the US curriculum seems somewhat ahead of the UK equivalent in terms of maths and reading. Bear in mind that there will be a big difference in the history and languages (my stepdaughter only learns American history and is studying Spanish and Japanese) they study here and this will probably leave a big gap in their knowledge when your children return to UK school. I would try and find an international school that covers a curriculum similar to the UK.

I can't comment on the help available for special needs but I have found the school to be excellent - SD's teacher sends out emails every night and is always available by mobile for any questions, she will set up study sessions at the weekends to help kids if needed. SD gets free instrumental lessons 3 times a week as part of her normal music curriculum. I can't fault the education system at all, but then we do live in a good area (education is funded by property taxes which are astronomical in the area we live in, 10k per year for our property) so pick your living area carefully. Although if you are definitely going private then school catchment areas won't be relevant to you.

My only question would be that if your daughter has special needs which may require doctors/specialists you should look into the potential medical costs. Your husband's job should offer medical insurance, be very wary if not as private policies have a host of exclusions around pre-existing conditions and most will not cover them. I can't stress enough that the medical system is crazy here - I went to the dr for a bladder infection and it cost $100 to see the Dr, $100 for the lab to analyse a urine sample and $55 for antibiotics. My insurance covered most of those costs but imagine if it didn't. I am having a baby in August and estimate that it will cost somewhere in the region of $10k if it is a normal birth and we don't need an extended stay in hospital. Again insurance will cover most of that as our policy has a maximum out of pocket amount (per illness) of $1500 but you really need to look as hard at the medical insurance as you are looking at the education system. Most likely your husband's work will offer a family policy which will be deducted from his wages and this is probably the best option.

Torndao01

Thank you for the replies.

Hobo17 thank you for the information, we are lucky as due to my husbands job all our medicial costs will be covered:) I will have a look at the expat forum tonight, thanks again. Hope you are enjoying America.

Hobo17

Torndao01 wrote: »

Thank you for the replies.

Hobo17 thank you for the information, we are lucky as due to my husbands job all our medicial costs will be covered:) I will have a look at the expat forum tonight, thanks again. Hope you are enjoying America.

If that's true that's a very good deal - just look closely and ask them about the yearly deductible (the amount you have to pay out before the insurance kicks in, like an excess), the co-pay (the amount you have to pay each time you have any medical service, we pay $25 each time we see a dr and 15% of any hospital or lab bills - this applies even after you hit your deductible for the year, and your total out of pocket - the maximum you will have to pay out in total for any one accident or course of treatment). If all of those are genuinely going to be covered then let me know who employs your husband, and I will send you my CV

I would also make sure you get something written into the contract re: severance costs if he is laid off for any reason - technically your visa is no longer valid if you aren't employed by the company sponsoring it and they usually want you to leave the country within a couple of weeks. So best to get something in there that means they would cover all repatriation costs related to moving home, or even better, a guarantee of a severance payment that is so ridiculous that they would never bother getting rid of him as it would cost too much. You will be starting from scratch with credit as you won't have any history over there - might be worth getting an Amex card now as they will transfer your account over to the US once you have held the card for 6 months.

TheConways

Hi Hobo,

I can speak from personal experience - my parents moved to the US when I was 11 years old (I'm now 28).

Firstly, the education system varies widely - America is hugely diverse. Public (aka "state") schools are run by the local authorities, and can vary hugely (some schools have the same lessons each day; others you do just four subjects a term and rotate them; some do 9 weeks on, 4 weeks off). The syllabus also varies by state.

Some personal experience: I went to a public school in North Carolina from age 11-13. After that, I homeschooled my GCSEs and A-Levels in the US, using my local English (state) school for exam support. This might sound a bit weird (it was!), but I was one of those dedicated and focussed kids. I wanted to go to a UK university, and if I had stayed on the US system, I would have been treated as an international student, the fees for which my parents could not afford. (I turned out ok - I got A grades at A-Level and received a Masters in Maths at York).

I know little about private schools, but they are definitely more rigorous than the state system. When I started, I should have been in 5th grade, but was put into 6th grade; in truth, I could have probably gone into 7th or 8th grade and not had trouble keeping up. When I started doing GCSEs in the UK, I realised I was behind by some way and had to catch up.

Overall, the experience for me was very positive - you learn to adjust to the new environment, and it teaches you to be adaptable. Learning conditions are typically well catered for, although heed the advice about needing appropriate medical insurance/negotiate with your husband's company.

Other points to think about: will you be able to work? Living in a rented house, my mum went a bit mad at first because she couldn't do anything to the house (she's a real homebody), nor could she work as she didn't have a Green Card. She did a lot of school volunteering, and charity work instead.

Curriculum: if you plan to return to the UK in three years (and you might not! You might love it in the US!), you will need to make a plan to ensure your children keep up with the English curriculum. The American school I went to had this annoying habit of assuming everyone had forgotten everything across the loooong summer holidays and repeating the curriculum over and over.

I now live in Switzerland (joined a company after graduating in the UK, which moved me here), and I love visiting my parents in the US.. I've just returned from a week long visit. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any other specific questions and I'll do my best to reply!

cazziebo

Wow - what a fabulous opportunity - especially for the kids.

Academically you might find it's not stretching enough for your son. My daughter was put two years ahead for all core subjects, and when she came back to the UK found she still had a lot of catching up to do. However, the curriculum seemed wider, and she studied quite a lot of stuff I'd call "fillers" (Civic Studies, Citizenship etc) but actually proved to be very valuable. She had to drop languages which was a shame - just wasn't taught. Very odd as it was an international school!

The best thing by far was that education was more holistic and wider. They did loads of sports, camping weekends, leadership, and there was a compulsory two hours community service (she worked in a Ronald McDonald house and also did some Big Sister thing) . Really brought home to me what a narrow view of education we have in the UK.

I would research the special needs provision. I have friends with children with dyslexia and dyspraxia and it just doesn't seem that mainstream schooling (private or public) caters. One friend actually sourced funding and started a school specifically for special needs education because there wasn't access locally. Of course, there are probably huge differences state to state.

Have a brilliant time!

Hobo17

TheConways wrote: »

Hi Hobo,
Other points to think about: will you be able to work? Living in a rented house, my mum went a bit mad at first because she couldn't do anything to the house (she's a real homebody), nor could she work as she didn't have a Green Card. She did a lot of school volunteering, and charity work instead.

Since the OP suggests her husband is being transferred over there with his current job i assume he would be on an L1 visa (company transfer visa). That would mean she could go on an L2 and work (after applying for an EAD). If they decide they want to stay this is also a possible path to a green card, it is easier to apply via an L1 visa than an H1b - if she went on a H4 (spouse visa to the H1b) she would not be able to do paid work and if they wanted to apply for a green card from an H1b visa the wait is far longer than via the L1.

Torndao01

Hi Hobo17 thank you for your concern regarding cost of health care, but we are very lucky that my husband works for the goverment and would be still employed by them over in America. All our costs except accommodation will be covered, which will be at a reducted cost:) His job will only be for the 3 years max and will come back to his old job here.

I know this is the oppotunity of a lifetime, especially with the security of the job and the living costs mostly covered. This is why my only concern is education.

TheConways, Im glad your experience of the US was good:) I am getting the impression from other sources that the teaching would be a very different than over here, so this would effect DS when we came back (we will be back as my DS starts year 9).

Am I right in thinking there are schools that teach the english curriculum?

Hi Cazziebo, I like the idea of the schools teaching more than just the norm and all the extra activities. I want my DD to experience and gain more from school as she will always struggle with the academic side.


Thank you for your input, a little more research I think for me:)

charlie792

A close friend of mine had problems Re schooling when going from the UK - America and then back to the UK again as his parents had a similar situation. When he came back to the UK he should have been in year 11 but due to the schooling difference the school insisted he must miss a year and go back to year 10, which meant all his friends were the year above and he was a year older than everyone else in his year group - something to bear in mind.

Hobo17

Torndao01 wrote: »

Am I right in thinking there are schools that teach the english curriculum?

I know that a fair few schools locally teach the International Baccalaureate and the students can opt to study for this instead of the high school diploma - i assume that if they were teaching that then the curriculum in the earlier years of school might be geared more towards UK schooling.