SadInStates

I would double check that if I were you. My son is going to complete 12th grade online from the UK and we were told that online charter schools are funded by taxpayers so you need to be paying state taxes, which you will be if you are still maintaining a home there. If you moved and sold your home that would possibly be different, but they can cope with kids invoved in sports/acting taking them away for periods of time, etc so why not "travelling" too?

ajdjad

No , although in a few weeks maybe , we are waiting on his visa. We thought it was just going to be the simple application , renew, but since he went back to England as a visitor (didn't know it would void and out of date ILR) we had to do it all again. So even though we have somewhere to live , a job , and someone to rent this house Sept 1st we still have to wait for the final paper. If I went over and it was refused, also all our passports are with the application. ... but if it does come back (fingers crossed , I can in fact leave early) Again all you guys have been great with your comments.

ajdjad

[QUOTE=SadInStates;10159816]I would double check that if I were you. My son is going to complete 12th grade online from the UK and we were told that online charter schools are funded by taxpayers so you need to be paying state taxes, which you will be if you are still maintaining a home there. If you moved and sold your home that would possibly be different, but they can cope with kids invoved in sports/acting taking them away for periods of time, etc so why not "travelling" too?[/QUOTE

Thanks , I will look into that too. We will be paying the all the property taxes still.

Sally Redux

Unless she starts university at age 18.

Sun101

Thats why I said in School or College.

Higher education obviously isn't included.

ohwottodo

Could the eldest child take their GED before moving back to the uk or would that be a bad move? they could then go straight to college in the uk ..

ajdjad

Her high School said that would be a bad move as IF she came back she would no longer be able to go back , and a University would look down on a GED , as they would think she had dropped out of high school .

I don't know if that is all correct , she would just have to explain why she had to do it , and I hope that she goes to University in the UK so that would not be an issue, or she doesn't come back here.

As of today again , so many different reply s about this from the 6th Forms . She really needs to be there.

With waiting for my husbands Visa right now , there isn't a lot we can do ..as we don't know the outcome. so again I put this on the burner... waiting is horrible

ohwottodo

Thats really interesting to know as our son is 16 so he would have just left school in the UK but here he still has a 2 years left to do. he is going into
11th grade.
In august he is due to duel enrol so half school half college over here (he doing hairdressing 3 days a week) he is homeschooled here.
then we have a 10 and a 14 yr old who go to a lovely school here which i will miss very much, i do have concerns about going back and their schooling as im sure they will be behind - history, spelling etc..
we will see what comes out in the wash..

ajdjad

Just a follow up. We got here in October and they moved my 17 year old to British year 11 so she could get her gcse's. they even gave her extra study time instead of RE and PE. Then she will go in 6th form. She finds it extremely easy, which is scary. Math especially. So all in all its been pretty easy.

penguinsix

Someone once told me that they teach math differently in the US vs. the UK. In the US, you get a year of say Trigonometry in high school which covers 'introduction' all the way through to 'pre-University' levels all in one year. Then the next year it is statistics, intro-pre-uni levels. In contrast they said in the UK you would get intro to trig, intro to stats, intro to geometry in year one, then the next level of all three the next year, then the next, etc.

Not sure if that is the case--just read it once and always wondered about it.

bromleygirl

It's the case where we are in CA. My daughter is 8th grade and is doing Geometry and the year before she did Algebra 1. I'm just re-reading this thread - if we stay here next year she would be starting high school and going into 9th grade. She has a 3.86 GPA and has been placed in English honours program for next year. I am looking at moving us back to the U.K. so that she can start school in September being there in time to start her GCSE courses. I'm looking at all options and am wondering if delayed moving until she was ready to take A-Levels, would the lack of GCSE's effect her chances to getting into A-Level courses? This thread is a year old so I wondered what has been the experience of those doing this? and do they find jumping into A-Levels much hard without having done GCSE's?

SadInStates

Quite possibly. Here in London my son is currently taking his GCSEs as they put him straight into the exam year when we arived last summer. He took his mocks after only being in a British school for 5 weeks!
He has been predicted lower passes (Ds & Es) as he missed a year of the classes and coursework, so will have to do a one year course at the 6th form college before he can move to A level equivilents.
As he too has found the maths easy I'm hoping he can do enough to get higher passes in that.

On the other hand my 18 year old will have to do A level equivilents because his high school diploma counts as 4-6 good GCSE passes, but not enough for Uni!

I read somewhere that if a student graduates with a high GPA and has taken at least 2 college prep classes in high school, that should count as A levels for direct entry to Unis etc.

bromleygirl

So it seems then that the U.S. Math education is superior however in general, the UK overall is ahead in the level of education being taught. If just graduating from high school is only considered a GCSE level then it effectively makes it 2 years behind. Plus if we delay going back we will be subject to international fees for uni. How do your children find moving back to the U.K. school system? Are they happy? Do they find it better?

SadInStates

It's a bit hard to tell if in general the standard of education in the UK is higher. My kids have never been the sharpest pencils in the box, but both of the older two (13&15) have found it very easy going into a UK school My 12 year old, started off ahead but is now struggling at bit.

Subjects they were all ahead in include maths, English (grammar/spelling) and Science, touch typing & general keyboard skills, but obviously they've been behind in foreign languages, history, geography, RE etc being more location specific. They are also behind in the amount of writing they need to do, especially in tests and exams, and in the writing style expected.

They settled in very quickly, but were shocked at the bad behaviour in class (noise levels, messing about not listening etc) and how immature their peers seem in comparison. Two of the 3 haven't really made friendships outside of school yet, after almost a year together, though mine have always been a bit stay-at-home types. As for if they find it better, there's a lot they like about school here, but a lot they miss as well. The lack of a long summer holiday is going to be the hardest part!

Sewing Susan

I emailed a little while ago with the similiar dilemma. Girl going into 12th grade , lower sixth, from canada to uk.
I flew over with the kids a few weeks ago, they went for taster daysat 3 different private schools, that really helped the situation, the daughter got to meet head of 6th form etc, shadow other children.
Doesnt matter that she won, t have gcse s , and then she will just take a gap year so she will be a home studentfor uni. Decided on this option as she may be a student forever!,

Son has autism, high functioning, and a july baby, so we may with the schools agreement put him back a full year so he is more comfortable with everything, he would have gone straight into gcses if not.

I would suggest flying over there now to get a real feel of the schools and make your child feel comfortable in readiness of september.