Brandy07

My family and I may be moving to the Delaware/Chester counties.
We have 2 children one in Year 4 in the U.K. the other in Year 1 in the U.K. From what I can gather they would start the next school year (Aug/Sept) in Grades 4 and 1.
My concern is that they've already done 5 and 2 years at school here which I believe is a year more than children over there?
I'm worried that they won't be challenged enough. I'm more concerned about my daughter who is one of the older ones in her Year and is doing really well and is ahead of where she should be for reading, writing and maths. Am I justified in being worried?
Also, our move is currently only for 2 years so they would come back into the uk school system and I don't want them to be behind when we return.
We are planning on coming over next week to look at schools and that will probably be the deal breaker as to whether we move.
If anyone has made this move with similar age children I'd appreciate hearing from you.

ian-mstm

Yes! I was 6 when my family moved from Scotland. I was put in Kindergarten because that's where 6-year olds go. Like your younger one, I'd already been in school for 2 years. I was bored to tears. My mom spoke to the school principal and I was moved into 1st grade after a couple of mind-numbing weeks. I was a year younger than everyone in my class all the way through to high school graduation. It was socially awkward for me (more so as I entered my teens), but it was intellectually better.

For only a 2-year stay in the US, I think your kids will find it difficult to return to the UK system. School in the US may dumb them down a bit.

Ian

celticgrid

I would be more concerned about how to manage a 2-year dip into the US education system and then hope the children would be able to slip right back into the UK system. There are fundamental differences in subject matter and approach that will make the transition back to the UK an issue.

I suggest that issue, rather than which year they will go into on arrival in the US, should be the focus of your planning.

As it happens, when we arrived here a few years ago we faced the same issue as you raise. However, our intention was a permanent move so the thinking didn't have to worry about a temporary state of affairs.

Our older child (10 at the time) eventually went into his age-peer level. He had some catching up to do in subject areas his peers had covered but he in the UK had not, so it was felt that would be best.

Our younger one (5 at the time) went into a year ahead. Yes, she's the youngest in the year always (but not the shortest), and there are minor social issues, but now, a few years later, I can say that it was absolutely the right decision. She would have died of boredom by now.

And like her, and Ian, I went through the similar process in the UK - started a year early and stayed a year early through university. It didn't do me any harm - though I can't speak for Ian

petitefrancaise

Ian, with all due respect you are talking about something that happened a long time ago and your last comment will be offensive to most of us that have experienced more than one education system.

To the OP, there are differences in what they learn and when they learn it but at this stage of their education it won't matter that much. They may find adjustment takes time both coming here and going back but with supportive parents and teachers they will be fine.

It is important to find a very good local school before you choose a house over here though since your address will determine which school they go to. Maybe someone with more local knowledge will come along. Generally though, if you live in a really nice neighbourhood, the school will be good.

ian-mstm

I didn't realize that time was an invalidating criterion. Since shit like this still happens, whether my experience was ages ago or current is irrelevant.


C'mon now... do you honestly think I care whether or not someone is offended? In science, math, and reading, the US consistently ranks lower than the UK. People in the US should be offended by that.

Ian

Pulaski

I think it depends on the school - my daughter started kindergarten in August after her fifth birthday, so she was 5 years 6 months old, but had already a good grasp of numbers and was reading, because of the type of school-like daycare/pre-k program she had been enrolled in.

She's now in fourth grade (just had her tenth birthday) and has been studying concepts in maths and science, as well as English grammar for 1-2 years already, that I didn't study until I went to grammar school at age 11. She also has Spanish lessons every other day, when I didn't have more than weekly and rudimentary French lessons until grammar school.

petitefrancaise

Definitely depends on the school and also depends on which ranking system is used too.

Our high school sends kids to top Ivy League colleges every year, usually for science subjects so they can't be that bad.

Ian, the education changes all the time usually for the better in my opinion. I wouldn't dream of condemning an entire education system in a country based on my school education which was 30 years ago.

Brandy07

Thank you for all the replies. It's good to hear from people that have experienced this and had children go through it.
I've got a list of schools we want to visit and and in the process of making other appointments. I will be high lighting my concerns during the visits (as well as before visiting). If I don't feel the school of is right for either of my two they won't be going there. There's such a lot to think about!!
I know we have to look for a school first which is why we're hoping to look round before looking at houses.
At this stage, it's not definite that we're moving so if I'm not happy about the school situation we won't be moving.

kins

I think it really depends on the school and how they differentiate learning for different levels.

I moved a 6 year old to the US. She had done 2 years of school in the UK and was top of her class. She has a late June birthday. The school encouraged us strongly to keep her with her age group rather than putting her up a year. For her this worked out. The school worked hard to challenge her.

She's now 15 and at a magnet high school, studying stuff that makes my brain hurt. She also has about 20 university credits.

(I am chuckling at the 'Schools in the US may dumb them down a bit' comment. Nothing could really be less true in her case...)

penguinsix

This subject is frequently discussed and we have a section of our wiki that deals with it.

Education: What do I need to enroll the kids in school? : British Expat Wiki

Basically while the US technically starts at age 5 with kindergarten many kids have "pre-K" or child care that is on par academically with whatever your kid is having in the UK. You'll find US kindergarten to be the equivalent of UK Year 1 in many places in the country, and while some kids may have learned reading in the UK before the US the US kids may have more math (and vice versa and so on).

The USA is vast--50 states with hundreds of different school districts. It's hard to have a blanket statement because you could EASILY end up in a district where the kids are far ahead of yours academically and just as EASILY end up in a district where the kids will be bored. You will need to do some leg work and talk to the school (which you are already planning) and if possible bring some of the curriculum from your kids class so you can compare to what they will be doing. Something that you can show them and say "this is what they have learned thus far".

FWIW I live in HK and the UK-based schools and US-based schools have almost identical homework for kids based on age, not the "year" or "grade". In fact in many of the online homework sessions they actually use the same resources.

This was a good thread from a few years ago on a similar case:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/loung...school-643985/

cynthiamyra

Thank you! very useful information!

kodokan

In my experience, it's unlikely to have any negative long term effect at this age. My son was in the UK system until age 8, then did the remainder of his primary education in French (a language he didn't speak before moving overseas), then switched to the US system at almost 12. At that point, he hadn't written a sentence in English for 4 years, had no concept of US history, and was missing huge chunks of the US math curriculum, like fractions and the imperial measurement system. He was all caught up within 6 months, and has been academically streamed into the Honors/ accelerated classes ever since. At 16/17, he's doing college level classes within his high school.

My daughter, 7 years old when we moved to the US, couldn't at that time read in English (and only at a very basic level in French, as they start academics later on the continent), and couldn't write at all. She hadn't done any real maths beyond basic addition with small numbers. She took a little longer to catch up; I'd say it was about 12-18 months before she was truly indistinguishable from her peers.

There will be plenty of time for you to iron out any resulting gaps before your oldest hits the pre-GCSE stage; by then, it won't matter a jot whether she studied the Civil War rather than the Battle of Hastings when she was 10, or briefly spent some time in her childhood spelling words like color or favor.

School appointments - don't be surprised if you can't do visits. We've tried to do this in both Arizona and Ohio schools when moving there, and they simply weren't interested in talking to us until we had an address in their boundary. It doesn't really matter anyway. Schools in neighborhoods with a well-educated, professional demographic are well-funded and supported, and do well, others don't, and you can get that information from City Data and Great Schools. Whether your kids' experience is positive or negative will almost entirely depend on their individual teacher, and the social groups they have in their class, and you can't control or check any of that. I am the world's worst over-researcher, but with my son on his 10th school now, I've learned to let a lot of things go

Brandy07

I must be lucky as I've got confirmed appointments with 4 schools and waiting for another 3 to come back to me. Going round and asking questions will help the decision.
Thank you for all the helpful comments and links. I'll be doing lots of research before deciding.
Flights all booked to fly out this Wednesday!

kodokan

Great! Have a good trip, and let us know how you get on.

Brandy07

Thank you! I'll update you when we get back!