Scarletino

Hi-I'd be really grateful of any advice/tips from anyone who's moved from the UK to CA with youngish children-mine are aged 9,7 and 3. My main concerns are with education/schooling-how much this differs from the uk and also how easily my children will fit into life in the us. Also I'd hope to make friends with other mums and I'm wondering how easily other mums have done this? Any help greatly received!

Hotscot

Southern California, Bakersfield, Fresno, Bay Area...?
Quality of life in CA, crime, traffic, smog, availability of drinking water, cost of living etc, can be very dependent on which location you'll be living in.

Public school, private?

(What's the basis of moving, job etc..?)

Sally Redux

Yes we need to know where.

N1cky

Saying you're moving to California, is like saying you're moving to England. We need more specifics on the area to be able to offer help.

Michael

FIFY

Sally Redux

In fairness there are state standards which give a little more uniformity.

Scarletino

Sorry!! we are looking at Chino Hills & Irvine at the moment.

Pulaski

Much of education up to age 10 is similar enough that your children will settle in quickly enough. My daughter is seven (approaching eight) and spends most of her school day doing arithmetic, reading/ comprehension and writing exercises, with a scattering of Spanish, science, music, art, and PE mixed in.

GeoffM

We were at Eastvale this weekend. I forgot how bad it smells around there! Eastvale is just to the east of Chino (Hills) so I'd do a few smell checks before moving there! Apparently the last of the cow farms is moo-ving (sorry) out soon but when we drove north to the 60 we passed several farms...

Might be alright in Chino Hills though. It's supposed to be a nice area with a few good schools. Traffic on the 60 and the 72 can be a downer though - especially if you have to commute towards LA in the morning and back out in the evening.

Sally Redux

Those areas look to be affluent with their own school districts (separate from LA).

Major differences you may come across:

More focussed curriculum working to test and grade point average. Things like art, PE, music and computing may be extras at the whim of funding. There may be less technology in the classroom than you are used to. Depending on the demographics if your area, there may be 'Tiger Moms' to contend with.

Drop-off is usually from a car driving through a loop - harder to chat to other moms. They are usually keen to have volunteers in the classroom and that's a good start for getting involved.

Scarletino

Thanks-that's interesting! Yes that's one of my concerns as my husband will be working in and around LA and don't really want him to be stuck in horrendous traffic everyday

Pulaski

Sorry.

You are aware that LA is legendary for it's horrendous traffic congestion, aren't you. It seemed to be well known even in the UK, when I still lived there, that LA is the poster child for how not to organize your roads and transportation .

md95065

Sorry, but "working in and around LA" and not wanting to be stuck in horrendous traffic are pretty much mutually exclusive.

If you only work in one location then there is some hope of being able to optimize how you get there from home, but if you work in several different locations then the question is not whether you will get stuck in horrendous traffic but how often and for how long ...

GeoffM

Might want to look at Metrolink (ie trains). Pomona on the Riverside line would probably be the nearest but the service is a bit crap (3 rush hour trains only, IIRC). North Pomona (San Bernadino line) has much better service, obviously a few miles further north.

Havnfun

Irvine has very good schools but if your husband is working in LA he will be spending a lot of time in the car stuck in traffic! I work in Irvine and live 11 miles from work. If I can't take the car pool lane it takes between 30-40 minutes to go those 11 miles!