Familyof5

Hi there,

I'm a newbie here, planning to move to CT in February for my husbands new job in Stamford. We have 3 kids, 9,6,3 and although they are all very charasmatic and friendly (and I really don't have doubts that they will quickly adjust to American schooling) I was wondering if I could have some peoples past experience on it?

How different is the system really? How long did it take to get your children into a school upon arrival?
How long did it take for them to be comfortable in their new school?

This is our first move as a family and I havn't had to deal with any of this before.

Abigail

Bob

Welcome to BE and good luck with the move!

I don't have school age kids, but I know there's been quite a few threads on the subject you might be able to find out, with a range of ages.

The 3 year will be expensive though

penguinsix

Take a look here

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/What_d...kids_in_school

And this recent thread:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=643985

The Horticulturalist

Your kids are a good age and should potentially adjust very easily, my oldest was 6 when we moved and the youngest was 3 and they adjusted really well.

One main difference is the lack of 'play time' or recess, my kids start at 7:30am till 2:10pm, they get about 20 minutes to play after lunch and that's it. That was the main gripe from the oldest, but after a few months he stopped complaining.

They also don't do metric, which likely won't be an issue for your younger two, but your 9 year old who will likely be in 4th grade may need to get to grips with that, but it's probably not a big deal.

If your kids are bright see if they have an advanced programme that he might be able to join, my son loves his 'Spirit' classes. They start this in 2nd grade where I am.

Got all their immunisations up to date? You might want to get started with the hep b for all of them, it's a course of 3 injections and usually required for school entrance along with all the others.

SarahG

I talk about my sons experience at school in the 2nd thread mentioned by penguinsix. (That thread seems to get mentioned a lot when people talk about moving over with young kids.) My kids were 4 and 6 when we moved over to the US. My son went into 1st grade but ended up being moved to Kindergarten after the Christmas break. Best move we made. He is now in 2nd grade and his sister is in 1st grade. 2 years apart in age but a year apart in school. My son has since been diagnosed with ADD and he is doing great in the school he goes to. No idea what will happen when we move to SC in a few months!

The Horticulturalist

Charleston? very nice! I hope your move goes well

Familyof5

Thank you very much for the replies, it has helped a lot!

I've also spoken to a friend in New York whose son has recently started 1st Grade but only after a lot of discussions as the school wanted to put him in 2nd Grade (because he'd done Reception in the UK) despite him only being six. Hearing your stories this has made me think this is quite a big problem.
I really want both Lex and Lacey to be in 4th and 2nd Grade respectively, as they will then be with children their own age instead of being put one up just because they've done an extra year of school.

On the matter of injections, I was originally going to leave it until we were in the US but now realise that is stupid so they'll have them done before we leave.

Thanks once again!

Callilac

I have the opposite worry because my son isn't 3 yet and we are hoping to spend 2 years in the US. My concern is that we will arrive back in the UK, when he is 5-6 and he will have to start year one without having done Reception.

He is very bright and academic, so I am not worried about that - more the fact that he will have missed out on the socialisation, learning to sit still and listen, routine of school etc.

I am going to have to make sure that he goes to a good pre-school.............

Coldhands

We moved to Wilton, CT in July on our first assignment and had to get a 12 and a 14 year old settled in school. It has taken them a while to find new friends and settle in but they both prefer the system here. There is homework every night but the weekends are free. If they need any help with something they don't understand, staff are available before or after school for extra help. The only thing they miss are decent breaks - lunch is a hasty affair and there is little time to mix with friends.
Unless you are going private, if you live in the school's catchment area, they have to take your children. There is no alternative so choose your accommodation carefully.
I very carefully made sure all the immunizations were up to date and still had to get a couple of extra jabs for them - the children had to have a physical examination by a CT doctor and she checked everything off the list for us and gave them the ones they needed.
The only thing that has been difficult has been different terminology, particularly in Maths but the kids have adjusted quickly. You are expected to keep track of their grades, certainly at middle/high school and positively encouraged to communicate concerns/queries etc. This might not be the case everywhere but it certainly is here.
It's a great place. I'm sure you'll all love it.

The Horticulturalist

I'd put them with the correct age as you suggested, I think that's
important.

My son turned 6 in March 2008, and the cut off date in our school district is the end of August so that meant he would start in 1st grade, however he had already done reception and year one in London which meant that he had completed a year more of school than his peers here.

We put him in 1st grade and he was ahead with reading, but the curriculum was sufficiently different that he didn't feel like he was repeating the year, and he was with kids his own age which helped a lot in terms of adjustment and making friends.

And you are wise to catch up with the immunisations, you want to spend as little time as possible waiting in the health department when you get here!

Bob

Check the school district requirements, some will require the injections before enrolling, some will be okay with you having started the injections. It will be expensive to get done in the US though.

That can be very expensive and in busy metro areas, there can be very long waiting lists, so hopefully you've negotiated that into your relocation.

Just for a range of costs, a friend gets a $400 a month discount at a pre-school in Boston through the place she works, but there is a 2 year waiting list to get in, so she couldn't use the place and they pay $1500 a month as the husband gets $200 credit through his work.

Where we lived in the burbs, the waiting lists weren't as bad, depending, between none and 1 year, but the rates were $1500 a month for 3 half days a week where you provided your own food/snacks.

We moved last year further into the burbs and it's a lot cheaper at $1000 a month for 3 days and $1300 for full time but there tends to be waiting lists to get into the full time programs but very easy to get into the half day programs.

Then again, we've got cousins up in Maine that pay $400 a month full time for 2 kids which included lunches and snacks

Callilac

Thanks Bob - I've checked out the prices for where we are heading and they are definitely a lot cheaper than you pay.

My son only attends three half days now, although I would want to increase that as he gets older. For some reason it worked out a lot cheaper and better value to do 2 or 3 full days than 5 mornings, so I would do that.

One place had a waiting list, but others were ok.

Someone else suggested I look at church pre-schools and they seem cheaper too.

Thanks

Mallory

I thought childhood shots were free. I never paid for for any shots for my kids in Florida, many years ago.

http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/immunization.htm

Sally Redux

Elementary school was not that different, although the budget seemed more stretched and 'luxuries' like art, PE and computing were financed by parental contributions. Middle school was more of a culture shock as the curriculum is much more rigid than the UK. But this won't be a problem for you.

We had to pay for immunizations, however I found that medical people were generally distrustful of foreign certification and I suggest it's better to do it here.

robin1234

My children were 8 and 6 when we moved over to Massachusetts. They adapted really well and soon fitted in fine. We moved to an inner suburban area where it was mostly inexpensive rentals... a high proportion of students were recent arrivals like us, in fact many whose first language was not English. I'm sure that made it easier for our children. If we'd started out in the town we live in now, where most people have been here for generations, it would have been different.