The Horticulturalist

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.[

That was not our experience, we made sure we had a print out from our UK GP with the dates of the immunisations listed. My kids had chickenpox in the past and they simply took my word for that , and waived the vaccine. We were not asked to repeat any of the vaccines they already had.

And yes we had to pay for vaccines here, it's generally cheaper at the health dept than at the pediatrician, but I suppose that varies depending on your insurance coverage and so on.

Bob

Depends on the state....they aren't down my way.

CT is a weird state though as kids need to see a peds till they're 21

AmerLisa

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/default.htm

It is typically for low income children, but it does say under-insured or uninsured children.

Coldhands

You were lucky. We had to go to hospital for a blood test to prove they had had it and my GP wouldn't write a letter to confirm it because it wasn't on their medical records. Grrr.

kodokan

My kids started US school a few weeks before Christmas, and it's gone brilliantly. They're 11 (boy) and 7 (girl), so 6th grade and 2nd grade. Our circumstances are a little unusual, though - they've been in a French-speaking school in Switzerland for 3.5 years, so the move to education in English is a big jump for them, especially for my daughter who couldn't even read in English until I started teaching her 6 months ago!

Nevertheless, it's been great. The school has been ultra-positive, telling them on our pre-start visit about how great it is they're coming, and how they're so excited that the kids will be joining them, etc - the kids felt quite the celebrities. And the other kids have been terrific; I was a bit worried about my son, who'll only have 6 months in elementary before moving up to junior high. We'd talked about the timing, and he was philosophical that all the other kids all knew each other from eons back, and that he might need to wait until August and a new school to really make friends. But no, he's been completely accepted, the other kids LOVE his accent - he literally had a crowd following him around at recess the first day, urging him to 'say something, go on!' - and he's already had his first sleepover.

The vaccines wasn't a huge issue - I had the Hep B done for them both in Switzerland as we had time before the move, he had the 6th grade Tdap done here at one of those walk-in pharmacy clinics after we arrived and before school, and he's just now due the Meningitis one, which I'll get done once our health insurance is properly in place (as it's $130 dollars). Both kids have had chickenpox; AZ doesn't allow schools to just take the parents' word on it, but does allow us to sign a 'personal beliefs' waiver to exempt them from the vaccine (ie, 'I personally believe these vaccines are pointless as they're already immune' ). There was no problem at all starting school and catching up with all this over the first few months, and no problem with taking the info from their red books, completed in both the UK and Switzerland.

I think the only issue might be that in the event of a chickenpox outbreak, my kids would be excluded from school as they're - on paper - unprotected and a risk to others. But, as the school nurse pragmatically pointed out, it's vanishingly unlikely to happen, as almost all the other kids have had the vaccine.

loggi

Hi
We moved over to Florida last april my eldest who was then 7 and in yr 2 in uk was put in grade 2 and is the youngest in the class, we moved just as they children were doing fcat test (florida testing ) so he did not participate but was able to graduate up to 3rd grade as they thought unfair to keep him back as he just started the school system here. I have personally found it a bit of a shock his school day is from 7.55 till 2.15 and then they have enourmous amounts of home work reading for half hour every night has to be logged and sometimes up to 2hrs a night homework.
He was Top student in the uk and here he is just scarping through to pass the fcat to graduate to 4th grade testing takes place in april he has now been given the oppertunity to go on an extended learning programme where he will do 2hrs extra school two days a week plus he will recieve extra homework in prep for fcat. I have found the system a shock as I was lead to believe that uk is better educational this so far has not been the case for us. I also have a 5 yr old started kindergarten in Aug he completed 6 months school in uk then had a long break as he was to young to start when we moved here so he will have the same education as all floridians and I hoping he will find it easier he is one of the top in class coping well but the expectations on the children here is much more. One thing is recess they do not get much oppertunity to be out playing a little time after lunch and not for long at that! I have yet to meet anyone that I can ask how they fit all this work in with a family ( people I have met kids are on medication for behaviour problems or on some progarmme at school for behaviour problems, slight worry!!!) I also have a 2yr old at home like most kids mine want to come home from school and relax play ect... Kids here also do alot of sports out of school baseball, karate, soccer we joined local YMCA.
I find it a struggle to fit it all in my husband works long hours and I am the one at home so I have to juggle it all which I find hard at times so anyone that can throw advice my way please do I really want my eldest to do these sports to find friends and to fit in but all I find we do is school school school. I hoping that this will ease off and become easier as time goes on. One of the reasons to move here was for this as where we were in uk kids had no freedom not even to play on the street you lived on here they have that but the oppertunity is eaten by hours of school work.
Sorry to rant but I would love to see how others have adapted to this and would love any advice. Want my kids to do well succeed but not to the extent of no childhood
Thanks

The Horticulturalist

Sorry to hear of your struggles, would it be worth considering putting your son back a year so that he is not the youngest in class? I don't know when his birthday is or when the age cut off is for your school district, but that might relieve some of the stress for him and you.

Some others on this board have done that, maybe they will chime in.

My son was 7 in September, he's in 1st grade.

SarahG

My son was 6 when we moved over in October 2009 and had done 2 years of school in the UK. His birthday is the end of August so he was just 6. We initially put him into 1st grade but moved him to Kindergarten after winter break. When he was in 1st grade he was the smallest and youngest. The cut off date here is 6 by August 31 and he is August 26. Since he was moved back to KG he has done amazing. He is still with kids his age and has not noticed any different. His sister is now in 1st grade whilst he is now in 2nd grade. They are almost 2 years apart in age but only a year apart in school. Her birthday is early April so she was well within the range for starting school when she started KG in 2010. Here is the thread I started when I was worried about the effect it would have on my son when we moved him back a grade.

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

loggi

Hi,
Yes this was one option me and my Husband spoke about as we Thought he was put in the wrong grade when he started my son is 13 September but cut off here is December.
Maybe if he was to not pass the fcat this yr he would find repeating the yr much easier next yr the teaching method is completely different to the uk and a learning curve for us all!

SarahG

I too had been told that UK schools were better than US schools but since being here I have found that is simply not the case. Schools are different and inner city schools can be different to schools in the suburbs (where we are). I watched 'Waiting for Superman' and was wondering if we were in a parrallel universe as my kids school is great! Possibly we are just in a really good school district but my son did more during his KG and 1st grade years that he did in Reception and Year 1 in England. My daughter only did 6 weeks of Reception before we moved to the US and she then spent 10 months out of school before she could start KG so she really has no experience of the UK education system. I am just hoping when we move to SC, we find an equally good school.
One option we had for our son was to either move him to KG from 1st grade after the Christmas break or keep him in 1st grade and have him repeat the class. We opted for moving him to KG as it would help him make friends in the class and would probably be easier for him to deal with. Plus I didn't want him to have to deal with struggling to keep up when he was going to have to do it all again anyway. That is just my feeling and what I wanted to do for my son. You obviously know what is best for yours. I hope it all works out for you and your kids.

The Horticulturalist

If it were me, I would give serious consideration to perhaps moving him (if you're going to do it) now rather than waiting until the school year is done, school has just started back so it may not be a bad time to do it now, and he is still young so he'll likely adjust to a classroom move easily.

I suspect that even if he passes the test this year, the struggles may continue year on year.

Hopefully the school would be amenable to such a move, I don't see why not.

NSBlake

Abigail

I will also PM you but we live in Darien (5 mins from Stamford) and although we don't have kids (first due in a week....) my wife knows lots of expat mums in the area (there is a Darien and Stamford Brit Expat group for example) and I can put you in touch with mum's in the area - so you get first hand knowldge and help if you want.

loggi

I see another Talk with the OH coming up. I would be happy for him to retake the yr but I know my son will not found the move difficult enough.... If he was to Pass with just scrapping through maybe a retake yr would go down easier with him knowing he passed but has the chance to get a better grade. He has done so much work this yr already towards it that moving him back to 2nd grade at this point I do not feel will benefit him as he struggles to find friends I think starting the new yr would be better as this yr he was placed in a class with no one he knew from 2nd grade so the short couple of months he did last school yr and the people he met he has nothing to do with this yr.
Thanks for advice

nethead

That sounds like an awful lot if work for a kid of any age, and I don't necessarily believe just because they are doing 'more' in school and have more homework, they are learning any more than they would elsewhere. Surely in the FCAT or the state testing, it is irrelevant if your son passes or not, the test is to see if the teacher/school is at a specific level?

The Horticulturalist

here the test is really for the benefit of the school, the kids would need to be waaaaay behind not to be allowed up the next grade.
We don't get the results until they are in the next grade anyway as they are taken in May about 2 weeks before we break for summer.