LaurenZW

We are moving back to to the states in less than a year! Yikes!

I am trying to figure out what grades my girls will go into next year. I dont want what happened when we moved from Harrogate to TX to repeat itself. (Sally had done Reception in Harrogate but then when we moved to TX at the start of the next school year she had to go back into Kindergarten -- which was basically mostly a repeat of Reception -- rather than going into
1st grade because of her age. After a couple of weeks in school they gave her a short test but said she HAD to score 95% to be bumped up to the next grade even though she had completed Reception. (They said that if in her previous school records from England, if it had listed her as having been in Kindergarten instead of Reception then they could have placed her in a 1st grade class.) She passed the math part of that test but on Language arts they marked her down for calling Boots Wellies and saying the word started with a W etc. (Sigh) and other things like that. So no she didn't get a 95%, but then I doubt many of the children who had actually completed (US) Kindergarten in that same school the previous year could have gotten a 95% on that test, but those kids were allowed to go into 1st grade because the had the all important words "Kindergarten completed" on their school records.

Anyway, right now we are living in London and moving back to the US (Maryland) & my kids are:

Right now:
Joli is 7 & currently in (UK) year 3
Sally is 8 & currently in (UK) year 4

I am wondering if next year (09 -10 school year) in the States if they will go into:

Joli 3rd grade
Sally 4th grade

or will they go into US

Joli 4th grade
Sally 5th grade

This time we are moving to Maryland and not back to TX. I have heard schools are more strict with regards to ages when starting K or 1st grade than they are when kids are going into other higher grades.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Lauren

jumping doris

I'm sure you realise that schools vary so much over here that it may in the end depend on the school.

We are in SW PA and the schools we use are ahead in some things, approach other things differently and do some things my children didn't do in the UK.

My children went into the correct grade for their age. My 10 year old would have been year 6 in the UK but went into 5th grade here. She definitely didn't repeat year 5 because it was so different and she really struggled with some things because of the different approach.
In fact the school wanted her to go into 4th grade because they felt it would give her a better start and I have to say in some respects they were right.

The big plus though is that she was with children her own age and so when she started doing stuff out of school (skating lessons,girl scouts) she was with her class mates. If we had insisted she went straight into 6th grade she would have been mixing with two separate age groups.

My teenagers faced the same problem at high school. They probably would have had it easier from an academic point of view if they had gone into a lower grade.
But they caught up and at least they too were with people their own age.

Our schools are very academic and it isn't the same everywhere. You may need to make the decision when you have found a school and talked to the principal.
We had many telephone discussions and a few face to face meetings with the principals before we settled on the right grade.

penguinsix

The best I can recommend is to get detailed transcripts and curriculum guides from the school where you are located, and the school where you will be attending. You'll want to make sure you can argue (if you want to argue) about placing her in the right class based on academic credentials and not just 'she's been in school XX years already'.

3rd and 4th grade in the US is actually quite important as you start to see some student's academic development really jump ahead of their peers. In addition, in many districts when the student gets to 5th grade they are shipped to a middle school (not an elementary school) which may make the transition a bit harder (again, it depends on what schools you'll be in). It's important to note that emotional development and physical development will also be taken into consideration.

For example, you don't want a child to play PE with kids a year older than him as he will not be as skilled in say 'whiffle ball' and develop a 'rep' as being the kid who can't play, picked last for teams, which can then lead to some psychological issues, stigmas, etc. These are things you should consider as well.

My advice is get the curriculum of both schools and sit down with the guidance counsellor / principal of the new school and go over where they think your child should be placed. Don't be offended if they go down a year (it may really help) and don't be afraid to argue for a move up if you feel your kids can handle it. Just approach this rationally with the facts and discuss with the school and you'll probably end up with an agreeable answer that suits you and the school.

One more note: are you moving to the US permanently? If so then 'keeping up with the UK' is really not as important. If you are planning to go home again in a few years than you might want to point this out that you don't want your kids to fall behind relative to his peers back home.

p.s. where in Maryland? In some areas (like Potomac) they are very accustom to international students, in others they may be a bit more strict.

Deedee13

i find our high school really wierd. It appears as though all the classes are mixed with 9, 10, 11, and 12 graders. I call them this because the juniors, freshmen and god only knows what the other two are called! So my Freshman has math with 10 and 11 graders. Confusing!

ChocolateBabz

My son will be 10 in October - he had completed Primary 5 in Scotland and was placed in 4th Grade (which kept him with the right age group). Although the kids seem immature compared to my son, some of the work is quite different eg. the way things are worded, nickles and dimes, imperial measurements rather than metric so I am fine with him being placed in 4th.

kins

My daughter had already done Reception in the UK, and was top of her class, but she went into Kindergarten here. It worked out really well. She is still by far at the top of the class, but they differentiate the learning enough that she is always challenged.

Socially she would have struggled going up a year, especially as she is a June birthday.

The school was willing to move her up a year if we insisted, but I'm glad we made the decision we did.

lisa67

My kids are now the youngest in their respective classes because we followed the UK age/grade set up (we thought we'd be moving back but we haven't) and they have been fine both academically and socially. I depends on your State/school district and of course how you think your child will cope.
Make sure you know your rights if you want them to be in a different grade than they would ordinarily be over here. The school district might try and tell you you can't do it, when legally you can..but again, it depends on the rules of your district/State.

CarrotCruncher

Before I had left the Uk, I had introduced myself, via Email with the principles of the schools that my children were likely to be attending. I had gathered all of their work for the year and the children's teachers supplied comprehensive reports on their strengths weakness's and the work they had covered.

When I met with the teachers, they were insistent that the children be in grades lower than their ages, despite me knowing that they had covered much of the work. Fortunately I was given some great advice and stuck to my guns. When I met with the teachers, I had the children performing like circus monkeys to demonstrate their abilities. Reading Math etc.

A year on, I am glad they are in 'proper' year according to their ages. Both of them are top of their classes and one is on the talented and gifted program, they are excelling at everything. Had they been in a year below I'm not sure how everything would have worked out. It certainly helped being armed with information from their schools in England, I knew what they had done, and could see for myself that they would be fine.

LaurenZW

Thanks for all the advice and information. (Please keep it coming) I am curious as to what is taught in the US that isn't taught in the UK? (I mean I know some history stuff and culture will be different.) Also how are the styles of teaching different. My kids are used to American history, money and measurements because (as you may have guessed) I am an American, and they have lived in the States before.

One thing I can think of that is different is handwriting, but I think my kids have great handwriting and they learned cursive at 6 & 7 here. My oldest is already writing in pen for school, and her handwriting is better than mine. I hope the kids' new school does not make them conform to the school's handwriting standards and force the kids to learn a new style of cursive. As long as it's neat & can be read I don't see the point of them being forced to learn a new style of handwriting. -- That's one thing I am worried about because here the girls' current school is very open to different learning styles, but the girls' old school in TX was very "our way or the highway". There was 1 way of doing something and any other way was considered wrong. If in math you had the right answer but got to it a different way it was still wrong. Here,as long as the kids show how they came up with their answers the teachers don't care what method is used, unless the point of the math assingment was to learn a certain method. I hope the new school is more like our school in London rather than like our school in Texas.

BTW: In the States, do the kids still carry massive backpacks and have hard bound text books from about 3rd or 4th grade? Here it's mostly light weight notebooks (exercise books) and worksheets. It's much lighter to carry around, and I think better for their backs.

Thanks,
Lauren

LaurenZW

Thanks

Wondering how I can find out what my rights are. Is that information online somewhere.

Thanks
Lauren
hmm going to look around and see what I can find

LaurenZW

Thanks. I had been thinking of doing that - sending an email to the school, but I wanted to know my rights first because I feared putting a bad taste in the school's mouth before they even got to know us. I figured if I knew my rights first I could construct the email better. I don't want to come over as seeming like I think my kids are better than the rest of the kids their age at the school.

Thanks,
Lauren

LaurenZW

Thats common in the US. Usually in grades K -8 everybody stays in classes with those of the same grade. Grades 9 -12 the kids are all mixed together for most everything except for English. In my high school we stayed with our own grade for history in 9th and 10h grade too, but 11th & 12th graders were lumped together for history. Everything else everybody was mixed in all together.

jumping doris

My children have huge hard bound books for nearly every subject but they get two copies. One to keep in school and one to keep at home.

It is hard to describe what my children found different in school. Obviously history etc. Maths is taught differently...we had no idea how Algebra 3 etc related to UK maths. A lot of the time it was a social difference....playground games, sports, food at lunchtime, slang, no school uniforms, bus heirachy.

In my adult world it was the same...just not knowing quite how things are done and it throws your whole world just a bit off balance. Hard to give specifics because it is there all the time.
You won't have that as you are American and that probably helps your children. My youngest daughter would come home and ask me things and I had no idea. She once said she needed bobby pins, I didn't know what they were.

LaurenZW

Hi. Thanks
Two sets of a books? Thats great. When I was a kid in the States we had one book for every two kids and took turns bringing them home to do homework.
Can I ask, when did your child have Algebra 3? I am hoping high school and not elementary school. (because if they are teaching Algebra at that level in elementary school, wow schools have changed since I was in the US system.)
BTW: When is Algebra taught in England?

Thanks
Lauren
BTW: The area of MD that we will be in is Carroll County

jumping doris

I just used Alegbra 3 as an example. I have no idea when things are taught. In the UK Maths is taught more as a whole subject with algebra etc just mixed in, rather than as a special chunk of learning. At least it was in our schools. My daughters had done algebra but not as an individual subject.

All the Maths here seems to be broken up into specific subjects whose names escape me because I'm useless at maths and have blanked the whole thing.

Don't forget that schools are funded by property tax. If you don't pay much tax your schools may not shell out for two sets of books.