Moving back to the US with my 15 year old son

Hi all,

First of all, thank you in advance for any information you can provide.

I have been living in the UK with my (now) 15 year old son for the last 3 years.  We moved here when he was 12 and in 7th grade - he transferred to the UK school system as a year 8 student.  He is now in year 10 and studying for his GCSEs.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we have to move back to the US at the end of June.  This means that I will be taking him out of school before the school year ends here in the UK.

I was wondering, does anyone have any experience moving their teenage son/daughter out of the UK school system and back into the US?  He will be starting high school as a sophomore and I'm particularly interested in how he will be "placed" into the system.  I'm also curious how different the curriculum is between the two countries.  My worry is that his knowledge will be a lot different than someone who has been in the US system for the last 3 years... Any suggestions? 

My worry is that his knowledge will be a lot different than someone who has been in the US system for the last 3 years... Any suggestions? 

I think when it is all said and done his time spent in the education system here will be a great benefit. There may be initial issues, including social things.

But a kid's brain is not like a jar, it's not full of this strange UK stuff that needs to be poured out to make room for the US stuff. He will incorporate the new systems into the way he does things. It is a good thing.

Think of learning a new language. You don't purge the old one to make room for the new....you just end up with an extra ability.

I moved my son to the US at age 14 and he found it very traumatic.  He had no experience of US schools beforehand but had spent a lot of time visiting grandparents.  The high school guidance people wanted to put him into the sophomore year because he had that extra year at primary school in UK.  I requested he be put in the freshman year with kids his own age.  But he still found it difficult to fit in as, although all the freshmen were new to the school, they pretty much knew each other.  He's said recently (he's now 34) that he spend the first month wandering up and down the corridors because he was too embarrassed to go into the lunch room and sit with anyone.  I urged him to take part in sports but he was too shy that first year.

As for scholastics, he was put in an intermediate German class because he'd had two years of German in the UK.  But he was completely floundering and asked to be put back in 1st year German.  I don't think he had difficulty in other classes though. 

He did make friends with another boy in his math class and by sophomore year he had a girl friend (whose dad was English).  He eventually took part in soccer and winter track and made quite a few friends that way.  He took a class in photography (not offered in his UK high school) and discovered a talent for that.  So it was a good experience in the end.

Thank you for your replies.  I think one advantage we have going for us is that my son will be returning to the same school district we left 3 years ago.  Thanks to Skype, FaceTime, etc. he has been able to keep in close contact with his US friends.  So my hope is that he won't have as hard of a time making friends and adjusting since he'll already know some people.

BostonDiner,

When you moved your son to the US did he have to take any sort of placement tests, or did they just put him into regular classes with students from the same age?  How about high school credits?  I know in the States you have to have so many 'credits' in order to graduate.  How does that stuff translate from the UK?

Thanks again.

I don't recall him having to take any placement tests.  It was all based on his age and number of years in school.  I'm sure it would vary from place to place though.  He did fine in US history (maybe all my efforts at reading stories to him based on US history paid off!)  He did take some ragging from the kids about "You Brits lost the Revolution" which he found annoying.  Think the teachers must have given him leeway over variant spellings.

He was there for all four years of high school so no problem with credits.  None of the US colleges he applied to had problems with that (although I wish he had come back to UK for uni)

It's good your son still has friends in the school system.  Although be aware that kids of that age can change a lot and may be stand-offish at first.  When I was in school a girl from my elementary school had lived in England for 3 or 4 years and came back when we were in high school.  I remember people feeling she talked 'funny' and wore a school uniform blazer (!)  She soon got over that and became one of us again!

Hi,

I am a UK teacher, but was born and raised in the US. I think my education was much better than the education I am (partially) giving to kids here. The curriculum is EXTREMELY rigid here and I feel like most of the time I teach to the test. I never felt that as a student, but perhaps I was just blissfully unawares of that sort of thing!

I also feel like the UK tries to pigeon-hole students as early as possible, and doesn't provide the same broad education that is encouraged in the US...

These are all just opinions!