life with kids in the UK

Okay, sorry to bother you all.  What is life like for large families.  Do they have scouts, boy and girl scouts, soccer, baseball, football.  what is religion like in the UK for a methodist.  How are kids of all ages, elementary, preschool, middle school and high school?  do they welcome americans or torture them? 

Okay, sorry, I'm being paranoid. 

What about TV, the internet, Ipods, music on the radio?  Thanks!  Ginny

Well...  I run a GirlGuide unit in a methodist church so there is both of those.   Our church is really quite lovely. 

iTunes is basically the same.  Football (soccer) is here but different than the US.  We are heavily involved in soccer here - coaching and playing - so I can tell you the ins and outs if you PM me. 

I have two teenagers and we moved  here when they were 11 & 13.  They are doing really well here. 

Peruse the boards; there are some threads about moving to the uk with older kids. 

I can't give much insight on younger children but can give a bit on teens. We moved here when my daughter was 14 and a half she is now almost 18. She has flourished. Being American was helpful in meeting and getting to know people at school, although at times she got tired of being "the american". The other children would seek her out to have conversations and before long she developed a core group of friends. There is some american "piss taking" but it is generally done in good humour. She doesn't regret the move for a second and will be staying in the UK for university.

Hope that helps a bit.

I brought my sons here when they were 2 and 5. Like MrsPink mentioned there are football (soccer) opportunities everywhere for kids of all ages.
We also have cubs and scouts which my son was involved in for awhile. I only really raised kids in the UK but I guess it's about the same as it is in the USA.
My 5 year old son started school about a week after he arrived and fit in extremely well. No problems ever!
As for the Methodist part I'm afraid I can't help you there but I'm sure you can find information about it on Google or maybe from another poster.
Best wishes!

...or torture them? 

Aye, we are a tortured lot.

what is religion like in the UK for a methodist. 

Fortunately, religion here (in my opinion) remains a private & personal matter, as it should be -- much less 'in your face' than religion has become in the US.  And that's an excellent thing!  For instance, you're able to practice the religion of your choice, or none at all(!) without being considered weird or socially ostracised.

I live in London - although not central London - and my neighbourhood has a few different scout groups, a youth theatre, a place of worship for practically every major religion and a few youth clubs- including tennis and horseback riding not too far away.  Depending on where you plan to settle, this may vary, but once you pick a general area, you should be able to find out more specifics. 

As for baseball ... it's not big here but in some areas there are baseball clubs with youth teams and little leagues. If you go down to the sports board someone was posting about that recently.

We moved here with two children, aged five and eight.  They made the adjustment to school here easily and had no trouble making friends.  They've never been bullied for being American.  It was a bit of a novelty in the beginning because we live in a small town and the kids here hadn't encountered Americans before.  Two years down the line it rarely comes up.

As with the US, your experience will vary depending on what part of the country, what size town or city, what neighborhood, what schools etc. you choose.  Try to decide what are your most important priorities for where you'll live, and do some research.  We didn't decide on a school district or a house to rent until we actually got here and saw things for ourselves.

American sports like baseball are in short supply in small towns like ours.  They have plenty of soccer, rugby, cricket, tennis, etc.  Maybe your kids would excel at a new sport?  My kids took swimming lessons at the local "leisure centre" and they really enjoy cycling on the bike paths and hiking/playing/flying kites in the countryside.

Boy Scouts and Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) are everywhere in the UK as far as I know.  Our town in SW England has a Methodist Church.  We don't attend it and I'm not sure how common they are.  Up north we saw a lot of Presbyterian Churches (Church of Scotland).

I have children from 21 yo to 21 months. There are plenty of activities for everyone. My 16 yo son who is an absolute nutter about American football has even managed to find a team here in north London to play for. My 21 month old has a wonderful playgroup on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Schools are a bit different and you should be aware that they vary greatly from one council to another in terms of application process and availability.

How the children adapt will be as individual as they are. But my 16 yo son's friends are absolute spell-bound by him. They think that an American is this exotic creature. But then again he naturally has very strong leadership skills and is a definite people person.

Okay, sorry to bother you all.  What is life like for large families.  Do they have scouts, boy and girl scouts, soccer, baseball, football.  what is religion like in the UK for a methodist.  How are kids of all ages, elementary, preschool, middle school and high school?  do they welcome americans or torture them? 

Okay, sorry, I'm being paranoid. 

What about TV, the internet, Ipods, music on the radio?  Thanks!  Ginny

We have Scouts, Cubs and Beavers for boys, and Girl Guides, Brownies and Rainbows for girls. These all go up to age 14, although there are leadership opportunities thereafter. I believe that there are also mixed Scout groups, but I can't tell you too much about that.

Soccer (football) is the national sport and so there are opportunities for all ages, from 4 to adult to play at an amateur level.

Rounders is a rough equivalent of baseball, and rugby is a bit like American Football, but without all the padding and with more rough tackles.

There was a methodist church where I used to live, but I don't know about here. TBH it's not something I look out for, as I'm not a Christian. As another poster said, religion is a lot less "in your face" but you do occasionally get people in town singing loudly and obtrusively about how much Jesus loves you (they are generally the subject of redicule). Whilst about 70% of the country puts down Christian on the census forms, only about 1 in 10 go to church regularly (beyond hatchings, matchings and dispatchings, or Christmas / Easter) and many barely believe in God - they just don't quite know what else to label themselves, and perhaps their parents were Christian, so they put down Christian.

TV - you need to pay for a TV license, which is about £130/year. This gives you access to the five main channels (BBC 1 & 2, ITV, C4 and Five). You can also buy a freeview box for about £30 and this gives you access to about 100 channels total. The BBC has no adverts (it is funded by the TV license, which you need to pay whether or not you watch the BBC) and other channels will have less adverts than you are used to.

Internet - just the same. Ipods - just the same.