We live on 2 acres in an outer suburb of Atlanta. I don’t see how we could get much slower paced than that for the US. And he’s still struggling. Sure there are places which are slower paced than others, but I mean the culture as a whole. It’s a feeling more than an actual thing you see. It’s the busy busy busy work ethic people here have which my husband and my children just don’t possess. They’d all be better off.
And as far as uprooting my children, it’s their culture too. They deserve to get to live there. And the educational opportunities will be exponentially better there. No one can afford to send their kids to college here. Even the upper middle class are struggling (most of my friends are in that group). I don’t see how we are going to pay for 3. At least there they have better options at more reasonable prices.
Interesting. I would think Atlanta would be slow. Idaho would be hella slower than Atlanta.
But the work ethic is still there. I'm afraid if you find a place that doesn't have a decent work ethic, you'll not be terribly happy either.
Yes, your kids are technically of UK heritage. But if they have lived their lives (depending on the length of those lives) in the USA, the UK is going to be an alien place to them. It's always easier for adults to make a jump like that. Without the right support network, it can be dowright cruel to children of a certain age to bounce them from one culture to the other. Consider carefully if the move would be good for them, or is it being done for you or your husband. If it's a win-win, then full speed ahead. Your husband is a grown man. Unless he's making lots of noises about wanting to go home, is it really a good idea to assume that's what he wants? It sure would be a shame if you uprooted everyone, moved back to the UK, and he was still not a happy camper.
You might want to post some inquiries asking for information on this board about primary education (prior to university)in the UK, and ask people if they think their kids were getting a better education in the States or in the UK. My general impression is that kids (unless sent to private schools here) are generally getting a better education in the USA than they do in the UK, but that's third-hand information. It would vary, of course, on your local public school system. I went to a very good public school system in the USA. My daughter went to one that was basically babysitting her, and the level of the other kids in her classes was at least a couple of years below where she had gotten through just reading on her own. It does vary wildly, and I've no clue about the Atlanta area, so you'll want to get as much input from people on the ground here as you can to help you make your decisions.
But as example of the difference between UK and USA pre-university: my daughter was enrolled in a university ed abroad undergraduate program over here. She was in classes with junior level students from various places. There was an English girl in one of her classes who had never written an essay and had no clue how to write a research paper. I was floored, as in the States, these skills are normally taught in junior high school and this young woman only had a year and a half of university remaining. I have absolutely no idea if that is something that is generally the case in English schools, or not. I did mention it on this forum and seem to remember someone telling me that it was because the student had probably never had a class that required it - they get tracked into narrow subjects, rather than getting a generally broad education. And the depth of material covered in those classes may not be as great as in a US AP class. There are teachers and ex-teachers on this forum. You can access a whole wealth of information from them by asking.
Pardon me if I go long-winded here, but it's my pet subject:
The Daughter did mention that her uni courses here were much easier than her courses at her home university in the States and that a lot of time "leveling" the students (bringing them up to a basic level of knowledge) went on - the kind of level one would normally expect a student to have already mastered just to get into Uni in the States. Her Master's program was nowhere near as rigorous it would have been in the States, as well. (Unfortunately.) These were her experiences at one school here, so how widespread that is
As to the cost of university. It's not free in England. The fees are minimal in Scotland. (I am not sure about NI or Wales.) So be ready for that. Nor is it set up like the USA, where at a lot of universities if you can pay you can get in. It's competetive and they use a very unique system of placing kids at institutions. If your kids are already in high school, they may possibly have trouble getting placed into a University here. You'll want to do your homework up front.
https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/international/studying-in-the-uk/applying-to-a-british-university/My daughter has a BA degree from a major research institution in the USA. She not only paid nothing to get it, she was given financial aid to help her with her expenses. TIP: Community College. For the most part, at a decent community college students can take precisely the same course material as they do at a four-year school for the first two years, and usually for a fraction of the cost. Also, as opposed to, say, a major research university, the teaching staff at community colleges are hired to do only one thing - teach. At the high-powered research universities, an undergraduate is somewhat akin to a weevil - tolerated because they must be, but not the focus of the academic staff's energies (which are research and grooming grad students to become academics). Junior may be thrilled that a world-renowned physisist is on the teaching staff, but they'll be lucky to ever see them in the hallway, nevermind have a class with them as an undergrad. The Prof's grad students will be teaching Junior, in all probabilities.
But take all the general electives and required lower-division clases at a community college (and do well in them to boost your GPA into scholarships range). Then transfer to a four-year school to finish up. Not all four year Universities accept transfer students. Not all community colleges offer all the courses available at a four-year university. But pretty much History 101 is the same everywhere, as are Psych 101, English 101, Algebra 101, etc. It takes some research, but it's worth doing the legwork. Unless you're wealthy and don't need to.
ANOTHER TIP - an extended gap year. Unless your kids know what they are going to University for, have them enter the job market for a few years to "find" themselves. Try different careers on in apprentiships, etc. I worked in academic advising at a major research university for years, and still cringe at the memory of the conversations I had with tearful kids who had jumped through outrageous hoops to get there and into a program straight out of high school because they had always been told that's what they needed to do. They/their parents went heavily into debt to pay for it, and then three years in to a four year degree realized they didn't like what they were studying and either saw no reason to continue or wanted to switch to an entirely different major. (Sometimes you can do that, sometimes you cannot. There are limits on the number of courses you can take at some universities, due to the crush of students waiting for a seat behind you.) I had more than one suicidal student in my office for just that reason. It was so terribly sad!
It was especially painful to listen to the ones who said they had to finish the degree, because they had to pay back the student loans whether they finished or not, and were hoping that at least having ~some~ degree to put on their CVs was better than not having one. The Daughter has friends who went to some very good universities and are working, a few years after, at Starbucks (not management), in retail, and as secretaries. Their undergraduate history, psychology, business, etc., degrees were barely worth the cost of the ink on the diploma, in the job market. The one who joined the Navy had the Navy pay for all her education, up through her MD, and now only has to work for another decade or so for the Navy and can then retire on a military pension with time to have a second career, and no student loan debt whatsoever. Smart girl, that one! Anyway, knowing what one might want to do as a career (by having worked in or around the field) is a real advantage for a prospective uni student. Graduating with a degree AND a resume is much better then just holding a newly-minted diploma and having never had a "real" job. Unless you have connections.
SUB-TIP: Once they hit 25 a student is almost always considered "independent" and will qualify for financial aid (including Pell grants) on
their income, rather than their parents' income. Also, the financial aid process looks at how many kids in a family are in Uni at the same time, so if you are dealing with more than one at once there are usually some breaks built into the system to help out.
Yes, I know all that about "broading your world view" etc, that gets sold by the education industry as the purpose of university. That's great - if you're seriously upper-class and/or independently wealthy.
Taking the courses a student would actually need to be sucessful in a career, or getting the qualifications that will let them go on for further education in that field are probably what they'd really be best taking, as a uni student these days. Unless they're being sent off on mommy/daddy's dime to become "enlightened."
Long way around to say, don't let the "cost of education" in the USA spook you into moving here. There are ways around that. It also may be that the best place for your kids will end up being a USA University, which will be difficult to manage as "foreign" student tuition is just a killer.
Good luck with it all!
