US schools....

[butterfliesinmytummy]

Me again! We are off to houston tomorrow for 3 weeks to look at schools. Dds (aged 4 and 8) have been offered places at private international schools but we are now considering local schools.

We have friends whose children have gone through the us schooling system including university and done really well, but we were wondering what happens if you move to another system before you complete your education? I have heard (maybe wrongly?) that the us system is a little behind the uk system so if we transferred out again, would there be an issue getting into a uk school? What about university? I know it's a long way off but does a US education and qualifications close doors to uk universities for example?

Is there anything else I need to know? Sorry if my questions are a bit strange but we have moved a lot so far and can't guarantee being in the us for 18 years or so, so need to know how a local education would compare.

Dh's company would pay towards education (not all of it) for a limited time so cost isn't a huge issue at the moment.....

There are definitely optimum times to move between schools. We moved out here knowing that we had to either move back to the UK or stay in the US for high school. High school covers the 4 year period when UK children are studying for GCSEs and A levels (although some UK schools now start GCSEs earlier, I believe). You need to have made your decision by then as it would be extremely difficult to switch between systems unless you are in INternational Baccalaureate schools. You also have to take into account that unless you have a green card you would probably not be eligible for in state tuition rates at a US uni, but unless you are in the UK for three years directly prior to going to university there, you are not eligible for home student rates. You could easily find yourself not being eligible for cheaper fees in both countries.

When we moved to the US for the first time, we returned to the UK after three years and our children slotted back into primary school with no issues or learning gaps - other than some history.

The education system in the US is not federally mandated, so there is no national curriculum as such. There can be wide variations on quality between different school districts in the same state. I would suggest you pop on over to Britishexpats.com and ask on their US board if anyone has knowledge of Houston schools. There are quite a few expats in Texas on the forum so they may be able to help you further.

I know its important to look as far ahead as university in some senses, but its so very far away from being 4 and 8.

If you want to look into the public schools, they are ranked by school and by district and by state - and the best way to find the bare facts (and links to their individual webpages) is via www.schooldigger.com

Personally I was in US state school and went back to the UK in time for A levels. I was young in my US school and young in my A level class. I was not behind academically and socially I was light-years ahead.

sorry, I should add - I went from a US state school directly into a competitive private UK school, so was not behind academically for the more academic schools, not a bog standard state funded local. (no offence)

I live in Houston and have 3 dc in local schools. (DH's company did not offer to pay for private). It really depends where you live in Houston - the city is divided into school districts, which vary greatly in the standard of education on offer. For example, the dividing line is near where I live between two of the districts and parents try to "transfer in" to get into the better district. The general advice is to avoid most schools in HISD - although there are a couple of good ones. (Goodness, I hope I haven't offended anyone living in Houston Independent School District :))
We moved here when dd1 was just finishing Kindergarten (Yr 1 in Scotland), and now she is one year from finishing High School. While she will not finish school with anything resembling A levels, she is aiming for top-notch US universities, so if she wanted to study in the UK, I am sure she could get into a UK Uni. based on her US qualifications. However, then she would be an overseas student, and the cost would be higher.
Feel free to pm me if you want more info.

I just saw your thread about Houston private schools, and wanted to add - not only does the standard of education vary across the city, but also the property taxes that you pay - this will be hidden in your rent, but you will see what I mean when you start house-hunting. For example a 4 bed house in SBISD (= highly regarded) will be $3,500 - 4,000 per month, but if you look in Katy ISD, or Cy-Fair ISD, the rent will be lower, as property taxes are lower... the bulk of the property tax goes to the school district to pay teachers. This might be something to consider as you weigh public vs private - ie. if you are definitely going to the Village School, don't live where you will be paying for higher-cost education that you are not accessing. Look on HAR.com for houses, and you will see the school district noted. (And it follows that where the taxes are lower, the district might not perform as well in terms of standard of education/teacher qualifications/teacher turnover etc)

Thank you everyone, you've given me some good information and good points to think about . We looked at one private school today and it was really nice but a bit far out from our preferred area for house hunting (which is reasonably close to dh's office). For the sake of our family life, it's probably best that none of us have an hours commute each way if we can avoid it. Never thought, living in singapore, that travel time would weigh so heavily on school choice. Two more schools to see, plus local schools to consider now. The local schools that we would be zoned for in our preferred area are good, going by reviews on the web and what we've heard from dh's colleagues. Now that I know there isn't normally a disparity between them and uk schools, I'm more confident looking at them.

Houston is very different to singapore but we are already comfortable here and sure we will settle well. Jetlagged to bits (kids have been awake since 2am with 13 hour time difference) but getting there!

Another thought for you - if you go with local schools, there will be a school bus for your children, which will help your commute. I can almost see the elementary school from my house, but there is still a bus :)
There's the Bayou City Art Festival in downtown all this weekend if you want to explore a bit.