Anyone moved from UK to US with School age DCs?

[Frusso]

Wondering if anyone had done it and how viable it actually is to do.
DH could relocate within the umbrella company of the company he works for.
We currently rent.
Are we being ridiculous to even consider it?

Dcs are 12, 10, 5.
And 2 have a specific medical need, one of whom would require a specialist School.

Is it possible to relocate with existing medical needs and how would I find medical insurance to cover?

Presuming your husband's company would offer health insurance, you'll find the medical insurance won't be a problem - insurance companies are currently required to cover pre-existing conditions. That might change under Trump, but I doubt it. You'll get excellent healthcare. It'll potentially cost you a lot of money depending on how much your company subsidises your premium - we have a fairly poor deal and our health insurance costs $1k a month and we budget another $6k a year for out of pocket costs.

Specialist schools - no idea.

SEN provision in schools - can be very good, especially compared to the UK. Federal law requires schools to support students with disabilities (IEPs and 504 Plans are what you should Google). Those disabilities can be things like dyslexia and ADHD.

The biggest issue is that your older children are getting to the age where the differences between the UK and US education systems really become marked. From 13/14 onwards you don't really want to be moving kids between the two systems.

Also, bear in mind that if you stay till they're 18 you'll start to face issues with college costs, and potentially them never wanting to move back to the UK because they might well consider themselves Americans. Do you want to stay in the US forever?

We moved when ours were 2/4/6 and I've never regretted it, but I also don't have any plans to move back to the US. The education they've received has been pretty amazing (biggest class size we've ever experienced is 25) and the oldest is very excited about college.

What disabilities and what area of the country? We have good provision but live in a high tax state. NYC has some of the best provision for disabled children in the world.

Depends very much on your particular circumstances re specialist provision - you may find that it is catered for in mainstream schools in the US

If they are 12, 10 and 5 when you move, the oldest would be in 7th grade (in many areas, this would mean going into middle school, in some this would be the top end of a K-8 school). The middle one would be in 5th grade (maybe the top end of a K-5 school, or the middle of a K-8). The youngest would be going into Kindergarten - this would probably be the easiest transition, though they may find it frustrating to repeat some of the stuff that they have already done in reception

The key thing is whether your DH could get a big enough compensation package that meant that it was financially viable for you all to have a decent standard of living

You would most likely find in a large urban area or MC/UMC suburb that the public school system would cater well for your child with special needs. My local schools either do it themselves or contract out special ed, including SE with medical needs. Public schools are obliged to provide an appropriate education for every child registered regardless of whether NT or SN.

Localities with very good schools and good special education provision tend to be expensive to live in, though you could rent and still qualify for all the bells and whistles a school district offers.

You could look around for a public school district that offers the IB curriculum as well as good SN provision. The IB is accepted by British universities. University costs would be high for non-citizens. Would your DCs still be eligible for UK resident rates if they decided to go to university in the UK? You don't want to risk a double jeopardy.

I think your children's ages are excellent for a transition. (But I don't know which ones have the additional needs).