Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Tips for moving to USA

I am a Mom of two small Kids. Moved from India to USA two years back. This blog is helpful for those who have small kids and planning to move to USA.

The first thing you have to do is look for an apartment in USA. Staying in hotel is okay for 1-2 days/weeks but then it's better to settle down fast and nothing like own place and home food. We shifted to our apartment within two days of landing in USA. What nobody tells you is that you have to start the process even before you reach here. In USA, all schools have ratings based on their performance (10 is best) and it's better to stay in the area where school rating is good enough.

So before you come here, do a thorough search and decide in advance. There is a great website http://www.greatschools.org/. You open the site and put the name of the city and state where you want to shift or you can put the zip code (if you know). It will display all the schools in the area and their rating. Most Elementary schools are from kindergarten (ages 5+) to 5th Grade. Some may have pre-K. Education in public schools is free. So you click the school'name which has a good rating. It will show everything from parents reviews to test scores to compare schools. If you click "compare schools", you will get a list of all the schools in the area and nearby. Suppose the place you are going has schools with poor rating, then you can search for schools in nearby area. It's better to stay in an area where school rating is better which may mean further from your office. I can tell from my own experience. I didn't know a thing about ratings when I came to USA. We took house within walkable distance from my husband's office. While great for him but my son had to study in a 3 rating school. Now he studies in 9 rating school. Needless to say, there is a huge difference in both the schools in terms of education and overall culture.

Everyday I would be adding more tips on how to settle down here.
. If you have any questions, I would be glad to help.

14 comments:

  1. Hai mam, ur information is very useful. Please upload more posts. It will be helpful.

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  2. Thank you mam for such useful information .. I'm also a mom of two girls and planning to move to USA from India probably for the next academic year. At present my elder daughter is in Grade 4 and younger one in Grade 2.. But what I heard is that in USA children lag an year back i,. They have to repeat the same grade again .. Is this true ?? I heard through one of my friend that there is a test conducted to get admission in the next grade ..I'm in a big dilemma .. Please clear my doubts anyone.. And what else points should be taken care of before moving to USA from India these age children..?one more point is my elder daughter is American citizen but we moved to india when she was 4 months old..thank you

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  3. Don't worry too much about schools in USA as it's very easy to get into US schools. They do not conduct any test for admission. We had gone to India for 1 yr so my son did his 4th grade from India. When we came back to US, he did not have any problems getting admission in his home school (in 5th grade) nor he gave any test. In US, most of the schools have flex Maths/English where they put kids in different levels based on their performance. Kids in highest group do extra enrichment activities. My son is now in 9th grade and he is doing 11th grade Maths (he gets to sit with 11th graders). I don't think this is even possible in India!! I have compared the curriculum here in US with India and the US kids do not lag behind in any way. You don't have to do anything before coming to USA. Kids will do well here

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  4. Hi thanks for the information we are planning to move DC for next academic year, I have to two kids one is 4 and another is 6.5 year. My elder can understand and speak little English but my younger and only understand little bit English. I'm little bit worried on their language..

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  5. When I moved the first time to US, my son was the same age (6.5 yrs). He too could understand and speak little English. I was surprised when on first day of school, he could interact so well with other kids. My daughter was just 2.5 yrs old. She did not speak English at all but it takes them few days to maybe a month and they become so fluent in English that they start telling you how to pronounce certain words!!! Infact after few months, they will speak only English so don't worry about it.

    The schools normally ask you if kids speak different language at home. They do conduct English language proficiency test and then put the kid in a special class to provide extra help in English. I think this will help your kids to get at the same level as other kids. You can get the library membership (it's free) as soon as you come here so kids can read the books. Reading is very important in schools here.

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  6. Very well explained. Thanks a lot

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  7. Please help me to move USA I have completed 10th grade and my age is 21 can I move and how please help me Thank you

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  10. Your blogs are really good and informative.I have 5yr old fraternal twins and hence I was adviced by my pediatrician to put them to different section in school as they both are of different genders. So can you pls let me know if you have come across any of this kind of situation and is there any specific rule for the twins like they should not be separated.Will there be multiple sections like in Indian schools or single section for each grade.

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  11. There are many sections in each grade depending on the school population. Normally twins are placed in different sections. Two of my friends have twins and their kids were never placed in the same section. You can also request the school if required.

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