# Moving to Atlanta with kids



## Irish2014 (Nov 7, 2014)

Hi Folks 

I'm wondering if anyone has anyone advice/experience moving with kids to the States. I am Irish living in Ireland with my husband and 3 kids - 7, 10 & 13 all of who have American passports. We lived in the States for a few years and moved back to Ireland 6yrs ago. We have decided to move back to the States and have a choice of either going back next year or the year after. Our first choice would be going the year after but either it feasible. My main concern is how moving is going affect the children especially our oldest. In particular making friends and adjusting to a new education system. If we go next year he would be starting the last year of middle school and if we go the year after the 1st year of high school. On one hand I think if we go next year it's give him a chance to settle in socially and educationally before heading to high school. Would it be too much of an adjustment going straight into high school without any experience of the school system and no friends?

Thanks for any help.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

They say that, when kids are age 14, 15, 16, ... it isn't the best time to move to a different country. But we did it with our 15 (almost 16) year old son, and it worked out well. He loved it. Even though English isn't our native language.
I think it all depends on how your kid is, their personality, them being ok with the 'moving to another country'.He was looking forward to it, although he realized he would mis his friends. But hey, there's Skype and Whatsapp and lots of other things that help them. And we had promised him that he could go back the next summer to visit his friends. 

How does your oldest feels about moving to the US? 
Would you move to a similar place as where you live now, or are you moving from small town to big city or the other way around? As that would have an influence too, I guess. More boring or more exiting. More opportunities for sports, studies, culture, ... (or less).


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## Irish2014 (Nov 7, 2014)

Hi 

Thanks a lot for the feedback. We'll be moving from a country area to the suburbs of Atlanta, we have lived in that area before and have been back on holidays. I suppose I'm wondering if it would be hard for him to transition going straight into high school. What grade did your son start in when you moved to the States, did he find it hard to get used to the new system?


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

We didn't move to the US, but to Canada. Mentally, our son was well prepared for the move overseas as we were supposed to move to US (relocation for my husbands job), but they every time they put it on hold. So for almost 5 years our son was waiting for 'the move'.

He had a bit of a hard time after about 7 months (he realized that the friendships from Belgium weren't as close as he had hoped + he also had put a lot of stress on himself by taking on the hardest subjects and taking on subjects from grade 12 at the same time, as he wanted to get into university). But there was never a moment that he wanted to go back to Belgium. An now, after 4,5 years, there wasn't a single day that he wanted to go back to Belgium. He's in his 3rd year at university and doing great.

Our son entered in Grade 11. He came from a Belgian Jesuit prep school (very strict, with Latin and Greek and Sciences). We didn't move to the US, we moved to Canada (close to Toronto).
The educational system was very different from what he was used to (and we! LOL), but he did really great and got accepted in every university he applied for a year later.
I think experiencing both the Belgian system and the Ontario one, prepared him better for university.
I also think that for your son, the transition into the new school system would be a little bit easier since hel already speaks the language (sort of ;-) ) and he isn't under that much pressure if he's entering in grade 9 or 10. They apply to university with the grades from grade 11, that's what put a lot of pressure on our kid.


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