My son Danial is in grade one, there was a great deal of medical and language proficiency tests that he had to pass before he could start school in California. His Iranian background (non english speaker) and the fact that prior to coming to US he was in a French school were the reasons for the language test, fortunately he passed it. One thing that I am seeing here is that the educational system in this specific district is very similar to what we went through in Iran. Very strict and lots of tests and work are administered even for first graders. That was not the case at all in Canada, even though Danial was going to a French school in an English dominated region, and they are known to be stricter than the English schools, the curriculum was relatively relaxed, specifically for the first graders the stress was on the development of social skills and the interest in school and learning.

In contrary, here they are doing serious math stuff and reading, I would categorize the American system (where we are living) more traditional and the Canadian system is more liberal.

I really don’t know which system is better, I did not like too much pressure back in my school years,