Aliyah Q's - Please help!

amother

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 8:52 pm

URGENT!!

Considering Aliyah to Beit-Shemesh end of October to Sheinfeld area.

Have a few questions:

1) Two kids 6 and 3. When does school end during the day? Is it ok to start school when we arrive?

2) Not much savings, but is a budget of 10,000-12,000 nis sufficient?

3) Is there a market for English speech therapy clients after I get my license? I believe it will take a while to transfer my American speech license to an Israeli license.

4) Any contacts to find cheap 2 bedroom apartment? If not making a pilot trip, how do you set things up before arrival re furniture etc? Arrive to an empty apartment??

5) If 4 doesn't work out, any recommendations for absorption centers while looking for apt? Found seriously mixed reviews online (from "run-down motel" to "nicer").

Thanks!

DrMom

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 10:21 am

It is okay to start school even though the school year is already in progress.

Forgive me for being blunt, but from your post, it sounds like you are doing this in a very hurried, not-well-thought-out manner. Are you sure this is a good idea? I'm a planner, so to me, moving to a foreign country with kids in tow is the sort of thing I'd plan out very carefully. At least I'd have an apt and a job lined up.

Your budget (#2) concerns me.

grace413

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 12:17 pm

It's great to have a job lined up in advance but most people are not able to do that.

There are several Bet Shemesh/Ramat Bet Shemesh residents here. Maybe one of them will show up.

3 year old gan goes til 2pm - free and in some places you can pay to stay til 4 pm. Til 12:45 on Friday.

Elementary school days vary usually start at 8 can finish at times from 1 to 3:30 and different times on different days. That's for regular public religious schools - if you are talking about cheder, I have no idea.

What kind of work does your DH do?

There is a community list for Bet Shemesh, but I don't know where it is - try googling. There will certainly be realtors on the list.

Have you contacted NBN?

Hatzlacha.

amother

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 4:42 pm

I dont know too much but we are considering aliyah to RBS and when I asked a friend there about budget, she said it could be done with 10-12 NIS but it would be a bit tight.
I also have a friend who made aliyah to sheinfeld a few years ago and they are so happy there. Their kids are doing great BH.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 5:04 pm

Quote:

1) Two kids 6 and 3. When does school end during the day? Is it ok to start school when we arrive?

for your 3 year old I dont thnk it matters, but for a 6 year old, with no hebrew, I would think coming a whole month late to school would be a big deal and too big of an adjustment. why not wait until the following year (or why did you wait for the school year to start?
the school day ends differently depending on where you would be sending.

Quote:

3) Is there a market for English speech therapy clients after I get my license? I believe it will take a while to transfer my American speech license to an Israeli license.

there are MANY english speakers in that area so there may also me many english speech therapists there. Also, there may not be a need for english speech therapy (not sure) because kids ar learning in hebrew, not english.

Quote:

5) If 4 doesn't work out, any recommendations for absorption centers while looking for apt? Found seriously mixed reviews online (from "run-down motel" to "nicer").

I dont thnk there are absorption centers anymore.
Do you have friends in the area who could find you an apartment?

I agree with the poster who said it seems you are doing this all a bit too rushed. But good luck if this is what you want/need to do.

Sanguine

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:00 am

OP - why is it so urgent?? We don't know your situation. People don't usually wake up and suddenly move halfway around the world. (What country are you coming from?) But then again, sometimes people really over plan and that doesn't work either. Not our business. Maybe you're just the type of people who do things fast. Many times people put off Aliya and then it never happens so I hate to be pushing you to push it off. By next summer you would have moved somewhere else if you're that type (Alaska?).

As people say, your 6 year old may really be a problem if he's going to start Kita Aleph. (By any chance, does he speak Hebrew?). The schools learn very little before the Chagim but a first grader can really be lost. Would you consider keeping him back a year and sending him to gan? Is he already six? If he's born from July on, no question - Just put him in Gan this year (a lot of later kids stay back a year). Do you speak Hebrew? Do you know people here? You should get in touch with the school and discuss the situation. In Beit Shemesh they know what Olim are so they can advise you.

With 2 little kids 10-12,000 is fine as long as you have savings and what to fall back on.

amother

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:06 am

We manage, barely, on 10,ooo nis a month. It's doable. Very much depends on your needs. We don't own a car but that may be hard in RBS.
It may be hard for your 6 YO to start school late but that's up to you.
Sorry I dont know much about the rest of your Qs.
BTW I know some people who moved /are moving to RBS GIMMEL and are paying much lower rent if that could be an option for you.

m in Israel

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:11 am

I agree with the previous posters that making plans in Sept. for Aliyah in October is pretty risky, and I would not advise you to do it unless you had no choice. I also do think that starting a first grader so late in the year is a big problem, and it is probably worth putting him into gan this year instead.

As far as some of your questions, in the Beit Shemesh/ RBS area there definitely is a need for English speaking therapist if you work with young children. If a child from an English speaking home exhibits a speech delay when they begin speaking, the initial therapy is done in English. Also the evaluation is done in English as well, so if you do evaluations there is a market for that, too. I don't know what the pay scales are, though.

Apartments in Beit Shemesh are not cheap, but there are many real estate sites online (just google real estate in Beit Shemesh). If you are not bringing furniture from the U.S. and you are not renting a furnished apartment, then yes, you will arrive in an empty apartment and need to begin shopping. Remember that here in Israel, many apartments don't even come with basic appliances such as a fridge/stove/washing machine. Make sure to find out exactly what is included and what you need to get. When we moved we rented a short term fully furnished rental for 2 weeks to give us time to get our regular apartment inhabitable -- but of course it was a bit expensive to do that.

I have never heard of anyone going to an absorption center, and like Shabbat, I thought they didn't exist anymore for families.

m in Israel

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:14 am

amother wrote:

.
BTW I know some people who moved /are moving to RBS GIMMEL and are paying much lower rent if that could be an option for you.

Yes, rentals in Gimmel would be much cheaper, but it is much less American and much more Chareidi then Sheinfeld where the OP is considering moving -- it is really a completely different type of neighborhood and if she is looking for a Sheinfeld type of neighborhood I do NOT thing RBSG would be a good match. Maybe something in M-3 or Mishkafayim, but I don't think those areas have people moving in yet, and I also don't think they have small apartments there.

chani8

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:55 am

amother wrote:

1. Starting school right away is a good idea. Gan for both is probably the best thing to do.

2. You have to do the math regarding budget. How much will you pay for rent, arnona, utilities, tuition, upgraded health insurance, travel expenses.

3. There are so many speech therapists in the Bet Shemesh area. Honestly, I think you need to consider other options for work. I hope I'm wrong.

4. You may want to use a realtor to help you find a rental apt. Do you have any friends who can help with the your aliya? You will need help.

5. I can't imagine why you'd need an absorption center. You simply need to find a rental apt somewhere.

m in Israel

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 3:58 am

chani8 wrote:

3. There are so many speech therapists in the Bet Shemesh area. Honestly, I think you need to consider other options for work. I hope I'm wrong.

.

OP should definitely speak to someone in the field. But I know that when my son was approved for speech therapy there was a few month waiting period for a therapist to become available at almost all the places I called. So it definitely does not seem like there is a flood of therapists in the market. (Of course I am talking about therapist willing to work through an agency that accepts the Kuppah payment -- if she wants to work privately I really don't know what is available. And now that I am thinking about it, it may be a problem getting a job with one of these places if you ONLY speak English. IOW a bilingual therapist is in high demand -- but I'm not sure about one who doesn't also speak Hebrew.)

amother

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 8:22 am

We made Aliyah this summer to RBSA. We also made the decision quickly and decided to move and did it in 7 weeks so we could be here before school started. But it is very hard to find a school. I have a 3 year old and I have not been able to get him into Gan. Everywhere is full. Every class has 31 kids in it already. Private gan is very expensive. All I am saying is that it may not be so easy to get your kids into school.

amother

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:02 pm

RachelEve14 wrote:

Amother, the ganim can have up to 36 kids (crazy I know!) and your child is entitled to gan. Go down to the iriya and protest!

Yes - but I am not sure if sending my English only speaking 3 year old to gan with 31 other students is really the best thing for him.

DrMom

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:37 pm

amother wrote:

Yes - but I am not sure if sending my English only speaking 3 year old to gan with 31 other students is really the best thing for him.

It'll be difficult at first, but in the long run, it might be the best thing for him to go to a Hebrew-language gan. And actually, in RBS, there will probably be lots of English-speakers among his classmates. That will help ease the transition.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:47 pm

DrMom wrote:

THIS. Also, don't ever underestimate how fast children pick up language. A three year old will take to Hebrew like a fish to water.

Even my 11yo, who is in public school, picked up tons of Hebrew when we were in Israel for 3 weeks. I'm going to hold her back a year, and I know she's going to catch up very quickly. They may even move her back up to her regular grade if she catches on really fast.

It's always the adults who have the hardest time learning. (You'll know you're an Israeli when your kids start speaking Hebrew to each other behind your back, in hopes that you won't over hear them and understand what they're plotting!) Wink