Commuting from MoCo to NVA (for private school)

[Anonymous]

Our DC is in 9th grade in public school (MCPS) and we need to pull her out to go to a smaller school for a number of reasons. One that seems perfect (better than MD options) is in VA. Commute would be 35 minutes with no traffic (we would hit traffic on the way home). Does anyone do this and make it work? Hire a driver? Carpool (if there would be anyone nearby?)

[Anonymous]

Oh and to add we both work full time. One has a lot of flexibility and one works full time from home, but we have to get the hours in and think 2+ hours on the road a day is not sustainable.

[Anonymous]

Not sure what you're asking. You could, of course, hire a driver. Or a carpool. Do they have busses? If it's not sustainable - which it sounds like it's not - then maybe look at other options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what you're asking. You could, of course, hire a driver. Or a carpool. Do they have busses? If it's not sustainable - which it sounds like it's not - then maybe look at other options?

They don’t have busses. We don’t know yet whether we’d find someone to carpool. A driver would probably be $$$ on top of the huge stretch it would be to send her there.

I’m asking for experience of those who are actually DOING this. Are you driving your kid? Is it miserable? Did you hire a driver, did you find a carpool etc? Right NOW, it feels like “who cares, if it’s the perfect school we will do whatever it takes.” But I know this kind of feeling changes when you’re actually in the situation. So I’m looking for people who have BTDT.

[Anonymous]

We are not personally doing this but we are friends with a family that does this. They do have a carpool and think it's been worth it. I think their commute may be a tad longer than yours even. The mother did have to switch jobs to have one that's more flexible that would allow the commute. I think it would be hard to do on your own unless you and your spouse could trade off with one doing the morning and one in the afternoon. Otherwise there are not enough hours in the work day.

Your child only gets to do high school once and that's your shot at getting your child ready to be independent. You seem really enthusiastic about the new school and I would definitely figure out a way to make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not personally doing this but we are friends with a family that does this. They do have a carpool and think it's been worth it. I think their commute may be a tad longer than yours even. The mother did have to switch jobs to have one that's more flexible that would allow the commute. I think it would be hard to do on your own unless you and your spouse could trade off with one doing the morning and one in the afternoon. Otherwise there are not enough hours in the work day.

Your child only gets to do high school once and that's your shot at getting your child ready to be independent. You seem really enthusiastic about the new school and I would definitely figure out a way to make it work.

Thanks - yeah this is our dream school (it sounds like) and our kid is complex. I think we are going through the process and see how it falls. But would love to hear from those who do it, have done it, or know people who do it. The drive there wouldn’t be horrible for my DH because the school starts at 10 and he doesn’t usually get to work until 10:30 anyway. But for me to get her at 3pm and take 2 hours off per day wouldn’t work for me.

[Anonymous]

We did not go from state to state but I did drive my child about the same distance to her school for two years.

It was really hard physically for me, not at all for my child who could sleep and do homework, etc. but we bonded on the drive and I would definitely do it again for the right school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not go from state to state but I did drive my child about the same distance to her school for two years.

It was really hard physically for me, not at all for my child who could sleep and do homework, etc. but we bonded on the drive and I would definitely do it again for the right school.

Thank you. Yes I’m not worried about my kid at all. She currently has a special Ed bus that picks her up at 6:20am and it takes one hour. So for her, this would be heaven. We’d leave at 9:15am, she could sleep in, and she’d spend 35-45 minutes in the car. She really likes being in the car.

[Anonymous]

HG?

What are the hours of the school? Will she be staying late regularly to do after school sports or activities?

I do the reverse for a hobby--I have to go from the mixing bowl to 270 at 3:30 pm. It sometimes takes 45 minutes to go from 267 to 270, and other times it takes 90 minutes. You have to be willing to accept that you can leave school at 3:30 and maybe not be home for dinner. I have a class that starts in 5:30 in Frederick and about 1/3 of the time I miss it because of traffic, even paying for the express lanes.

[Anonymous]

Is public transportation in the afternoon an option? Maybe another family could drop them off at the metro or a bus? There are a fair number of private school students who do this although I admit the connection from Va to Md isn't easy.

[Anonymous]

If this is Commonwealth there are usually carpools of Maryland families every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this is Commonwealth there are usually carpools of Maryland families every year.

No, not Commonwealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is public transportation in the afternoon an option? Maybe another family could drop them off at the metro or a bus? There are a fair number of private school students who do this although I admit the connection from Va to Md isn't easy.

Maybe in a year or two, but for now my kiddo is not independent or confident enough to take the metro. I’m thinking of it in terms of one year, though. We don’t want to move - but we are also only tied to MoCo for one year because we have a daughter who is a junior at our neighborhood HS. We 100% cannot go anywhere until she graduates and leaves for college.

[Anonymous]

A carpool is your best bet if they don't have a bus. You need to figure out how feasible a carpool is, though, maybe by asking the admissions office or a parent representative from the school.

My brother went to a school that was *very* far away. It was an SN school perfectly matched to his needs so it was important that he go to that particular school. My parents found three other families and split up the driving (so each individual parent was doing 1/8th of the driving). Then I also ended up going to a private school in HS and carpooled to get there and back every day. Definitely neither of us could have attended our schools without our carpools.

[Anonymous]

New School?