Living walking distance to school vs taking a bus

[Anonymous]

If you could choose, for elementary school, would you rather live in a house that’s 10-15 min walking distance to school, or further away so that you’d get a bus? The idea of walking appeals to me but I can see how it would also be easier if your kid can take a bus (which may be fun for the kid too.) when kids are too young to go to the bus stop themselves, is waiting for the bus with them annoying?

[Anonymous]

Walking > riding the bus

[Anonymous]

My 4th grade daughter loves walking to school. It's her daily bit of independence. She's learned to mind the clock, mindful to leave on time or early.

[Anonymous]

Walking! But we purposely chose a walkable neighborhood with a community school. There was one year our school was being renovated and our kids were bussed to another location, and it took up so much extra time and they had to get up way earlier.

[Anonymous]

Walking is better.

[Anonymous]

Walk!

[Anonymous]

We walked to our base school, but DS now gets a bus to the center school. He prefers the bus.

[Anonymous]

Walking is better, but I wouldn’t choose based on that alone.

[Anonymous]

We are walking distance but at the younger ages (k-2nd) you are still walking them there and back especially if crossing streets are involved. In bad weather you are also going to drive them and deal with pickup traffic. With that said it's nice because now that they are older, they can come home from school activities on their own, or go earlier to chat with friends.

[Anonymous]

Walking is better, although in retrospect I wish we hadn't weighed it SO heavily in our house decision (vs actual aspects of the house itself).

The worst is being just within, but at the edge of, a 1.5 mile walk zone.

[Anonymous]

OP here - OK thanks all! What age can kids walk to school by themselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - OK thanks all! What age can kids walk to school by themselves?

Lol me again...looks like it's around 10 which is basically the end of elementary school? The house I am considering is walkable to the elementary school but further to the middle and high school. So I guess it would be bus for middle/high until they can drive.

[Anonymous]

Personally I wouldn’t let an elementary school student walk to school alone. But a different story if it’s very close and they are walking with siblings or a group of friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - OK thanks all! What age can kids walk to school by themselves?

Anywhere from 3rd grade to middle school depending on the distance. We are a block away, so I'd be fine with my third grader walking there and some of his friends do, but he still wants the company (awww).

[Anonymous]

I live just outside the 1 mi walk zone for my kids’ elementary school, so mine ride the bus. A few thoughts:

The ideal is being about a ~5-7 min (within a few blocks) walk of the school. There are a bunch of kids clustered near our elementary school and from talking to other parents it sounds like it’s fun for the kids to walk/bike in a mass together to school. And leads to a lot of stop by the park type playdates on the way home. I would love to be in that scenario.

However I think a 10-15 min walk gets a little less ideal. Now you’re talking about adding a full 20-30 min commute onto your day each way b/c you have to walk them there and then back home (maybe that is a pro if you have the time and enjoy walking, but could also be a hassle if you have 2 parents working). And even if you’re comfortable with third grade + walking to school, if you have multiple kids like me there could be a big span of time until your youngest can walk to school.

Some perks of having bus riders are that I can basically walk out my front door to get my kids to school (we can see the stop from our house). And with the ride time, we get an extra ~50 min our day (15 min bus ride + 10 min buffer for arrival/dismissal), which eliminates our need for after care. Also friends who want to come over for a play date after school can just get off at our stop.

So overall, I think it really depends on what your morning and afternoon schedules look like as to which is better. But would prioritize the house itself over walk vs bussing.