How do you handle drop off/pick up OOB?

[Anonymous]

OP again.
14:14 - We live in Hillcrest, which makes almost every "good" school discussed on this board an interesting commute. I'm not really comfortable saying which school though, for a few reasons.

13:51 - Yeah, it looks that that's what we may end up doing too, unless we find it's cheaper to hire someone for pick-up/after care than it is to park and pay for the school's aftercare.

[Anonymous]

OP - How about one of the KIPP schools? Aren't there a couple in that neck of the woods? I do sympathize--we looked at Hillcrest, too. It looks like a nice neighborhood, but the location is tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the buses work right, your husband could take your child to school on the bus, and then bike to work from there, doing the pickup the same way that evening.

Does anyone here regularly ride the bus with young children during the rush-hour? If so, how has it been for you? Between the language, the open drinking and some encounters I and people I know have had with strangers on the bus, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable bringing my kid along on my commute.

[Anonymous]

We carpool, but I also seriously considered hiring a driver to drive my car with my child. Adding an over 25 year old driver to your insurance doesn't cost much and sometimes nothing. One of the great things about DC is that there are a lot of responsible students and underpaid interns willing to earn extra cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the buses work right, your husband could take your child to school on the bus, and then bike to work from there, doing the pickup the same way that evening.

Does anyone here regularly ride the bus with young children during the rush-hour? If so, how has it been for you? Between the language, the open drinking and some encounters I and people I know have had with strangers on the bus, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable bringing my kid along on my commute.

I regularly ride the bus with my 3-year-old during rush hour, and it's just fine. I think it depends entirely on the line--the 62/63 is very child-friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:fyi -it is was not for drop off / pick up I would be metroing. Instead I drop $200 a month to park my car near metro center. I rationalize that it would have cost me $80 anyway to take metro so it is really only costing my $120 a month. We have looked into paid parking near a metro stop that is close to my DS's school but did the math and when you pay for parking and take the metro it is the same cost as just paying for parking downtown.

A little off topic, but where do you pay $200/month for parking near metro center? I pay $250/month (on G between 13th and 14th) and feel like I have one of the better priced lots in the area.

[Anonymous]

Lots of people ride the bus to and from Petworth/CH with their very small children in the a.m. (not sure what schools they are going to.)

The biggest problem is getting the kid to behave and not run up and down the aisle, and carrying lots of items (purse, lunchbag, diaper bag, stroller, umbrella...what a pain.) Then there's the weather, waiting, etc.

We both used to bus/Metro but now that we have kids, I take the car and the kids in the a.m., then move the car to a zone that won't ticket us, and walk to the office. Hubbie takes bus or train to work, then back to nearby the car in the evening, and does pick up. We have to divvy it up because I work late. Luckily we have the zone in our favor, otherwise we'd be paying at least $250 to park downtown, or $500 to park two cars. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - How about one of the KIPP schools? Aren't there a couple in that neck of the woods? I do sympathize--we looked at Hillcrest, too. It looks like a nice neighborhood, but the location is tough.

I'm not the OP, but KIPP is pretty hard to get into. They had over 1,000 applications this year. I have a Top 5 waitlist number and there's no guarantee we'll get in.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP, we're in a similar situation except we live and work downtown and our child will be starting school about 10 blocks from the DC-MD border. Want to trade houses?

Seriously, we're thinking about hiring someone for the afternoon pick-up to drive her back home after school.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'd look into possibly carpooling with someone, maybe from the Hill? Many of the charters - CC, LAMB, Haynes are all in the same area more or less. Yu Ying might be tough depending on where there new location is. I have known several families that have ended up moving close to their kids' schools, just for their sanity. Your nabe is lovely though. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

23:56 - what school is 10 blocks from the Maryland border? I live downtown and drive to do drop off and pick up at an upper NW school - maybe we can carpool? My DC will be in first grade in Sept. so ours is an elementary - is yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the buses work right, your husband could take your child to school on the bus, and then bike to work from there, doing the pickup the same way that evening.

Does anyone here regularly ride the bus with young children during the rush-hour? If so, how has it been for you? Between the language, the open drinking and some encounters I and people I know have had with strangers on the bus, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable bringing my kid along on my commute.

I live in Col Hts and regularly ride the bus with my twin sons and infant daughter - we've never had a problem. I discovered the buses 10 years ago, and prefer them over metro in most situations because they get me closer to where I'm going and are shockingly faster much of the time. In fact, I find bus riders to be much more helpful and considerate than Metro riders, who tend to look on children as an imposition. We've ridden all over the city on buses. This may be an obvious question, OP, but looking at where you live, have you tried wmata.com to see what the bus commute would look like to the get to a metro line that would take you nearest your child's school? I like the idea of your husband taking his bike on the bus with your kid. Since it's only one, he should be all right while DH hangs his bike up. So, DH could take the bus with his bike and kid to the closest appropriate colored line, park the bike, metro with kid to school, then come back & get the bike & go to work. Alternatively, if your school is on / near the green line, he could drive to Navy Yard metro, park somewhere there, then take DS to school.

[Anonymous]

What metro line is the school on? I live not far from Hilcrest (I think this is just Anacostia, not sure) and I sometimes park by Minnesota Ave and commute in. It's open parking (free!) if you park on the other side of 295 and walk over to Minnesota Ave station via the bridge. There are plenty of kids (school age and younger) that I see along the way. Cesar Chavez PCS is right there and I just park on the street by the school.

DC is not school age yet, but I will most likely have an interesting commute as well. I'm looking at schools on the hill like Tyler (have younger family that attends and thrives there) since it's maybe 5 minutes away from home.

[Anonymous]

OP, again. Thanks again, everyone! I used to commute by bus downtown and DH still does sometimes. The 90 line through Capitol Hill/H Street area can be, (um... how do I say this politely), boisterous. DH grew up taking buses in a city and avoids the 90 as much as possible. I have to agree with 15:20 on that line at least, although we haven't had similar issues with any of the 30's and would consider using those with DS.
15:19 and 14:41 - On KIPP, for some reason, I got the impression that the school focused on kids who were academically behind or needed extra support. Is that incorrect? The extended hours are a definite draw though, but I’m not sure I like the idea of the Saturday instruction.
9:44 – I used to use the Metro @ Minnesota a while ago, but never thought about parking on that side of 295. In fact, it used to make me nervous to even leave my car in the metro station lot there, since it was dark, rather isolated from the exit and often empty. But, that was years ago before the new construction at the station. And, we did apply for lottery spots at numerous Hill schools both last year for PS and this year for PK… no luck, so far anyway.

I can’t believe we’ll have to go through all this again next year when our other child is eligible for the 2011-2012 PS lotteries!

[Anonymous]

KIPP is an awesome school and not for academically challenged. I live in Takoma (grew up in Hillcrest) and thought about sending my child to KIPP but...the commute would be horrible for me- single mom, one child in school, one child in daycare in Takoma, and I work downtown. My newphew and niece will attend KIPP next year and I know a few children that attend and a few awesome teachers/staff members at two of the KIPP elementary locations.

The saturday program only for the younger grades is only once a month-for 2 hours.