Could you please share your experience if you lived far from your school?

[Anonymous]

We have a 30 minute drive for our high schooler. It would be a bit much for elementary school though.

[Anonymous]

School had always been an hour away from home for me and I didn't really know any different. In the later years, I had after school HS activities and activities nearby my HS and I wouldn't get home until the evening. This was normal. The biggest challenge was homework and finding time to get it done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider this for high school but no way for ES and MS.

Same.

[Anonymous]

I lived about 40 minutes from school; it meant I could not stay after school for any activities, because with two working parents they were not able to pick me up.

My parents were also too exhausted to drive me around the entire area to have parties or activities on the weekends.

Just keep in mind that if you make a commitment to a far away school, you are also making a commitment to a lot of driving if you want your dc to have a social life or do any after school activities.

I definitely regret to go this far away private school for high school, when I was close enough to walk to my "good enough" public high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would consider this for high school but no way for ES and MS.

Same.

As someone who experienced this, I would say that ES far away was much easier than MS and HS. Those were the times when I wanted to socialize more and do more activities, and it really was not possible due to transportation.

[Anonymous]

Our kids have a 20 min commute each way right now for K-8, which is better than what it was when we had to juggle a daycare and elementary school pickups and everyone survived.
Next year we have one in K-8 and one in high school and it will be a longer haul again. They’ll be fine. In 2yrs the high schooler can drive and it will be easier again.

[Anonymous]

I lived 45 minutes from my elementary school and it was awful. Playdates were challenging and I had to get up an hour and a half before school to get there on time. For my kids, I decided 25 minutes was my max and even that was pushing it. We have a 20 min commute at the moment that will be 10 next year. If you are serious about moving her to a private that's really far - perhaps consider moving closer.

[Anonymous]

A few people at my DC’s school have long commutes (45 mins to an hour) and I think it’s crazy, but to each their own…

[Anonymous]

We live far from our school, 35 mins with no traffic but normally 50-60 min commutes on normal weekdays. It is not easy, but honestly it doesn’t really change my kids social life. She does dance after school and has a ton of friends. Sleepovers can be a challenge but her friend group is wonderful and we always make it work! The school is a good fit for us and we can’t afford to live closer to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your neighbor's child started HS in 2019 or 2020, I think that's more Covid than distance. Our school has kids from all over the DC area and that's without the huge bus network some other schools provide.

I think ES specifically can be hard if all the neighbors are at one nearby school and your child isn't. But it doesn't sound like that's true for you anyway. I would say, more for your own sanity, to focus on schools with good bus/transportation options, so you're not spending 1-2 hours in the car each day.

I’m more concerned about the social aspect of living far away than the actual commute. At our local public, I can pick up my child and her friend from the school carpool. It is easy for parents to pick up from my house a few hours later since we all live close together. I would assume this would be much more difficult logistically if we live far from other families. There would not be carpooling or after school play dates.

This is definitely a challenge for lower grades. The older your child gets, the less this will factor in.

So....then the next question is whether your child was accepted to a highly competitive school in a lower grade and you want to snag it to make sure they are at that school for higher grades. We know so many people who really cared that their kid went to X school for HS so applied as many times as possible to X school in earlier grades to get the foot in the door. We waited until 8th do apply for HS.

[Anonymous]

I did this as a kid - 40 minute commute. It sucked, even though the academics were genuinely much stronger than public would have been.

[Anonymous]

Hated having my DCs going back and forth over the bridge every time they wanted to see friends who lived closer to school or attend events. Traffic, etc. In hindsight, wish we stayed on our side.

[Anonymous]

I did this in middle school (~45 minute drive) and high school (~1 hour with no traffic, more during rush hour). In middle school it was awful. Only friend I ever hung out with was the one who was also commuting from somewhat near where I lived. In high school it was less of a big deal. So many people stayed after for sports and activities that your social life was centered around school anyway.

[Anonymous]

A close school community is often what parents like about private school. Having various afterschool activities where students and parents get to mingle and bond is a perk of private school. The distance may be more of a burden to partake in the activities. I live close by to our K-8 but many others do not. 30 minutes isn’t bad but I definitely wouldn’t do it 30-60 for K-8. High school is a different story. We did it for HS. However, there was a bus.

[Anonymous]

We live far from school (about an hour) but the kids take the bus and socialize on the bus. Bus time ends up being a daily afterschool play date.

+1 on the poster who said we can’t afford to live close to school.

Either we live on this side of town and pay for private school or we move to the more expensive part of town and they go public. We’ve chosen to live in an area with more socio-economic diversity but the kids have small class sizes and solid teachers in private.

Also a lot of the kids at our private live far from the school