Madison or Chantilly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in the Madison boundary and wish we bought in Chantilly just for the diversity and reduced pretentiousness. Vienna is a better commute however.

This is our concern about Madison as well.

]

My child isn't at Madison yet, but at Thoreau (where the vast majority of the Madison kids go to MS). She doesn't care about popularity and has made a nice group of friends. I think there will always be a crowd that is into status at any high school. Rich or poor, private or public. From what I can see, there is space for kids who are just normal, average, non-popular kids with zits and non-fashionable clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Westfield was the high school in western Fairfax that had a well publicized heroin ring years ago, not Chantilly.

Now this doesn't surprise me. Ton of parents pupil placing from Westfield to Chantilly "for the Academy program." In fact, a teacher friend to me pupil placement applications had become selective.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thank you for your responses. My older child is in Madison and he really likes the school. I don't have any complaints with regards to academics either. My younger child is still in elementary school and it's for her that we are considering chantilly as an option. After living here for 5 years, we have made no few close friends in our community or via school. I agree that I do like this area more than Chantilly but in the long run I think the relationships and friendships we make over the years matter too. Any friends we do have are from our younger child's preschool and other activities and everyone lives either in Herndon or Chantilly and beyond.
Earlier I felt that moving to a house zoned to Oakton high might be a good idea but lately I have been hearing a lot about how Chantilly is actually much more well rounded and better academically. It's all so very confusing!!

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I hear you on the social aspect, OP. I'm not sure why but people are definitely friendlier farther out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I hear you on the social aspect, OP. I'm not sure why but people are definitely friendlier farther out.

+1. DP. It's strange we move from Madison to Chantllly, and both the kids and adults in our family have made more friends in 2 years than we had in the prior 8. And I am much happier with my kids friend group. Very different group of people. Less snobby and materialistic. Much better sense of community and more accepting. Hard to explain, but way different vibe. We never looked back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you for your responses. My older child is in Madison and he really likes the school. I don't have any complaints with regards to academics either. My younger child is still in elementary school and it's for her that we are considering chantilly as an option. After living here for 5 years, we have made no few close friends in our community or via school. I agree that I do like this area more than Chantilly but in the long run I think the relationships and friendships we make over the years matter too. Any friends we do have are from our younger child's preschool and other activities and everyone lives either in Herndon or Chantilly and beyond.
Earlier I felt that moving to a house zoned to Oakton high might be a good idea but lately I have been hearing a lot about how Chantilly is actually much more well rounded and better academically. It's all so very confusing!!

There really isnt much to chantilly area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I hear you on the social aspect, OP. I'm not sure why but people are definitely friendlier farther out.

+1. DP. It's strange we move from Madison to Chantllly, and both the kids and adults in our family have made more friends in 2 years than we had in the prior 8. And I am much happier with my kids friend group. Very different group of people. Less snobby and materialistic. Much better sense of community and more accepting. Hard to explain, but way different vibe. We never looked back.

Are there neighborhoods you recommend in Chantilly?

[Anonymous]

Stick with Madison ,I think.

[Anonymous]

If you're looking for a newer house I would look at the area of Chantilly that is zoned to Navy ES. There are some new (1-5 yrs old) homes and some of the larger homes that are zoned to Chantilly. Also the area around Oak Hill ES that's zoned to Chantilly. Lots of great houses, friendly neighbors, kids constantly running between their friends houses. You will find Drs, lawyers, teachers and lots of tech professionals who commute up to Reston for work. Being right in between Reston town center and Fair Oaks Hospital there are so many professional but nice people here.

[Anonymous]

We live in the Greenbriar subdivision and love it. Greenbriar West to Rocky Run to Chantilly. All awesome schools.

[Anonymous]

Diversity is a major negative unless it's Asians

[Anonymous]

Franklin Farms, Armfield Farms & Chantilly Highlands. All nice friendly neighborhoods. Sidewalks, community tennis courts, fields and pools, etc. House under 700k. Feeds to Lee's Corner or Oak Hill (OH AAP), Franklin (Carson AAP or Franklin LLIV) and Chantilly.

And yes, obnoxious PP, the "diversity" in this area is largely Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you for your responses. My older child is in Madison and he really likes the school. I don't have any complaints with regards to academics either. My younger child is still in elementary school and it's for her that we are considering chantilly as an option. After living here for 5 years, we have made no few close friends in our community or via school. I agree that I do like this area more than Chantilly but in the long run I think the relationships and friendships we make over the years matter too. Any friends we do have are from our younger child's preschool and other activities and everyone lives either in Herndon or Chantilly and beyond.
Earlier I felt that moving to a house zoned to Oakton high might be a good idea but lately I have been hearing a lot about how Chantilly is actually much more well rounded and better academically. It's all so very confusing!!

There really isnt much to chantilly area.

Well if you are Asian or Indian, the Lotte in chantilly is the only place in fairfax county where you can go for a full grocery shopping for both asian and indian food. That saves a lot of time compared to living in eastern fairfax for us. So depends on your perspective, for us, western fairfax is way more convenient that anything in falls church given our ethnic and economic preferences. Plus the kids and schools (private or public - Carson, Rocky Run) are really on par with those at Longfellow in mcclean. The high schools are split multiple ways thanks to the 2008 redistricting so other than the large TJ contingent, the smart kids (and single family homes) are spread out between 5 schools. That can be an advantage for college admissions if your kid is in the top 10 at each school rather than in the top 100 at a single-family-only high school.

[Anonymous]

What is the writing instruction like at these middle and high schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the writing instruction like at these middle and high schools?

I've had kids go through Carson to TJ, and get great writing instruction at Carson.