Crazy to move across the country for a public school?

[Anonymous]

Why do you think it crazy to move for a public school if it’s a good school? People from China move to our county for the public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You've never been to the city. You've never experienced the school. You have no idea what the community is like. You haven't researched the local housing market.

But you want to just go?

To be fair, OP said that she has never lived in the city. She didn't state that she's never visited the city or state in question. She also didn't state that she hasn't researched the local housing market.

OP, life is too short to live someplace where you're unhappy. Since your DH isn't happy with where you are, and since your jobs are portable, you should look into moving. Research the cities that you might want to live in. Apply to the schools if you're allowed to do so from out of state. If you haven't been to the city ever or recently, then plan a visit.

[Anonymous]

Obviously if the charter didn’t work out we would have a backup plan. This region has good schools overall.

My main concern is uprooting the children (eldest would be 11) for what feels idealistic in some ways but sad in others. Currently we’re close to a set of grandparents. It’s not a perfect relationship for me but the grandparent-grandkid relationship is good. We’d be pretty far. And the move would be to make life more interesting for us (an affordable city) rather than the charming but slightly boring small town we’re in now. DH is mostly bored and feels limited, our town we have a great location, nice neighbors, architecture is charming. But kids love it. We’ve been there 5 years.

[Anonymous]

More affordable is the only net positive you've listed below. Leaving a place that is near grandparents, with a "great location, nice neighbors," and that your kids love on the presumption that it would "make life more interesting for us" sounds like a very bad idea.

You have 4 kids and DH is bored? Please. Sounds like he needs to grow up. Don't uproot your family because your husband is bored. ESPECIALLY since you're a SAHM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More affordable is the only net positive you've listed below. Leaving a place that is near grandparents, with a "great location, nice neighbors," and that your kids love on the presumption that it would "make life more interesting for us" sounds like a very bad idea.

You have 4 kids and DH is bored? Please. Sounds like he needs to grow up. Don't uproot your family because your husband is bored. ESPECIALLY since you're a SAHM.

OP - I am only a SAHM because of the pandemic - quit a couple months ago. No the main reason is this school I found. It is very unique and while it is offered other places, not in places we’d want to live. The second reason would be because it turns out DH isn’t as big a fan of our town as I was. But yea, it still seems like a big leap.

[Anonymous]

My parents live in a suburb with good public schools of a medium sized Midwestern city. Besides the public schools there are great Catholic/Christian schools, all of which have been mostly open for in-person since the SY began. They are both retired and since Christmas have been getting calls from real estate agents asking if they are thinking about selling. Even a few dropped by. The listing price one agent quoted to my mom blew her away. Lots of people are moving now, OP.

[Anonymous]

We know a family that did just that in January.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously if the charter didn’t work out we would have a backup plan. This region has good schools overall.

My main concern is uprooting the children (eldest would be 11) for what feels idealistic in some ways but sad in others. Currently we’re close to a set of grandparents. It’s not a perfect relationship for me but the grandparent-grandkid relationship is good. We’d be pretty far. And the move would be to make life more interesting for us (an affordable city) rather than the charming but slightly boring small town we’re in now. DH is mostly bored and feels limited, our town we have a great location, nice neighbors, architecture is charming. But kids love it. We’ve been there 5 years.

Don’t move away from grandparents. Especially with 4 kids! It’s nice to have that support system and additional positive adult role models since you and your DH are clearly outnumbered (especially if you go back to work)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously if the charter didn’t work out we would have a backup plan. This region has good schools overall.

My main concern is uprooting the children (eldest would be 11) for what feels idealistic in some ways but sad in others. Currently we’re close to a set of grandparents. It’s not a perfect relationship for me but the grandparent-grandkid relationship is good. We’d be pretty far. And the move would be to make life more interesting for us (an affordable city) rather than the charming but slightly boring small town we’re in now. DH is mostly bored and feels limited, our town we have a great location, nice neighbors, architecture is charming. But kids love it. We’ve been there 5 years.

Don’t move away from grandparents. Especially with 4 kids! It’s nice to have that support system and additional positive adult role models since you and your DH are clearly outnumbered (especially if you go back to work)

OP - grandparents don’t provide much support. We moved here to spend time with them but they mostly work all the time. We only see them 1-2 times a month pre-Covid. Hence why we are considering leaving. They will be sad though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More affordable is the only net positive you've listed below. Leaving a place that is near grandparents, with a "great location, nice neighbors," and that your kids love on the presumption that it would "make life more interesting for us" sounds like a very bad idea.

You have 4 kids and DH is bored? Please. Sounds like he needs to grow up. Don't uproot your family because your husband is bored. ESPECIALLY since you're a SAHM.

OP - I am only a SAHM because of the pandemic - quit a couple months ago. No the main reason is this school I found. It is very unique and while it is offered other places, not in places we’d want to live. The second reason would be because it turns out DH isn’t as big a fan of our town as I was. But yea, it still seems like a big leap.

Bored people will find a way to be bored anywhere.

[Anonymous]

If it is a popular charter, does it have a lottery or waiting list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously if the charter didn’t work out we would have a backup plan. This region has good schools overall.

My main concern is uprooting the children (eldest would be 11) for what feels idealistic in some ways but sad in others. Currently we’re close to a set of grandparents. It’s not a perfect relationship for me but the grandparent-grandkid relationship is good. We’d be pretty far. And the move would be to make life more interesting for us (an affordable city) rather than the charming but slightly boring small town we’re in now. DH is mostly bored and feels limited, our town we have a great location, nice neighbors, architecture is charming. But kids love it. We’ve been there 5 years.

Don’t move away from grandparents. Especially with 4 kids! It’s nice to have that support system and additional positive adult role models since you and your DH are clearly outnumbered (especially if you go back to work)

OP - grandparents don’t provide much support. We moved here to spend time with them but they mostly work all the time. We only see them 1-2 times a month pre-Covid. Hence why we are considering leaving. They will be sad though.

1-2 times a month sounds like quite a bit. How much were you expecting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Bored people will find a way to be bored anywhere.

That's not necessarily true. If you're a very outdoorsy person living in the DMV, it would be easy to be bored there. There aren't that many good hiking or biking trails, there aren't great places for water sports, and the weather stinks most of the time. For my family, even when the weather is okay, you end up with such awful allergies that you don't want to do anything. My family moved recently for other reasons, but we are much less bored and much more active now that we have good weather, good trails, and are less impacted by allergies. Also, we reached a point where we had exhausted all of the potential day and weekend trips out of the DMV, and now we have an entirely new area to explore.

OP is likely to find, though, that selling her house would be easy, but buying one will be nearly impossible. The inventory of houses on the market is exceptionally low right now.

[Anonymous]

OP - I grew up moving often for my father's job. It really is not that hard to move. Though it can be more expensive than you may think unless you plan to use U-Haul method.

If you or DH are not happy where you are living now, it is worth looking into a new location. Schools would top the list for a new area but so would availability of the activities of interest to us, economics, retirement opportunities, etc.

Live boldly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Bored people will find a way to be bored anywhere.

That's not necessarily true. If you're a very outdoorsy person living in the DMV, it would be easy to be bored there. There aren't that many good hiking or biking trails, there aren't great places for water sports, and the weather stinks most of the time. For my family, even when the weather is okay, you end up with such awful allergies that you don't want to do anything. My family moved recently for other reasons, but we are much less bored and much more active now that we have good weather, good trails, and are less impacted by allergies. Also, we reached a point where we had exhausted all of the potential day and weekend trips out of the DMV, and now we have an entirely new area to explore.

OP is likely to find, though, that selling her house would be easy, but buying one will be nearly impossible. The inventory of houses on the market is exceptionally low right now.

This. The flight from the DMV and similar areas is real and only going to accelerate.