Private school and living in Capitol Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Do think whether you want the kids to be in the car 45 minutes each way. Even if it is a magic car pool that works perfectly for the parents do you want years of this commute for your kids. The Hill parents with children at our NW private end up moving closer to school if they can, or moving to MD or VA for house+school and dropping out of the private school scene. Time and again.

Capitol Hill to Sidwell is 20-25 minutes each way.

Taking which way?
It takes 20 minutes to Georgetown from the Hill...and from G'town to Sidwell's upper campus, in the morning, at least 15 minutes...
And if you're talking Bethesda, well...
Please, do share your commute route.

Why would you go through Georgetown to get from the Hill to Sidwell?

Which part of the Hill are you coming from?

This is one of the problems with "the Hill." It's so large that the commute can be very different considering where you are coming from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do think whether you want the kids to be in the car 45 minutes each way. Even if it is a magic car pool that works perfectly for the parents do you want years of this commute for your kids. The Hill parents with children at our NW private end up moving closer to school if they can, or moving to MD or VA for house+school and dropping out of the private school scene. Time and again.

Capitol Hill to Sidwell is 20-25 minutes each way.

Maybe at 6:30 am. Not during rush hour

+1 I used to live near Eastern Market and my boyfriend (now DH) lived right by Sidwell. If there was no traffic and you hit all the lights you could maybe make it in 20 minutes. During rush hour it was more like 45 minutes.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I see the occasional non-charter school uniforms on older kids but there are fewer middle school and ever fewer high school age kids living on Cap Hill. The cohort skews much younger. There are significant numbers of elementary kids and the vast majority attend neighborhood/charter public schools.

Capitol Hill mom here, and I beg to differ. I have a middle school kid and a high school kid and they have friends who mainly go to charters. Yes, there are more elementary school kids, but if you want tweens and teens to make friends, send them to Basis, Latin, SWW, etc., and have them join scouts or sports teams. If you join one of the local membership pools, they'll have fun all summer.

What are the local membership pools near Capitol Hill?

Cheverly is very popular. Some join Skyline.

PG Pool, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think middle/high school dilemma would be the thing that would make us leave the Hill (which we love). It feels like a small town, we know and like our neighbors, kids play with neighborhood kids and many attend our elementary school, though it is nice that some do not and are friends through sports and music. And we like that our kids grow up walking past the Supreme Court and Congress and smithosonian museums. I'm sure by middle school our kids won't care about any of that but they also wont forget their experiences. Neither of us work in politics, fwiw.

Same here, although we aren't leaving at middle school and the middle schoolers I know still take appreciate living near so much cool stuff!

Elementary and middle school children that I know on Capitol Hill go to neighborhood DCPS, charters, or CHDS (a great private). I don't know any at Sidwell etc. At high school, I know several who go to SWW, Wilson, or various privates. At that point a lot of Hill kids go to schools in NW, but not before then.

It's a great neighborhood, OP. You'll love it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do think whether you want the kids to be in the car 45 minutes each way. Even if it is a magic car pool that works perfectly for the parents do you want years of this commute for your kids. The Hill parents with children at our NW private end up moving closer to school if they can, or moving to MD or VA for house+school and dropping out of the private school scene. Time and again.

Capitol Hill to Sidwell is 20-25 minutes each way.

Maybe at 6:30 am. Not during rush hour

+1 I used to live near Eastern Market and my boyfriend (now DH) lived right by Sidwell. If there was no traffic and you hit all the lights you could maybe make it in 20 minutes. During rush hour it was more like 45 minutes.

I'll be thinking of you when I'm doing drop-off in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do think whether you want the kids to be in the car 45 minutes each way. Even if it is a magic car pool that works perfectly for the parents do you want years of this commute for your kids. The Hill parents with children at our NW private end up moving closer to school if they can, or moving to MD or VA for house+school and dropping out of the private school scene. Time and again.

Capitol Hill to Sidwell is 20-25 minutes each way.

Taking which way?
It takes 20 minutes to Georgetown from the Hill...and from G'town to Sidwell's upper campus, in the morning, at least 15 minutes...
And if you're talking Bethesda, well...
Please, do share your commute route.

Why would you go through Georgetown to get from the Hill to Sidwell?

Which part of the Hill are you coming from?

This is one of the problems with "the Hill." It's so large that the commute can be very different considering where you are coming from.

It is not that large. but it is bordered on each side by major thoroughfares and those do determine which way one might drive.

[Anonymous]

I live on the Hill and find the 20 minutes to sidwell tough to swallow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family is moving to the area and has elementary-school aged kids. We like Capitol Hill, but the big downside seems to be that it's a commute from many of the top private schools in the city. Do families commute to NW for school?

Your plan doesn't make any sense unless both of you work in the Hill.

Real estate market is driving some hard choices these days. Not everyone can pony up the 2M for a 4 bedroom in a good school district. There are still better deals on the Hill compared to NW.

Let's not exaggerate. You can get a perfectly fine 4bd in NW, with access to great public elementary + middle school, for less than $1.2m. Not much more than in CH, especially when you take into account private school tuition for X years for Y kids.

That has not been my experience. I have not found the houses under a million to be suitable, and the ones that do work are closer to 1.7 M and up. what neighborhoods and types of houses are you suggesting?

You can get double the house for 900k on the hill, although generally speaking that is in the more borderline areas. tons of families are moving to the hill from NW starter houses and condos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live on the Hill and find the 20 minutes to sidwell tough to swallow.

+1 Today it took me 20 minutes to get from Capitol Hill near Brent to NoMa at 6 pm, rush hour. Maybe you can get to Sidwell in 20 minutes by helicopter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live on the Hill and find the 20 minutes to sidwell tough to swallow.

+1 Today it took me 20 minutes to get from Capitol Hill near Brent to NoMa at 6 pm, rush hour. Maybe you can get to Sidwell in 20 minutes by helicopter.

+100. When I have tried to do the reverse, to visit some friends, it's often more than 40 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do think whether you want the kids to be in the car 45 minutes each way. Even if it is a magic car pool that works perfectly for the parents do you want years of this commute for your kids. The Hill parents with children at our NW private end up moving closer to school if they can, or moving to MD or VA for house+school and dropping out of the private school scene. Time and again.

Capitol Hill to Sidwell is 20-25 minutes each way.

Taking which way?
It takes 20 minutes to Georgetown from the Hill...and from G'town to Sidwell's upper campus, in the morning, at least 15 minutes...
And if you're talking Bethesda, well...
Please, do share your commute route.

Why would you go through Georgetown to get from the Hill to Sidwell?

Which part of the Hill are you coming from?

This is one of the problems with "the Hill." It's so large that the commute can be very different considering where you are coming from.

It is not that large. but it is bordered on each side by major thoroughfares and those do determine which way one might drive.

Compared to other neighborhoods in DC, it's huge, especially the way people keep expanding the boundaries. People call everything from H Street to Navy Yard to RFK "Capitol Hill."

[Anonymous]

Several Hill families attended a Ward 3 public elementary school and also my daughter's Big 3. It's about 30 minutes. I think Potomac is a longer drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live on the Hill and find the 20 minutes to sidwell tough to swallow.

+1 Today it took me 20 minutes to get from Capitol Hill near Brent to NoMa at 6 pm, rush hour. Maybe you can get to Sidwell in 20 minutes by helicopter.

The trick is non rush hour travel. it's the only way. leave by 7:45 am, and no aftercare- pickup at 3. That buys ypu 20-30 minute travel, for close-in NW; gtown, woodley, dupont, using serious shortcuts across the city (not sharing!!!) .... NOT sidwell.

if you can't swing this workwise, there is no way to.make this work. you are going to live in the car, and we would choose to rent nearby over that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do think whether you want the kids to be in the car 45 minutes each way. Even if it is a magic car pool that works perfectly for the parents do you want years of this commute for your kids. The Hill parents with children at our NW private end up moving closer to school if they can, or moving to MD or VA for house+school and dropping out of the private school scene. Time and again.

Capitol Hill to Sidwell is 20-25 minutes each way.

Maybe at 6:30 am. Not during rush hour

+1 I used to live near Eastern Market and my boyfriend (now DH) lived right by Sidwell. If there was no traffic and you hit all the lights you could maybe make it in 20 minutes. During rush hour it was more like 45 minutes.

I'll be thinking of you when I'm doing drop-off in the morning.

What time do you leave and where do you live? I'm sorry, but 20 minutes to Sidwell is... hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

14:24 here. Often hill families default into early arrival plus pick up at end of aftercare. That's 9+ hours at school plus 1.5 hours minimum for crossing city and car line. 10.5 hours gone. Then breakfast, dinner, a bit of homework. Sleep. Repeat. If you could select housing closer to your preferred school maybe it's worth it.