How far would you drive across town for K?
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Anonymous
| DC has been accepted at a fantastic school, perhaps our "dream" school in terms of pedagogy, size, facilities, culture, etc. The only wrinkle is the location - it's completely on the other side of town (we live in DC). A major logistical plan would have to be devised to make it workable. Both DH and I have fairly intense jobs, with DH having little flexibility in terms of doing drop off and pick up. Of course, down the road, if we love the school but hate the commute, we would be open to moving closer to the school, but not at least for a few years. Plus, we really like our current neighborhood and would miss it. DC right now attends our neighborhood school, which we walk to. It is fine for what it is - its major strength is that the community is tight-knit because most of the families live within blocks of each other. But realistically, it's probably not the best fit for DC in the long run. If we decline the school we were admitted to, we'll stay at our current school for K. I'm looking for sage advice here. What have others done in this situation? |
Anonymous
| We drove ten miles. We were able to carpool with a neighbor, and we had flexibility in ours jobs, but it was still a big pain. In your position, I would not do it. |
Anonymous
| We are in a similar situation with a tight knit neighborhood and neighborhood school a few blocks away. We tried the school this year and love the community but long term think that the school is a poor fit. We are going to drive 45 min each morning to the new school. We are also looking into moving. |
Anonymous
| Why go through all the pain of the application process to now think about commute? If it's the best fit "dream" school for your child, sacrifice and drive. |
Anonymous
|
DC is now in 10th grade, and we have been doing a 30-mile roundtrip commute since K. Yes, DC is up at 6:15am but I wouldn't trade the conversation time for anything. DC started doing school work during the commute in K (reading mostly back then) and takes full advantage of homework time in the car.
DC values the extra study time or just listening to music. Because I do low traffic backroads, our commute actually isn't that bad. Your commute is what you make. And I have a full time job with some telecommute flexibility so that really helps too. |
Anonymous
| Add in consideration for snow. |
Anonymous
Could you please expand on whether your DC's social life has been affected by the commute? Thanks. |
Anonymous
| OP here. I didn't find the application process stressful at all, maybe because my child is small and viewed every component as a fun activity. And I didn't want to waste energy focusing on logistics for a decision that, back in the fall, was just theoretical. Thanks, pps, for the very helpful comments. |
Anonymous
| Honestly OP. Why are you only NOW considering the logistics of getting to and from school?? Those things are major considerations that would - for most - contribute to whether or not a school is desirable (let alone "dream school") material. |
Anonymous
| Next, you'll post that you just looked at the tuition amount and aren't sure K is worth $30K. |
Anonymous
|
One other thing to consider, OP, is that it's not just the back and forth each day -- there are also other events and such at the school, the occasional forgotten water bottle, etc. Does the school have a bus service? If so, it might be worth the money.
For us, we deliberately did not look at schools for DS that were a long commute. We knew it would not work for us. But, if you really love the school and are open to moving closer eventually, why not try it for a year and see if you can make it work? You'll know pretty quickly whether it's doable. You could also do a couple of practice runs, during rush hour, now and see how it feels to you. That might give you something concrete on which to base your decision? Good luck! |
Anonymous
| Don't do it. We did and now I regret that my DC isn't really friends with the neighborhood kids and all his school friends live too far away to have over. If I could do it again, I would have stuck with the neighborhood school...especially for the elementary school years. |
Anonymous
PP here. DC has 4 BFFs who live closer to school than us and a couple of neighborhood BFFs. In inclement weather (not today...I drove), occasionally DC will crash with them overnight and also the occasional weekend to hang out. If there are late school activities, I suck it up and make the drive or arrange for pickup from a parent who lives in my direction but not necessarily in my backyard. I'll take 5 miles from my house versus 15 for a pickup. Don't get me wrong. I'm not doing cartwheels over my long commute but I have made it work. Also, there are times when DC wants extra sleep time, so we take a full breakfast tray in the car complete with candelabra. No problem. We make it work because that's the sacrifice we make for commuting to a school that DC loves. DC has an active social life, and I drive for all the ECs which are not in our neighborhood and wouldn't have been anyway. Social get togethers are always prearranged with the occasional last minute game after school and D wants to stay. Again, my question to DC is 'anybody coming this way afterwards'? So, it can be a juggling act but I've been doing it so long and am used to it. For the commute, I have three bailout routes if there're traffic issues which have never failed me. I am not trying to paint a rosy picture. There are times when I DO NOT want to make that drive but we're in the final stretch. DC will be driving soon and knows the routes hands down. Then I will get my just rewards of letting DC deal with the traffic (safely, of course) while I enjoy my coffee at the table instead of in the car. |
Anonymous
| Personally, I would have thought about that before applying. We went through the process for our daughter for 3rd grade next year, and did not apply to any school that we thought would be too hard to get to and from. We live in Potomac and work in NW DC. So we decided from the beginning that we would not apply to any school requiring us to cross the Potomac, commute around the Beltway or drive deep into DC to get to a place like Lowell. I think you have to consider the impact of a long commute on your family life. |
Anonymous
| Ask the school about other families in your neighborhood. We have a long commute too, but we carpool with other nearby families, so it's not too burdensome. I know the commute seems daunting now, but you'll develop system to cope. And if it's truly unbearable, you'll move sooner. |