How far would you drive your child to school?

[Anonymous]

My kid was so fussy with a 20-30 min commute to daycare--epic meltdowns, would stiffen her body while screaming so that I had to press her down into her carseat, etc.--that I prioritized a much shorter commute for PK3. Our commute ended up being two blocks.

[Anonymous]

Pk3 for my kid was 20-25 minutes out of our way. It was ok because our schedules were such that one parent could do drop off and one could do pick up, so each of us were spending an extra 40-50 minutes in the car. Sounds crazy when I say it out loud Commute now is around 10-15 to school, then 10-15 to work. But when you have a little one, the process of parking/walking in/saying goodbye... for 15-20 minutes out of your way commute, just add an hour to your commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So we live in SE and the schools on our list for the 2019/2020 school year (PreK-3) are between 5 and 13 miles from our home. Am I being unrealistic? Right now, I think that I will be fine with taking him across town to school, but when that time comes, I may not want to take the drive. I've googled the commute to and from each school and google maps is telling me that it could take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes to get to them. Did I also mention that I work in Tyson's Corner?! One good thing is that daddy works in SW, but he has to be to work by 8:30 am. He could very well take our son to school, but what are the chances that he would get to work on time? I could also change my work hours from 9 to 5, but that means less time spent with my munchkin in the evenings. Either way, I have to finalize my list within the next couple of weeks.

I kind of feel like I'm making this harder than I should. Someone please talk me off of this ledge, my anxiety super high!!

[Anonymous]

You need to weigh the benefit of the farther school against the cost of your time, or cost of working less, or cost of paying for before and aftercare (and cost of lost time having fun with your kid). I’m not sure there is much benefit in being in a HRCS versus, say, Leckie, a KIPP or Friendship charter, or one of the other schools that get decent QSRs/evaluations/parent reviews for a typical preschooler. (And there may be other ok schools that work logistically as well). That said, a 20 minute commute each way is not that bad, imo. Your child could do before care so your husband can do drop off. You work an early shift and do pick up (maybe using just 30 min or so of aftercare most days).

[Anonymous]

Don’t just look at Google Maps; actually drive one of the routes one day at the appropriate times.

Why do you have to decide your list now? Don’t you have until March 31?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived in Brightwood and my mom drove my sister to Bullis mostly everyday.

How long and far of a drive was that?

About 45-50 minutes. On other days she would take the T2 bus from Friendship Heights.

But did grandma then have to work full time outside the home? If someone doesn't work, or works a more limited schedule, commutes like that are much more manageable, although plenty of people still wouldn't want to do it. When you factor in WOH, the logistics are much more daunting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if all of these people saying they wouldn’t drive 20-30 minutes, live in a good school boundary.

Right!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you all for the suggestions and information. I guess I will wait to see which school DC will get into and proceed from there. If he doesn't get into a school of our choice, we will either keep him at daycare (1 mile from home) or send him to a preschool in Fort Washington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you all for the suggestions and information. I guess I will wait to see which school DC will get into and proceed from there. If he doesn't get into a school of our choice, we will either keep him at daycare (1 mile from home) or send him to a preschool in Fort Washington.

Good luck. I'd drive up to 45 minutes for a unique/exceptional program. There are very good schools within 20 minutes of me so it would take more than just good to take a long commute. I am considering the Whittle School and that's about 45 minutes away with traffic.