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[quote=Anonymous]OP,

I recognize you from the questions you asked about gifted and talented.  Welcome to the DMV.  This area is quite expensive and traffic is pretty bad.  If your DH is commuting into DC and you prefer NOVA, I would stick with N. Arlington (closer to the McLean side) or McLean.  Since your DH is coming first, you could have him try and commute in from Vienna which is more affordable then N.A. or McLean before you try to rent somewhere as a family.

DC can be fun for families but I have lived here for almost 30 years (God, I'm old) and the majority of people that do eventually end up moving to Bethesda, Chevy Chase, MD or NOVA.  A co-worker of mine moved from NE DC where our office is to NW for the better elementary schools and bought the cheapest she could afford (800K for a shoe box before extensive renovations were needed) but her commute more than doubled (and she has to bring the younger one with her on public transport after dropping off the older one) and the elementary does not provide after care!  Also, keep in mind that the cost of child care for younger kids can be more than $2000 a month, particularly in DC.  I know they provide free preschool in DC, but that totally depends on where you live in DC and the lottery results.

I live in N. Arlington (zip code 22207) and my commute is about 20-25 minutes door to door.  (FWIW, depending on where your husband works in DC, the commute for my co-workers living in DC takes them longer than it does me in nearby Arlington). My DH has a reverse commute to Alexandria and his commute is 15 minutes.  Our two kids are about the same as your kids' ages.  All 3 of our zoned schools (ES, MS and HS) are a 1.1 miles or less from our house.  It's a big thing when dropping two kids off at two different locations.  All of their activities (e.g., gymnastics, soccer, ice skating lessons) are less than 3 miles from our house.  It may not sound like such a big deal, but with two working parents it has totally impacted our quality of life particularly during the work week.  In Arlington, pretty much everyone who signs up in advance in guaranteed a spot in after care.  [One thing to note is they are redrawing elementary school boundaries in the next few years so if you are near several of the elementary schools you may get re-zoned into another one.  That said, if you are where we live the two closest elementary schools to us are extremely well regarded, so we're pretty much ambivalent about where we end up.]

In Fairfax (which includes McLean and Great Falls the two most popular cities for public schools in Fairfax), they do not have guaranteed after care spots.  That said, there are plenty of outside services that provide it.  Also, plenty of people like the gifted programs (AAP) (my cousins' kids have gone to Langley and Marshall HSs others attend schools out in Reston (but that's way too far for commuting into DC)), while others may be quite shocked by how intense the competition is (especially coming from out of state).

There are tons of jobs for medical technologists in the NOVA area, especially Alexandria.  While Alexandria seems charming, a lot of families I know either move out or send their kids to privates.  Years later these co-workers are kicking themselves that they have to sell because of dissatisfaction with the public schools.

Good luck![/quote]

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