Anonymous wrote:Has anyone left the city/suburbs for a smaller town feel? How did it go? How did your kids transition?

It's 10000% better but different. You leave the rat race for a different quiet and funner life. The schools are competitive but they add more fun aspects to it.

I grew up in a small (25 k) college town and am raising my kids in a mid sized (75k) college town. I lived in a city and suburban environment in between. There’s definitely a less competitive feel in terms of school as there are limited options. It’s really nice to be able to get from work to practice/game/activity in 15 minutes and then home in another 15. Or be close enough for a kid to walk. For me it was comforting going to school K-12 with the same group.

Opportunities for kids is a mixed bag. It’s great that a group of kids can grow as a cohort all the way up in a sport or activity, but it becomes challenging as there’s no where to go if that team doesn’t work out. There are a lot of cliques of people who grew up together and are now raising their kids together. When that clique dominates the activity your “outsider” kid enjoys, your kid will be the one cut even when they’re better than the coach’s best friend from high school’s kid. Of course this happens everywhere, but in my current town there are usually only enough interested kids to form one travel baseball, softball, volleyball, hockey, etc team per age group with a few kids cut with no where to go.

My best friend moved her family to Lexington, VA and they love it. The city has a single elementary and middle school (for high school you have to go to the county school and that's where things may get interesting). There is no Target, there is a WalMart. Grocery stores aren't great. They just got a Starbucks and Chick Fil A. They don't have a Chipotle. The city is quite insular and very separate from the county. Her boys did a rec sports league with the county and the difference in the parents on that team versus the city ones was striking.

Personally, I think small towns with colleges are ideal. Really rural areas wouldn't cut it for me (although we did leave DC because we couldn't stand it there anymore), but obviously that's a personal choice. As far as the schools go, the Lexington City schools are both 7/10 on Great Schools, so not sure how DCUM would feel about them, but they're very happy.

We haven't done this but I would like to do this if our kids were young enough. We love the city life and we can afford to live well here (including private school). But what I REALLY want for my kids is the small and medium town upbringing that my spouse and I both had. We went out on our bikes all day and played in the woods or by the creek, and it was idyllic.

I'm not sure if I would go super rural because I liked the walking to friends houses, but small town seems great.

I am the child in this scenario and I HATED moving to a rural small town. I’m a city girl. We lived in the city or suburb right outside the city. My parents moved me in high school and I hated the small town life.

I guess if your kids are very young, they won’t know any better.

NP. I’ve been interested in this too, but probably looking at my hometown which is a smaller city. Good schools and sports programs, friendly people, and not that rat race mentality like it is here. Every time we visit that city I think about moving there.

We are planning to in April. Hopefully, I can find this thread and give you an update. We are really looking forward to finally getting out of this area!

We moved to a college town in the midwest. Schools are good but not the caliber I was used to. I really went back and forth on it- I think we toured 10-11 schools- but I am happy we took the plunge. One thing I always looked at was the high school course registration guide - you don't need 3 sections of, say, BC calc, or multivariable calc- you just need one. If my kids want to pursue a rigorous track, there is enough of a likeminded cohort that they will be able to. On the plus side, there is just so much less pressure (both academically and materially) - it has really been worth it. You have kids who are NMSF who go to our middling state flagship - and there is no shame in that -the thinking is, why would you pay full freight when you can get an excellent free education? For the most part, people don't care about prestige. I am working hard to shed my own biases. Plus, we save so much money living in "flyover" - we really have a nice QOL and can supplement with outside enrichment for anything we might feel is lacking. The hardest piece is traveling to see family and far flung friends, but since we have moved a lot, that has always been a challenge anyway. At least now we have a larger travel budget.

We did and loved it.

Kids out and about all hours. Kids coming in and out of their friends homes. Quiet at night; the only people driving on our street are people that live here

Son rides his bike to a lake to go fishing with friends. Just more relaxed living

I had some concerns with schools as well, but honestly, the education seems comparable. Or, at the very least, they are enjoying their education more because its less competitive. It's too easy to get caught up in school ratings, etc

We left DC when my son was about to start middle school. He is on the spectrum and there was no way I was sending him to Deal. He gets a lot more support where he is now (still public) and I think it's a much better environment than Deal. I have a house I can actually afford a mortgage on. It was a good move.

Anonymous wrote:Kids loved it. We could afford to do more things, they had more space, could run the neighborhood with the other kids. School was not as good on paper, but they totally thrived.

Where did you go?

PP again - if you know where you're going, I'd recommend touring the school to get a feel for it. We were a transfer to the smaller/semi-rural city before our kids were school age, we've since moved to a bigger, more well-rated school and we miss the old school. The teachers, principal, and parents were super involved and it was just a wonderful school community. The higher rated school is good, but definitely missing that community spirit.

Anonymous wrote:Kids loved it. We could afford to do more things, they had more space, could run the neighborhood with the other kids. School was not as good on paper, but they totally thrived.

OP here. Thanks for chiming in about the school piece. That's probably my biggest reservation right now. We're in a great school district, but kids (and parents) are just not thriving outside of school.

Kids loved it. We could afford to do more things, they had more space, could run the neighborhood with the other kids. School was not as good on paper, but they totally thrived.

Has anyone left the city/suburbs for a smaller town feel? How did it go? How did your kids transition?