I had 2 trips to the bus stop AM and PM. Long drives for after school activity pick-up , double PTA and school volunteering. Middle school AAP center was far. Live in Great Falls and at that level schools are Cooper and Kilmer. Huge hassle.

I've had kids at different ES schools for years: older ones in AAP center while younger ones are at base school. If you work FT, it IS a hassle to figure out child care. We tried a variety of things -- each kid in SACC at his own school, one in SACC and one at a neghborhood daycare home -- until we found our best solution, which was to hire a college age girl as a PT nanny. That way each kid can ride the bus home and get started with homework.

The rest of it is sometimes irritating, but certainly manageable. You'll juggle multiple fundrasing requests, conflicting concerts and PTA meetings, and sometimes forget which school is having the teacher luncheon that you need to contribute to, but that just comes with the territory when you have multiple kids.

If your younger one has made friends at his base school, I would NOT uproot your younger kid to move to the center, esp giving the gen-ed demographic you describe. While I will be the first to say that there are often wonderful gen-ed teachers at high poeverty schools, the fact is that if your child is middle-of-the-pack or even quite bright, he will get less attention becuase there will be so many kids with greater needs competing for the teacher's attention.

Just my two cents...

Anonymous wrote:It wastes a lot of time. The base school starts at 7:50 and ends at 3PM. The center school starts at 9AM and finishes at 3;50. Awkward. Ask if they can go to the same school.

I would not uproot my other child from his/her school and friends purely for this reason. I have one in AAP Center and kept other at base school. I worried about managing, but as others have said, it's one of those things you just adjust to. (Remember before you had kid #2 and you wondered how you'd manage because you only ever had one child before? But you adjusted.)

It wastes a lot of time. The base school starts at 7:50 and ends at 3PM. The center school starts at 9AM and finishes at 3;50. Awkward. Ask if they can go to the same school.