Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fellow Missourian with family in Lees Summit and Lenexa.

You are looking in the wrong part of the county. You are going to experience culture shock over there. The house poor aspect will not help either.

Unless that area is ideal for your commute, consider looking towards Burke. Top notch schools and very warm communities. You will feel much more at home.

This is my fear as well. A family in McLean without a high end SUV and without dressing their kids in uggs and north face jackets is going to feel a little out of place. It will only get harder when the kids hit high school.

This is more of an issue for other schools in McLean not named Kent Gardens or Haycock.

Spring Hill ES comes to mind (Langley pyramid vice McLean pyramid) which is west of the beltway.

There are many McLean homes inside the beltway that hover around 700K and these homes feed into KG, Chesterbrook, Sherman, Churchill Road, and Haycock.

Most of the uber wealthy in McLean send their kids to private anyway.

I wasn't talking about the uber wealthy, I was speaking about our experience at Haycock. It is not only the uber wealthy that drive luxury SUVs and dress their kids in designer clothes around here. It's the upper-middle class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fellow Missourian with family in Lees Summit and Lenexa.

You are looking in the wrong part of the county. You are going to experience culture shock over there. The house poor aspect will not help either.

Unless that area is ideal for your commute, consider looking towards Burke. Top notch schools and very warm communities. You will feel much more at home.

This is my fear as well. A family in McLean without a high end SUV and without dressing their kids in uggs and north face jackets is going to feel a little out of place. It will only get harder when the kids hit high school.

This is more of an issue for other schools in McLean not named Kent Gardens or Haycock.

Spring Hill ES comes to mind (Langley pyramid vice McLean pyramid) which is west of the beltway.

There are many McLean homes inside the beltway that hover around 700K and these homes feed into KG, Chesterbrook, Sherman, Churchill Road, and Haycock.

Most of the uber wealthy in McLean send their kids to private anyway.

What part of KC are you coming from?.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, is there a specific reason you're looking in McLean only? It's really tiger-mom central in this area. Parents who are dead set on TJ often move into the Longfellow Middle School boundaries in the hopes of getting their kids into TJ.

Rachel Carson seems to be sending more kids to TJ as of late.

That's largely because of the growing Asian population in that area.

Anonymous wrote:Op, is there a specific reason you're looking in McLean only? It's really tiger-mom central in this area. Parents who are dead set on TJ often move into the Longfellow Middle School boundaries in the hopes of getting their kids into TJ.

Rachel Carson seems to be sending more kids to TJ as of late.

Anonymous wrote:Fellow Missourian with family in Lees Summit and Lenexa.

You are looking in the wrong part of the county. You are going to experience culture shock over there. The house poor aspect will not help either.

Unless that area is ideal for your commute, consider looking towards Burke. Top notch schools and very warm communities. You will feel much more at home.

This is my fear as well. A family in McLean without a high end SUV and without dressing their kids in uggs and north face jackets is going to feel a little out of place. It will only get harder when the kids hit high school.

^^^^Or West Springfield so you can metro or slug.

Anonymous wrote:And OP again-- while on the subject, are there many transplants in the area? I am now also concerned that tiger mom central will look at our family like we just rolled off the turnip truck or something. Lol. We are the kind of family that hosts neighborhood bbqs and organizes neighborhood block and Xmas parties. Maybe this is just a Midwest thing.

The tiger parents are not the majority but a larger than normal (and vocal) minority. Many many transplants from all over the US and beyond. We have block parties. Christmas is more tricky as there are many who do not celebrate Christmas, but a December Open House type of thing is a great idea. Not just a Midwest thing. It does vary neighborhood by neighborhood. I don't think you will go wrong with any of the above mentioned schools as they all are very good. Since this is a more transient place, being the 'new' kid n the block doesn't last long. I was pleasantly surprised to find that people tend to leave their political hats at the door too. At our DC's school, there were parents who had worked in the previous three or four administrations. This area does tend to trend to older parents.

Fellow Missourian with family in Lees Summit and Lenexa.

You are looking in the wrong part of the county. You are going to experience culture shock over there. The house poor aspect will not help either.

Unless that area is ideal for your commute, consider looking towards Burke. Top notch schools and very warm communities. You will feel much more at home.

Don't be afraid to look across rt7 at the Shrevewood/Kilmer/Marshall pyramid. The schools are equally as great and the families are friendly and very down-to-earth.

My reservation about Haycock would be the renovation they are about to begin. The school is already very crowded, and with the renovation, many more classrooms than usual will be in trailers for the next couple years until the renovation is complete.

Anonymous wrote:And OP again-- while on the subject, are there many transplants in the area? I am now also concerned that tiger mom central will look at our family like we just rolled off the turnip truck or something. Lol. We are the kind of family that hosts neighborhood bbqs and organizes neighborhood block and Xmas parties. Maybe this is just a Midwest thing.

I think that sounds great! I might try to get to know people for a year or two because I became one of the organizers. Basically, you find out which of your neighbors like to organize these types of events and need help, which ones like to participate but not organize, and which ones usually just take a pass.

NoVa has a lot of transplants. It seems to attract more people from the South, Midwest and West Coast, whereas Maryland gets more people from the Mid-Atlantic and New England.

We've lived in McLean five years and love it. The schools are great and the location is really convenient. We were not gunning for TJ. We just want to raise healthy, happy kids who are well prepared for life's challenges. Yes, there are some hyper-competitive people in McLean, just as there are some passive-aggressive types in nearby areas who like to take shots at it on forums like this. They are not the majority.

Good luck.

And OP again-- while on the subject, are there many transplants in the area? I am now also concerned that tiger mom central will look at our family like we just rolled off the turnip truck or something. Lol. We are the kind of family that hosts neighborhood bbqs and organizes neighborhood block and Xmas parties. Maybe this is just a Midwest thing.

OP here. PP - We want good schools inside the beltway. DH and I will both be commuting daily to the Hill. We initially wanted N Arlington and Falls Church City, but found ourselves drastically priced out. Again, we are coming from Kansas City area where housing prices are drastically lower. Something that costs $1mill in N Arlington is about $350k in our neck of the woods. We have three children and two large dogs (golden retriever breed) plus a rabbit hutch.

We are able to find a workable home in the Haycock and Kent Gardens area in the low $700s. Which, for us, will be a huge mortgage adjustment.

Thanks to everyone who has offered comments. Really helpful.

Op, is there a specific reason you're looking in McLean only? It's really tiger-mom central in this area. Parents who are dead set on TJ often move into the Longfellow Middle School boundaries in the hopes of getting their kids into TJ.