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Are we crazy to move for High School choice?


Are we crazy to think about moving?  

  1. 1. Are we crazy to think about moving?

    • Yes... don't move just for a school.
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    • No... you aren't crazy to move into the school district.
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    • Other (please share)
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Here is my dilemma... please let me know if you think we are crazy...

 

(1) Our 7th grader is highly gifted, which is why I am homeschooling in the first place. Our current district is terrible and was forcing him to "conform" with their low standards and refused to allow him to work ahead at his level. He has been homeschooling from 2nd-7th grade and is doing beautifully... though, he is starting to need more of a challenge than we both feel I am able to give.

 

(2) A neighboring district has a magnet school that has consistently rated in the top 3 highschools in the nation for years, and is specifically a "gifted" magnet. I hear it is highly competitive to get into as a resident, and even more so as a non-resident since they take in-district first and all others get placed onto a waiting list.... but I am nearly certain that he will be accepted if he is living within the district. He would need to be already living there to be considered a resident at the time of application.

 

(3) My son has been asking to go to this neighboring district magnet school and has his heart set on it after seeing the course plan, and because it will be "all gifted kids"... he really, really, really craves being around "likeminded" kids.

 

(4) The freshman class is the time to enter, since it is rare that spots open up after the first year, so the option of waiting until later isn't good.

 

(5) My husband actually works on that side of town, so it would simplify his commute and centralize our "world". (This also happens to be our church, so it would make ministry opportunities within our church more feasible.)

 

Here is THE NEGATIVE:

 

(1) The cost for a house MUCH SMALLER would be more than TWICE what our current home is worth. (Though a nicer neighborhood)

 

(2) Moving... UGH!

 

(3) Possibility he still won't get in (though unlikely, it is still a possibility)

 

(4) We are pretty firmly rooted in this part of town... soccer teams, friends, etc., etc. This is our world, and it would be so hard to leave :(

Edited by babysparkler
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All ears. It depends. Would your current home sell? Could you make a profit big enough to place a down payment on the new home? I would also have a meeting w the school principal for a clear and honest assessment about the likelihood of your DC's admittance. I would not do it until he was admitted. Also, ask if he could follow a student around for the morning. A little "life in the day of a highly gifted school" would give him a better idea!

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I don't think you are crazy. I'd move for a school for my gifted kids if that was an option (if we did not have to live where we do for our jobs).

Will you be able to sell your house?

 

If you decide to move, I would rent first in the new area and not sell the house until it is definite that your child has been accepted.

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I think learning to adapt to new situations is a "life skill"! Not always fun, but good to learn confidence that the experience is survivable.

 

We moved when my kids were a little younger than yours. It was really hard on me, as we lost our comfy nest of friends and such, but we quickly adapted. The smaller house is definitely a bummer, but being closer to your husband's work is priceless.

 

Like other posters mentioned, I would spend a little time visiting with the principal!

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No, you're not crazy to consider it. It's the same kind of dedication that caused you to homeschool in the first place. I know that sending my eldest to the honours program at the ps was only a compromise and that she isn't getting the top education she could despite the good math program, but it saved our relationship & helped our family immensely to have her stop homeschooling (she's hg but also extremely challenging.) Had we had an option like yours, we'd have considered it, because it would have been better.

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Moving into a neighboring school district is common here, as that district hosts the math/science charter school now touted as the "#5 STEM high school in the nation."

 

We will not be moving into that district as we love where we live (a university town oasis in a sea of suburban sprawl). Being out-of-district dd will be subject to the lottery though she is immensely qualified. It is frustrating to say the least. I don't know what we will do for high school if her number is too high. Dd desperately wants to attend (you should have seen her face during the Open House tour!) but she understands the situation.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide :) I know I think about this every.single.day.

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I think the key to crazy or not is if you can sell your current house and move without taking a big financial hit. I keep hearing that the housing market is coming back, but your local market will be important. I wouldn't wait to begin to get your house ready and I'd have it on the market next spring.

 

The other factor you don't mention is other children who will be effected by this move both in terms of school but also in terms of smaller house and more limited funds due to money being allocated to the new home.

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I don't think it's crazy to move for a perfect school.... but be careful. What looks perfect of paper doesn't always hold up to close inspection.

 

We moved recently for a job, and chose a neighborhood based in part on the schools... and while I don't regret it at all (it's a great neighborhood for a lot of reasons!), the schools aren't as amazing in person as they are on paper. They really are good schools - really really good - but especially when you're dealing with kids who are outside the norm in one way or another what's really really good in general still might not be the right fit. And of the four local schools we started out considering, the one I thought was going to be all wrong has ended up being our top choice.

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Would it be possible to rent a small apartment on a short-term basis to establish residency in that city without actually moving? If you son is accepted, then you could make a permanent move.

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

I would not sell my house right now, especially since the economy is bad and DC hasn't even been admitted yet. I think a small rental is the way to go in order to get residency.

 

BTW, No you are Not crazy for wanting what you feel is best for your child. ;)

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:iagree::iagree:

 

I would not sell my house right now, especially since the economy is bad and DC hasn't even been admitted yet. I think a small rental is the way to go in order to get residency.

 

BTW, No you are Not crazy for wanting what you feel is best for your child. ;)

 

Yes, I also agree with this somewhat more conservative approach at least initially. He could end up not getting in or getting in but then deciding its not really for him after a sememster or so. Then what? Since you mentioned you are very plugged in to your current community this is something at least worth considering. Either one will cost more money. But buying and selling a house in a down market will definately cost more. The counter arguement to this is while you take a big loss on your sale you could potentially gain on buying in a higher end area once prices start to rise. Unfortunately the lesser school districts typically take a bigger dip than the higher regarded ones during a housing recession. I used to work as a RE appraiser and saw this all the time. In fact some areas are so popular that even during recessions the prices hardly budge at all and may even go up!

 

I don't think its necessarily crazy. It just might not be the best option available from a financial standpoint or for the rest of the family.

 

Have you considering earlier college course work as an alternative? Some friends in our area did dual enrollment at the local college for most of HS and their kids loved it, not to mention getting full college credit for their work with far more to choose from than a HS could offer.

 

If however you still want to go through with the move, then you could rent initially in the other district and keep your current home while leasing it out. This is one more way to at least test out the waters before going overboard with a sale/purchase at such an early stage. Either way let us know how things turn out. Maybe the craziest thing will be what actually works best for you?

Edited by dereksurfs
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:iagree::iagree:

 

I would not sell my house right now, especially since the economy is bad and DC hasn't even been admitted yet. I think a small rental is the way to go in order to get residency.

 

BTW, No you are Not crazy for wanting what you feel is best for your child. ;)

 

If you can afford to do that, that is the way I'd handle it, too. (I did say you're not crazy to consider it, but to do it takes a lot of careful thinking and a plan B if your dc isn't admitted.)

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Or buy a really small house in the new district without selling your current house -- if things don't pan out, you can rent out the new house.

 

I'd be leery of upsetting everything for a school. In our experience, schools are never what they are cracked up to be. You can interview principals and parents all you want, you won't know what it's really going to be like until you are in it.

 

Despite the "great" schools near us -- full of gifted kids -- my kids chose to stay home for high school. What I've discovered is that most of the gifted kids aren't even in the school. They're all off taking dual enrollment college classes, which one can just as easily do as a homeschooler.

 

But I might move just to reduce my husband's commute.

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Would it be possible to rent a small apartment on a short-term basis to establish residency in that city without actually moving? If you son is accepted, then you could make a permanent move.

 

Check this out carefully and make sure you can live under what legal standard of residency you would need to meet to have him attend the school. Our area had a big scandal over this sort of thing, so read the rules carefully.

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Would it be possible to rent a small apartment on a short-term basis to establish residency in that city without actually moving?

 

Check this out carefully and make sure you can live under what legal standard of residency you would need to meet to have him attend the school.

 

My school district requires renters to produce a 1 year rental agreement at time of enrolment. For us, enrolment is in end January for all grades on a first come first serve basis except for lottery schools. Before school starts we need to submit another proof of residence to verify that we are still staying in the same address.

 

People in my neighborhood do move for high school but they rent out their primary residence and rent or buy a residence in where they want to apply for.

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