This weekend we finalized our options. And made a decision.
- Move to a new home in the next year or so.
And thus very literally facing the dilemma of - paying for the house or paying for private school
Option 1 - Move to Belmont/San Carlos/Redwood City - and put daughter in Altschool.
Pros -
Different way of teaching/learning, excited to be part of a school revolution
Very excited about project based individualized learning, to see her true self come through
Cons -
Will the school really take off?
Daughter will have a 20min commute one way
Only I will have to do pick ups and drop offs (Big Con)
Will have to worry about High School in 9 years.
All the money will go into a bottomless pit.
Dotter will not have her school kids close by for play dates (Another Big Con)
Option 2 - Move to Palo Alto - and live like a beggar in a shattered shed - but daughter will be in good public schools
Pros -
Good schools
Decent distance commute wise for both me and DH
Cons -
Terrible old houses for what we can afford
Severe compromise on the house
Option 3 - Move to Cupertino - you wont believe me if I said Cupertino felt more 'affordable' after looking at Palo Alto. Average homes, some nice ones.
Pros -
Good schools, set for another 13 years.
More home for the money compared to PA!
Easier drive to work
DH's commute will be a little longer
Cons -
But too much peer pressure (for me :--P) ? I am hearing tutoring for elementary school children happens. Scared of the tiger moms.I am one of those that said I would never move to Cupertino because I don't want dotter to have to go through that kind of peer pressure. :--S but I can see how it is tempting to follow the crowd
Option 4 - Move to Mission Fremont -
Pros -
Beautiful beautiful homes
Great schools
Commute will probably remain the same.
DH's commute is dicey but he says he will be fine.
Cons -
Cannot think of any other than the fact that we have lived in Fremont for so long it will be nice to move to a different neighborhood.
Option 5 - Stay put
Pros -
No change, no hassle of moving
Good elementary school.
Looking forward to dotter have lot of playdates and sleepovers with her friends
Middle and high schools are getting better through the years. Love my house too much, with so many memories Dotters bunk bed- I bought it and built it thinking we would live here for another 7 years Atleast. It cannot come out of dotters room without disassembling. Boohoo. And she just started sleeping in her room.
Picture from today morning.
Cons -
May have to move in 7 years for Middle School,
This constant nagging of not giving our daughter the best we can. Just because we are too lazy to move our butts and do our research?
(Constantly hear other parents berate the public school system)
This is a super inflated market. May not be the best time to buy a house. But interest rates are predicted to go up in the next few years.
Compromises! I don't want a big house. I have realized that bigger homes are a pain maintaining. Normal house. Need to have a nice sized yard. Kitchen should look good. Or I can change it later too. Would love a two level house but not a must. Need kids dotters age close by.
Care to vote?
Just dumped my thoughts based on the time I spent on the internet.
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Hi SK,
We were fully convinced by good public schools and then shifting daughter to private school for middle/high school thereby finishing on par with private school kids with all advantages but not shelling out all that cash for K-8. BUT we just enrolled her in a private school which we used to think was very posh and didn't even consider. This shift in thinking was primarily caused by a relative whose daughter just graduated from the said private school (and we are very impressed by how this kid navigates her life and priorities). She stressed that if I was thinking private school for only a few years, I should choose the lower school instead of upper since this is what shapes their socio/educational/critical thinking behavior and given that foundation (caused primarily by teacher:student ratio that is approx 3-4 times less than public school), they will do well later on wherever it is. She was pretty blunt from her POV: "2 working parents and 1 kid - this should be a priority if you can swing it - think about what our parents did for our education?" We took it with a grain of salt, but have enrolled in private school for K and will see how this goes before we re-enroll for 1-5. Getting into choice schools for Kindergarten is a relatively easier route than trying for Grade 1 or above (tests, recos and waiting lists - since most kids are coming in from K to Grade 1, all spots are usually spoken for). Sorry this is very stream of consciousness like - but was thinking of the same thing a few weeks ago - so wanted to give you the benefit of our reasoning / mulling over things. We jumped in really late in the process - but are glad the outcome was good.