Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

When we bought our house I wasn't really thinking about school districts since kids were way off in our minds at that point. We live in an area that I absolutely love, but the school district is just average academically. Definitely not bad, but not stellar either.

I previously thought we had a bit of time to decide to move or not... I was thinking that by the time my daughter started third grade I'd like to make sure we are in our forever home.

My daughter is in kindergarten now and she also did pre-K through our district so it's her second year with many of her classmates. She also plays soccer for our town, is in Daisies and dance classes and has already formed quite a few great friendships. It all leaves me very confused.

I'm feeling like she's already putting down roots and I worry about moving her to a new district come first or second grade.

We are happy here, so far our experience with school has been wonderful. My daughter is in a dual language program at school and is learning Spanish, which I consider to be a huge asset.

If we move, I'd like to move to the next town over which is Garden City. We wouldn't be upgrading in size of house, just in prettiness of our area. I love Garden City and always dreamed of living there. Now that we are at a point where we can afford it (and by affording it I do mean one of the smaller houses in GC), I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it. I know the school district is fantastic, but there's also things to consider besides academics. While we can afford to live there comfortably, we will always be at the very bottom in terms of what we can afford compared to many other families. We will probably always drive Hondas and we won't be "summering" at our house out east etc.

I don't care about keeping up with the Joneses, but I do wonder what impact the environment might have on my daughter. It sucks when all your friends have much more than you do. Plus I don't want her obsessed with material things or status.

I guess I'd just like to hear from people who did move their children after they had already been in school for a couple of years or more and how it worked out.

Also, I'd love to hear from GC moms on how you like it there.

Message edited 10/19/2017 11:52:53 AM.

Re: Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

I am in a similar situation..we're trying to figure out if we're staying where we are (when we bought our house, we weren't thinking forever home either) or if we would move.

I moved a few times when i was younger - the first being 3rd grade, then 5th, then 8th.
I'll tell you, the older i got the worse/harder it was for me.
My DS is 6 and i think he'd be totally fine now if we moved him to a new area. Kids are still friendly and welcoming to new kids, and at least the boys don't seem to be cliquey yet.
But the longer you wait, the harder it will be in my experience.
So i would say do it in the next year or so if you're going to do it at all and she should adjust just fine.
My DS has had several new kids in both K and 1st grade and the teachers make a point to have the class welcome them and include them in a way that i think still works when they're young. I bet they dont' do that when the kids are older you know?

I understand your concerns about moving to GC, i'd probably feel the same way. I'm not sure i'd actually make that move if it were me, because i already despise the attitude i see from some other towns in the area and i do not want my son growing up with kids who have so much more than he ever would, and feel any social stigma because of it. I grew up like that, and it made me hate my town (looking back, i appreciate my mom moving me there for the school district, but socially it suckedd for me)

Good luck!

Re: Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

I'm a mom in GC with young kids, feel free to PM me

Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

I'm also living one town over.. what school district are you in now (if you don't mind me asking)?

I have a lot of friends in GC, and I grew up there but went to catholic school. It's a really good district, especially if you have kids who are into sports. A couple of friends got decent scholarships for lacrosse and field hockey. While there are definitely some friends that are "richer" than others, there are lots of activities for all kids with various budgets. St. Paul's has dance classes and other things for the kids to do, but they obviously all cost money. I will say, I babysat a couple of families in GC when I was in college, and just about everyone had after school activities planned for 2-3 days out of the week. So I guess it could get a bit pricey.

My one friend got made fun of in HS for wearing cheap clothing. Her family is LOADED, with a massive house in SI and another down south, but she just didn't really care about certain labels. I think the group of kids that we grew up with were a little more materialistic and mean-spirited than other kids in other grades were. I don't think you can generalize it as a "GC thing" though.

I think if you want to have your kids there for the school district and can afford to live there, go for it. It's a good real estate investment, and you know you will get that $$ back (and then some!)

Re: Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

Ok, so before say what I'm about to say, I'd like to first say that I am a public school educator in a very decent district, and have been for 14 years. I also specifically bought my house for the school district.... drum roll.... I have come to realize that relatively, the quality of education is not necessarily the most important thing, especially when you're comparing an A+ district to an A district. We are actually going to be putting our child in a catholic school: I believe she *may* get a better education in our public school system than Catholic school. Why? Because the community they are with and the community where YOU as a parent feels comfortable will shape them and their achievements just as much as how many intel scholars the school has or 8 ap courses vs. 6. Where will YOU most likely feel comfortable and thus be inclined to become active in pta, in the school community? Where emotionally do you see your child thriving? Your child will likely make friends wherever she is, but what are your thoughts and connections with the parents? With how the schools are run? With the community as a whole?

Re: Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

Message edited 10/19/2017 9:05:49 PM.

Re: Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I'm really trying to decide if it's worth moving out of our district at this point regardless of where we go, even if it's not GC. Would it be unfair to move my DD now? And in addition to that I wonder if GC would be a good fit. I'm terrified of making a move I'll regret. One minute I think we should go for it, the next minute I think we should buy a bigger house in our current district and the next I think we should stay exactly where we are! Ugh.

We are in Mineola now and love it here.

Re: Moving your child to a new district after they've been in school for a few years... need advice from those who have done it! Also, would love to hear from Garden City parents.

I think your daughter is young enough where a move wouldn't be detrimental to her socially. My daughter in is in first grade, and she has several new girls in her class, all of which found a 'home' in my daughters group of friends seamlessly.

I feel like it's harder to move once kids start placing value on social status, like who's popular or not...at this age that doesn't exist so much.