Moving to Indy, which neighborhood?

[bikey mama carie]

My dh took a job, moving us back to Indianapolis in January 2009.
We haven't lived there in over 10 years.
We love to bicycle, not just riding on trails.
Is there a neighborhood where we can ride our bikes to library? park?
I have a 4yo and a 1.5 yo.
I can't wait to show them how much fun Indy is for kids!
we've visited family this summer and had a ball at the kids museum & looking forward to the zoo when it warms up.
Hoping to find out about schools, so sad no waldorf!
My son is a super tactile learner and ready to get in kindergarten.
Any thoughts on Broadripple? Can you recommend website to navigate the school options?
we'd rent for a year or two hopping the job works out.
Thanks so much

[CharlieToaster]

Congratulations on the new job! We moved to Indy last September. We LOVE it! We rented for 6 months and ended up buying a house in Fishers. Broad ripple is a great area if you are going to rent. There are many house for rent since they aren't selling too quickly.

As far as tactile learning.... We belong to a co-op preschool. It is wonderful. Total play based learning. There is a large group of co-ops throughout the city. Two have kindergartens. We belong to NorthEast Co-op preschool and kindergarten. It is the one actual co-op Kindergarten that is 5 days a week, 9-12. They have a class of 12. There is one other co-op kindergarten in Indy, I'm not sure how full they are. I'm pretty sure the north east kindy is going to be full next year but you never know. There are 18 4 year olds this year and most are at least considering kindergarten. We haven't decided yet. Open enrollment starts in, I think, February. Here are the links to check out the other as well. You can also check out the whole slew of co-ops for your younger child. Coop is such a great option because it's a family. You help out in your childs classroom and you get to know everyone. I LOVE IT!!!

http://www.necoop.org/

http://www.preschoolco-op.org/

If you go live in IPS school district you don't have a lot of options in public schools. There is one option I looked into that really interests me. The key Learing community - http://www.616.ips.k12.in.us/ You are accepted into the program via lottery if you live in the district and if one child is in, the second is in automatically.

Lawrence Township has great schools too. They have several magnet schools that have different concentrations. It's also a very nice place to live in the Castleton area. They have an international school, schools that have concentrations in math or science etc... I have a friend with a son in the stretch program which is for giften kids. The magnet schools are also lottery based. They do some really cool stuff.

There are many private kindergartens and preschool that vary from chuches to day cares.

Those are the only questions I can really answer. I can say that Fishers/Carmel are some of the very best schools and places to live in the country. Fishers was #1 on at least on major list last year and in the top 10 of three. I know families with several kids, which is very normal here, move here for the great public schools so they don't have to pay for private schools in Indy.

There is another woman who regularly posts that really helped me when we moved here. Her husband was a biker so she can give you that info. They actually moved around with his jobs because he biked to work. I think she is mary3mama I'm sure she will be around or you can pm her for that info.

Good Luck!

Victoria:-)

[sunshinesister]

there is a public montesorri school in south broad ripple that i've heard good things about that just switched to montesorri last year.
broad ripple is pretty bike friendly and downtown is becoming much more and more bike friendly, as they are adding lots of bike lanes and just completed a bike trail through downtown. most of the rentals in broad ripple are duplexes, so if you're cool with, cool. if not, you may want to look elsewhere. i know a few people in BR who rent houses, but duplexes are the norm there.

[Unoppressed MAMA Q]

My favorite Indy 'hoods, in no deliberate order:

1. Fountain Square
2. Irvington
3. Broad Ripple
4. Butler-Tarkington

If you have specific questions about any of these places, I'll try to help!

[marlne]

I've also heard that Broad Ripple is good..
Sorry I can't say much to help though since we are new to Indiana ourselves.
We are in Noblesville and I really like this area as well as Fishers.
Lots of luck to you!

[SoulJourney]

Check out my response to you in the Indiana Gatherings thread!

[farmercraig]

Hey Carie,

As a Hoosier who lived in PDX for 5 years, I can quickly give you my perspective as an outsider organic farmer who makes deliveries to Indy. Fishers and Noblesville (far north side) are nice, but a car would be more of a reality and rush hour commutes are rough! We were SE Portlanders and I would say the areas we most identify with are the Massachussets Ave arts district, the Fountain Square area and the Cottage Home neighborhood. Broad Ripple is great and we loved it when we were closer to college age, but my guess is that prices would be higher there than closer in to downtown. I have good friends who bike a ton in downtown, but keep in mind the winters are a lot nastier here, too. Brrr.
I just started vending at a new farmer's market at 25th and Central (which would be about halfway between downtown and Broad Ripple). That seems like a nice working class neighborhood, with Portland style bungalow type homes. There's a fantastic local market at 25th and Delaware called Goose the Market. I don't know much about Indy real estate prices, since we live 1.5 hours from the city.

Good luck. PacNorWest to the Hoosier state is a culture shock for sure, but it's good here.

Cheers,
Craig