ventura county, anyone?

[chrysalis]

anyone in this area? if so, what kind of alternative public charter schools are there and what is the process to get kids in?

any vegan restaurants? vegan community strong there?

thanks.

anything i'd appreciate very much.

[Amoreena]

Hi Chrysalis :-) ... I just responded in another thread in which you posted about Santa Paula to Torrance drive. I live about in the middle of Ventura County, along the 101 (not as far north as SP), and it takes me on average about an hour and a quarter to get to Torrance. I have a dear friend there, one of the first people I met when I moved to socal from Quebec in 2003, and I go to visit her sometimes. Not often enough :) ... I found here through this very forum!!!  Moms from the FYT forum in the Los Angeles area were among the first people I met after we moved.

As I mentioned in the other thread, you  might be interested in joining http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VenturaCountyAPMoms in advance of your move, to ask questions about the area.

It happens that I am a homeschooler, so I'm aware of some of the area charters, both public and not. There's one in Ventura that's well liked (mixed reviews, like nearly anywhere, because everyone's different) that's an open program --

http://www.facebook.com/OpenClassroomK8.Admissions?sk=events#!/OpenClassroomK8.Admissions?sk=info

http://vusd.info/openclassroom/

I know some moms who go there who are very happy. I don't know about their admissions policy, but follow those links :)

Yes, there are vegan and natural restaurants, and I'm pretty sure there's a good vegan community. There are locavore groups, Weston A Price groups (of course WAP isn't vegan, but still, contacting them can lead elsewhere, and the fact that there are WAP groups means there are "alternative" minded folk around). Santa Paula is probably a little skimpier on all this, but not completely bereft. I know a mom who lived in SP for years and moved to Ventura a few years ago. She and I are part of a monthly food-buying co-op that orders from Azure Standard (in Oregon). There are other groups of this nature who order from various other sources. There are CSAs. There are organic farms and sources. Farmers Markets.

I've answered more for the Santa Paula / Ventura region of the county ... if you'd like info also on the eastern parts of the county (Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village), I could expound on that too.

There are good La Leche League chapters in Ventura and Thousand Oaks.

Hope this helps... happy to answer further questions :-)