Moving across West Virginia state line into Maryland to avoid vaxing

[phxgirl1009]

Hi Friends,

We will be moving from TX in the summer of 2013 for hubby's job (specifically located in the Shepherdstown, WV area). We have a 6-month-old son, and we have chosen to delay all vaccines at this time. Over the next several years, we may do one or two vaccines prior to him going to kindergarten, but that will be all. I am aware of WV's mandated vaccine laws for enrolling in public school and understand there is really no getting around them, or the list of the vaccines they require (FYI - it's important to us for our son to attend public school rather than homeschooling or private school if at all possible).

So we are getting creative. Because Shepherdstown is located very close to the Maryland border, we are considering living in Maryland (perhaps Sharpsburg??) so that Baby Boy can attend public school there, and Hubby can commute a short distance across the state line to Shepherdstown. In my research, Maryland appears to have a vaccine exemption, so it would appear this would meet our need of not having to vax for our son to attend public school. Anything I'm missing here? How do other people handle this? Any other towns/cities across the WV border in MD or VA we should consider? I would appreciate any and all constructive and supportive thoughts. Thanks so much.

[lillymonster]

.I went to school in Shepherdstown - how far do you want to commute? Because Frederick along the Middletown side is only 30 minutes of a fun little ride away (I did it 2 times a day sometimes - for morning and evening classes in college) it goes quick and as far as I know, not a lot of traffic but that might have changed.

I have no clue about the vaccine laws in Shepherdstown, just know the area. I don't know anything about schools in Antietam area - that is washington county schools.  Middletown of course would be middletown school/frederick county based schools. Just another place to consider.
 

[phxgirl1009]

Hi, thanks for your response!  It's my husband who will be commuting.  Preferably, he would like to be close to Shepherdstown, but we are open.  Good to know that Frederick is close by, and could be a possible option.

[lillymonster]

I don't know anything on the VA area (other than I don't think there is a town close by), but Sharpsburg is less than 15 minutes away, probably 10 I think, from Shepherdstown. There is also Boonsboro, MD which should be about 15 I think. Keedysville is another town. On the other side, coming in the other way would be Brunswick, which is part of Frederick county. So anything along Route 34, and then 340 there should be some houses (340 doesn't have houses along it because it is a highway, but easy access to that highway would be good - 34 is 2 lane road with houses along the road), but these are really small towns, so there isn't a lot of towns if you don't want a commute over 15 minutes or so. I mean, I am sure you can found houses for sale, nice houses and I do like the area (love really, it is very pretty - I would move there if it wasn't for my husbands job!), but the towns aren't any bigger and probably much smaller than Shepherdstown (and as I remember, and it has been a few years, the town doesn't even have a stop light), so I would look along those roads because they take you into shepherdstown, but the towns themselves are pretty much what I mentioned in the area if your husband doesn't want to commute longer than 15 minutes.

There are no cities close to Shepherdstown, unless you count Frederick. Leesburg would be the next biggest place I can think of in VA, but again that is probably too far a commute.

[phxgirl1009]

Thanks, that's really helpful.  I have never been to that part of Maryland (only visited Annapolis and Baltimore), so I wondered what that area is like and how populated it is.  I could tell from Mapquest that it is rural.  Good to get info on the housing also, as we would prefer to live in more of a neighborhood rather than a home sitting on an acre of land where we can't see our neighbors.  It sounds like Sharpsburg will be our best bet.  I looked at Leesburg, but I agree, it's an hour away from Shepherdstown.  Too bad - it seems like a great, small-ish little metro area that would also be close to DC!

[lillymonster]

I worked in Leesburg, it is nice very cute. Middletown has some nice new housing areas, and I think Boonsboro has some new ones, I thought. Another place to look might be around the Hagerstown area.
 

[mamaecho]

We live in Brunswick. There's a nice amount of natural mamas here :)

[phxgirl1009]

Thank you, that's nice to hear!