How far are you from your school?

[momtokay]

Does it feel "too far"? We have three Waldorf schools pretty close to our house -- yup, I'm on the crunchy west coast. At any rate, the one that is the furthest (about 20-30 minutes each way depending on traffic) is the one I like best. Is that too far? Would we regret it? DH's job is about 20 minutes completely the other way so we wouldn't want to move much closer to the school or we'd never get to see him. DD will be starting kindergarten next year and I'm just exploring options at this point.

TIA!!

[Rhonwyn]

We are two blocks from our school but we moved near it when we needed a bigger house. At our school, we have kids that come from all over. Our school is in Northeast Seattle and I know families who live in Ballard (20-30 min. drive), South Seattle by Seward Park, Everett and Kirkland. I think if you want to do Waldorf in the Seattle area, that the 20 - 30 minute drive is worth it for Bright Water or Seattle Waldorf. I am not much impressed with Three Cedars. You might want to look into carpooling. If you get the school that you want, I would ask the enrollment co-ordinator about other families in your area. Good luck!

[cuqui]

I'm 13 minutes (7 miles) from dds' school. I had another 5 minutes (3 miles) away but the further was more established. Glad we did b/c the closer one closed last June.

I carpool, many parents do, that Waldorf. We have many families travel as long as an hour or more and one teacher travels almost 2 hrs. If you want Waldorf grades there is only 1 school in this state now, so some have no choice and some still came to ours when they had a choice.

Once you get started there you will meet other parents and carpooling will just happen. You can ask the school administrator for names of other families close to you and maybe have playdates with future classmates or carpool mates.

Good luck!

[momtokay]

Thanks so much for the feedback. If I could find someone to carpool with that would make all the difference!! And Rhonwyn, would you please PM me or post here with what you didn't like about Three Cedars. Also, when was the last time you were there? DD's preschool teacher who is well respected in the Waldorf community around here told me that they have a new diretor and have made a lot of changes this year, but I haven't been since last year so I can't say either way. BTW, Seattle Waldorf is our first choice for Waldorf schools. We loved it at the open house and really, really like the teacher DD would have next year for kindergarten. Thanks again to both of you.

[zo's ma]

Depending on traffic our commute is 45m-1hr! There are something like 20+ families that commute from Tacoma to Olympia. There's a great carpool but this is ds first year of school and K gets out earlier than the grades so we commute. We do plan on moving to Olympia but will probaly still be looking at 20-30m because the school is pretty rural!

[2+twins]

We're applying for kindergarten at our nearest school now which is 65 miles away (and I'm thinking close to an hour & a half with the morning traffic)! This is a HUGE dilemma for us b/c commuting THAT far all the time does not seem practical. We'd like to move closer but housing is just so much more expensive than where we live (which is why we moved her in the first place - to afford a house). I just don't know what to do. I'd LOVE to be a mere 20 minutes from the school - we were actually hoping to move about that distance from ours but pricing still looks too high. {{{sigh}}}

[canndw]

I'd say 20 minutes is a short drive for families in our school. Some drive over an hour.

[polka hop]

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[megangaia]

Well, we are sooo lucky, our school is only 5 minutes away, but that's because they relocated last year. Before that, it was 15-20 minutes, depending on traffic. But there are a handful of families that travel 45 minutes to an hour. I too reccommend carpooling and also going with the school you feel most comfortable with. Is there something other than distance to help you decide? Grades available? Age of school?

Megan