Do You Drive far To get Your Kids To School?

[mrs_oli]

Hi-
I'm just curious as to how far some are willing to drive. Some days I think I can handle any distance, and then other days I say "Get real, find something close". I know some have no choice because of where they live, but for me, I'm in So Cal with a school on every corner.

For those of you that choose to drive far, how do you manage it? Do you stay in there area all day or do you drive back? How do you manage when you have other children?

We're considering sending our children to school next year and the couple that I like are pretty far. It would mean a big commitment to being on the road. Maybe we should just keep homeschooling....lol

[oyemicanto]

DD starts kindy at a private school about 25 minutes away - I'll let you know how it goes

[velochic]

DD's school is 45 minutes away (one way). Most of the time dh takes her and I pick her up. I volunteer as much as possible and this year I'm the room parent. On the days I take her, I drive home and then go back. If I have errands to do, I might stay up there all day. Very seldom, though.

Sometimes it's overwhelming, but we're committed to this school. It's the only private foreign language immersion school in the area, so it's what we choose to do because we think it's best for dd.

Dd doesn't really mind it. She can sleep on the way to school and on the way home, she has a lot of car activities she can do.

[Mommabelle]

The morning commute is the hardest. It's 50 min and early. DH takes them to school and I pick them up. It's only 25 min home at that time of day. However there is carpool time to figure in as well. I guess roundtrip and with carpool it's 1.5 hours for me. We are moving closer to the school next summer, we hope! It's a good school, so I don't mind.

[srain]

Buses aren't an option?

[velochic]

Originally Posted by srain

Buses aren't an option?

Nope - private school.

[Boobs]

My dd rides the bus right now. She's in 4th grade. If we still live here when she goes to high school, we'll have a 20 minute drive to school. We'll be switching districts, so riding the bus will no longer be an option. If we stayed in this district, she would have to ride a shuttle bus and switch at another school because the high school is 45 miles away. We live in a very rural area.

[chel]

wow you guys are serious. dd could ride a bus but it would cut 30 mins off her sleeping time and Dh and I both enjoy spending time with her in the evenings. (she's never gone to bed early). So I drive 2 miles or less than 5 minutes to school. I would have to drive .3mile to the bus stop as for most of the year it's too cold for us to stand at the stop. It's on a busy road so I go with her.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

We drive about 40 minutes each way to take my son to a private school. Its not so bad for us because work is in that direction too and the adults would have to do the drive anyway. However, it does have an impact on his social life because few parents will come pick up children after a playdate this far away. And I don't blame them because at that time of day they would be driving for a couple of hours round trip. Its also really tiresome on days when there is an evening activity and we go back and forth more than once. But younger child goes to preschool close to home, so the logistics are complex and we just do a lot of driving. Boy do we notice the price of gas every time it goes up! The other thing that I don't like about it is that it adds a solid hour of "sit down" time for DS, who isn't a great sitter downer to begin with. But we can't afford to move closer and we love the school, so its a worthwhille sacrifice. Well, most days, anyway.

[flyingspaghettimama]

We've decided to try an alternative public school, at my daughter's request (we were/might still homeschool, based on how she likes it). It will take 30-45 minutes to drive there. There is a school bus, but she'd be on it forever.

I um, don't know how I feel about this situation.

[Eman'smom]

We drive 20-30 minutes each way depending on traffic (we could go to a public school right around the corner but when with a charter school instead).


Ds doesn't mind, he's only on half the trips, I feel bad for dd being in the car almost 2 hours a day, luckily he goes to a 4 day a week school.

I try to work all my errands into one of the trips that way I'm only driving across the city twice a day, I've talked to dh about maybe picking up one day a week, it's on his way but not at the right time, we'll see.

[mata]

I'm also in SoCal, and walk about a block to my oldest's school, then about a block in the opposite direction for my youngest. This may sound funny, but I live in terror of the whole car/drive up/pick up/drop off thing-I know I wouldn't do it right, so I stick to walking.

I know one woman who lives 20 mins away and she drives her three children two and fro-and one of them is on a completely different schedule.

[Colorful~Mama]

we're in Phoenix, Arizona

My teenager takes the bus to highschool/
My 1st grader - well, we walk every morning. I load the double stroller up with her 3yo brother and 2 daycare kids (my son sits on the bar lol) and we walk the 1/2 mile up and drop her off, play at the park and come home. One of the reasons we bought this house was that its just about a half or 3/4 mile or so from the school so I can walk. Highschool sister gets off the bus AT sisters school in the afternoon and the two girls walk home together.
If it rains obviously I drop off and pick up tho - but in arizona that doesn't happen too often

Barb
~mama to a teenager, a 1st grader and a preschooler (starting sept 7th!)

[beanma]

20 minutes, but it's a nice drive in the country for half of it.

[mommy68]

I homeschooled my oldest for a few years and then he started public school at age 8 and it was like 5 minutes from home. Then we moved across town and it turned in to a 45 minute drive there, then back and then there and back again in the afternoons. I spent 4 hours driving him to and from school every single day. It got old and the beginning of the next school year we just took him back out again. We now drive him 20 minutes both ways to his priv school. That's not too bad. Atleast it's got a better rep than the public schools that are within a few minutes of our house.

[1xmom]

My dd's school is about 5 minutes away when driving as well. Right now she still likes me to walk her to her class instead of dropping her off at the door.

[mamalisa]

Ds's school is almost 10 miles away but he takes the bus. We walk him to the bus stop, which is only about a block away. Once he gets used to the routine I will let him walk home with his little buddies. Their 13 year old brother meets the 9 and 5 year old so it will be nice to let them walk together. Especially when it's rainy or snowy