How far do your drive your DC to Montessori School?

[FallingLeaves]

My 3yo DD has been on a waiting list, at my friends Montessori School, since I was pregnant with her. She is finally potty trained and will be able to start this fall. I am so excited that this dream is finally a reality. Well I hope it is still a reality, I live 40 miles away from the school and with the high cost of gas, I will be spending $100 a week on gas to take her to school. I am a SAHM and we don't have $100 extra for gas each week. It is so important to me for my DD to have a Montessori education and my friends school is the closest one. How far do you drive your DC to Montessori school? If you have a long commute like mine, what are you doing to offset the high gas prices?

[Night_Nurse]

My dc's Montessori school is about 10 miles away from home. So if we did the morning & afternoon round trips, that would be about 40 miles each day and over one hour spent total in commuting time. We found a neighbor to carpool with three times a week this past year. I'm not sure what we will do this year. Carpooling is nice!

[BCFD]

We only travel 7 miles one way and it's about 1/2 tank a gas per week. Really, that's nothing for the awesome school she goes to. I think if that is the school you want her to go to, I would move closer. $400/mo. is a LOT for gas. Yikes!

[GoldBerry]

We drive less than 5 miles. Honestly, I would not drive 40 miles round trip, let alone one way!

If you don't mind all that time in the car, then you can offset the expensive buy spending less on something else- eating out, buying clothes, etc.

[Meems]

i would consider keeping her @ home another year or until kindergarten... then find a family to commute w/.

[daytripper75]

I think I would search for a carpooling option and if one of those feel through I would give up on Montessori preschool.
As it is, 40 miles is very far, I don't think it is safe to be in the car that much. That's 400 miles a week.

Sometimes you can find little home Montessori schools, is that an option?

I'm sorry to be a downer!

[KBecks]

Ours is about 8 miles, and depending on traffic 10-20 minutes. I would not drive that far/long for a Montessori school, we are about at the max for how far we would drive.

While I know the M method is great, I would seriously consider the costs and if that money would work better for your family in other ways. What other options are out there?

If M school is the best value, I guess you should do it, but personally, I could not drive and spend that much time and money on travel to and from school. I'd take a hard long look at schools closer to home. We have several nice preschools that are closer than our M school, and I would go with one of those if our M school was not available.

I would also look at the possiblity of doing some at home M activities and purchasing some M materials for home use.

My DH is dropping off DS on his way to work, so we're getting some efficiency by combining their morning trips.

Moving closer to the school sounds drastic but might work if you're that committed to it. Car pooling could work but I'd hesitate to allow my child that much time in someone else's care w/o me.

[BCFD]

Originally Posted by daytripper75

Sometimes you can find little home Montessori schools, is that an option?

That's a good idea. Have you tried looking on Craigslist in your area? Look under Community and then childcare. I see a lot of Montessori and Waldorf inspired home schools on there.

[wrzos]

We are about 4.5 miles from my son's M school - and it is on the way to my hubby's work, so he usually does drop-off (on his bike) and/or my son rides with my neighbor - also dropping off on the way to work. Pick up is usually me or the neighbor for this past year, but now their daughter will be attending longer days, so I'll be the sole pick-up person.

I do NOT pick up on a bicycle though. Only the drop-off by my husband is by bike. LOL

[bobandjess99]

Ours is in our town...in terms of miles..maybe 6? So, 12 round trip. I probably wouldnt go much further, honestly.

[odenata]

Ours is just over a mile away, about 5 minutes.

That said, when we were thinking of moving elsewhere, I was contemplating doing 30-40 minutes each way to get to a school. I would have looked at other local schools at that point, though. Montessori is great, but I think other options could be a good fit for us as well.

[Lingmom]

Ours is about 8 miles (18 minutes) and I wouldn't go further than that. The gas costs and the time spent in the car isn't worth it to me.

[nkm1968]

DD1's Montessori school was 18 miles from our house, but 0.1 miles from my job, which made it a no-brainer for me...I still live 18 miles from work, but am now married; so DD2 attended an AMS Montessori preschool with an All Day Community about 5 miles from home, and will be going to a Montessori school thru grade 8 about 3 miles from home....and will be able to take a BUS!

If I were to do it over, I wouldn't have changed anything, as a single parent working I wanted to be close to DD1's school to be available if needed (like on Sept. 11, 2001, when a random plane was flying in "our" airspace, I was able to leave work and get her before the mayor closed off the bridges), and now I like having DD2 in a school where a lot of her classmates live close by. I guess if I weren't working outside, the farthest NOW given gas prices I'd be willing to drive, with NO traffic jams, would be about 20 miles. Because I'd be willing to sacrifice that much time PLUS that much expense and damage to the environment for something so very important.

40 miles seems very far, but if there were just one other kid to carppol with, you could cut your time and "carbon footprint" in half. If I had a kid with any special needs, I'd drive the 40 miles each way without a problem.

[tatermom]

We walk to DS's school and we love it! I don't think I'd ever commute 40 miles with kids on a regular basis if I could avoid it... though I might consider moving closer to the school if that was the only Montessori option and it was a good school. Good luck!

[clothmumma]

Could you look into carpooling?

I drive about 10-15min (depending on traffic) one way, we moved so as to be closer to the school

[Prajnamom]

My son will be starting preschool next year at a school that is a 40 minute drive from our home. DH works 10mins from the school so he'll drop DS off in the morning and I'll pick him up in the afternoon. This school is the closest Montessori school to us that goes from Preschool to grade 8 and from everything we've heard from the parents of other kids that go there it's a fantastic school. We also think it will be a really good fit for our son's temperament and learning style. We do hope to move closer to the school but for the first year we'll be commuting.

[Wabi Sabi]

Our school is about 8 miles/15 minutes from home and I don't really even like going that far. I drop him off, go home, then have to go back and get him later in the day, then back home again. My van doesn't get the greatest gas mileage, so that extra 30-40 miles/day by the time you factor in a quick stop at the store on the way home or other errands really adds up fast.

Luckily I have a friend whose dd is in the same class as my ds who has offered to pick up ds and bring him home in the afternoons this fall.

[heatherweh]

We'll be commuting about 45 minutes 4 days week to Montessori. DS is 2 and I feel that for him in particular this will be an important year for him to begin preschool. Montessori is what we wanted, but having something close was the mot important thing. As it turns out, there really isn't any preschool closer that will take 2 year olds (only daycare centers which is not what we want). This Montessori only has 2 classes, 18 mos-3 and 3-6. If the Montessori learning works well for DS then there is another one that I really like 45 minutes in a different direction. I haven't yet begun this, but I'm hoping it is worth the sacrifice this year. Ideally we would like to sell our home and move closer to the Montessori that he could attend until he is 15, but with the home market the way it is that might not happen anytime soon. GL, I know its a hard choice!

[octobermarch]

Hi-
I drive my kids 25 min each way to M school. We moved after my sons first year of M school and he was at a fantastic school (that was 5 min away) and THRIVING in the montessori environment. I just didn't want to give that up for him and this was the closest M school to our new town. I will tell you it can get old making the commute and there were days I resented it. But I tried to make the most of the time, drinking my coffee and listening to talk radio
I find it easiest to bring the kids breakfast in the car (toast, apples, bananas, kashi cerael bars- stuff they can eat easily in the car) and on the way there I allow them to watch a video in the car entertainment system (I figure it's no different then when they watched a 1/2 hour of cartoons before school). This way, we all get a little down time in the morning!
Gas does get costly, but I try to look at it as part of the cost of their education.
Also, I generally spend most morning near the school, running errands, grocery shopping, and this fall, I plan to join a gym nearby and work out 3-4 mornings a week. It will save gas and lesson the footprint of the commute by half. I would suggest you do something similar.
Good luck! and everytime I was thinking it was just to long and I couldn't do it one more day, I would pick up my son and be reminded how AWESOME montessori is and how worth it it really is.

[arahzel]

I drive 17 miles in my morning loop. DD's school is about 4 miles from where I work, so I don't really drive that far out of my way.

Since you're a SAHM, can you do 3 full days a week instead of 5 full days? That would cut down dramatically on how much you are spending for gas. Or maybe you can find another family nearby to carpool with once you have met other parents!

I'll be on maternity leave around January, and DD's school is working with me by letting me drop her to 3 full days a week. We could keep her out for a month, but I really want her to have a stable place to be during the day while I'm getting the house used to a new baby.