How far is too far to travel to school??

[lindylou]

Hi everyone

Some of you may know about my ongoing obsession over where to send my boys to school :unsure (I don't believe that homeschooling is an option for me)...

Anyway...one of my potential options is to send them to a Steiner stream within a state school. I need to learn more, but from what I do know about Steiner, I really identify with.

So...the school is approx 50-60 min drive away. It is a long way to go everyday. I just wonder if that sort of travelling time is going to negate the benefits of going to this school?? I would love to hear others thoughts on this issue- and perhaps any experiences?? I am not so much worried about doing the travel myself- but how the boys will handle it, especially when they are so little in those early years.

Thanks for any food for thought!

[sarah bean]

i wouldn't drive an hour to school. but i am pretty lazy and hate traffic. and the whole evening seems to just disappear by the time we get home from school, unpack bags, put dinner on, it's practically bedtime already!

from about 11yo and onwards I was a 20-25 min drive from my school and I thought that was a long way to travel.

Actually now that I think about it though, there were kids in highschool that caught the train in and that was about an hour+ trip.

I am always fretting about the amount of travelling my kids have had to do up till now (we did a lot of long haul trips for work until we moved here, 6 hour round trips in a day to unload shipments etc) because I read some research somewhere, sometime, by someone ;) that said the more time young children spend in the car relates to obesity. Or something. Anyway, I try to limit uneccesary trips.

Also, with steiner, I think it's *perfect* for some kids, and completely wrong for others. So what would you do if you started your first child there, and it was good for them, but it became clear that your next one was totally the wrong personality to fit in with the steiner way of doing things? Well that's something *i* would ponder before making such a huge commitment to travel, coz bugger driving somewhere else as well after that ;)

As usual i am probably completely unhelpful, sorry :oops

[sarah bean]

ps, how old are your boys? because one thing I have learnt from personal experience is not to bother stressing over schooling options too early coz you never know what will happen. I put so much stress into it and had B5's school start all mapped out in tauranga nz. Between then and where he is now, we moved to another town in NZ, homeschooled there, then moved to Australia, started school briefly but hated it, so moved to another school. Heh, so much for my careful planning for tauranga schools ;)

[Donna]

When I was a kid I travelled about an hour to school.
The direct rout minus the bus rout was alot shorter, but bus was the way we had to go.

One of my reasons for moving back to 'suburbia' was my older kids having to travel 1.5hrs each way from school every day once they started high school.
All the kids that went onto travelling that far from our town, slid in their grades once they hit highschool.
I can say from knowing talot of them that tiredness had a huge part to play in it.

[soulmama]

For 5 years I did 30 mins each way and I swear I nearly went crazy!! :gasp

Even with carpooling I could only get one trip sorted for 3 days a week.. was hardly worth it! :unsure

Not to mention the fuel...

[lindylou]

Thanks for the input guys- much appreciated!!

Sarah- I have twins aged 4- so they will go to school 2011, and then a 2 yr old who is suppose to start in 2012 (but I am thinking about holding him back until 2013...yet another story ;))

We live out in a valley- so we would have to pass all of the other schools on the way to the Steiner school. Would not be a problem to drop off one on the way if need be (if one suited Steiner and one not). And there is no problem with traffic either.

Donna- the tiredness really does worry me...they are going to be tired when they first start school regardless, so this trip will only add to that!..but then I think is being tired better than a poor learning experience? (not saying that other options are all poor of course...but just that mainstream education seems to be better suited to girls than boys...my boys are very physical and active. I can't see them being suited to sitting still at a desk and fine motor stuff for a good long while yet...)

Carmen- yes the fuel would be a $ killer. Big consideration. But then maybe I can afford it? Especially if I go back to work for say 2 days rather than the current 1???

I keep talking myself around in circles lol. But this is what I need to do to get to a comfortable decision. Thanks for your guidance girls!!

[Kathryn]

I agree with Sarah. There is *no way* that I could do it, even if I was promised a wonderful school. Am I reading correctly that it would be 4 hours a day in a car?! Everyone's different of course, but I couldn't handle that!

[wems]

Me personally I wouldn't do it

That is one bloody long day for the poor little things

My kids leave at 8.30 and are home by 3.30 (they catch the bus every day) and that is a huge day for them.....towards the end of each term they are so tired and they are 9, 8 and nearly 7...........they wouldn't cope with an extra 2 hrs added on to that

and I wouldn't cope with that much toing and froing each day......you would be getting home and having to nearly turn around and go back again
and you have to think about the little man in the car for 4 hours 5 days a week????

ETA and yes I wouldn't be comfortable with that amount of fuel use and the money


Would not be a problem to drop off one on the way if need be (if one suited Steiner and one not).But you are leaving home an hour before school STARTS or coming back through an hour after school started ;)

[Karena]

For 6 years when I was in high school I traveled 1.5hrs one way. That included 2 buses and a train ride. For me closer is better, that way my children are going to school with other children within their own community, so they build up good friendships.

However, if the school is perfect and you can all handle it, then there's nothing stopping you.

[lindylou]

All good points, thanks again :-) It would most certainly be a big day. I think I need to give it a test run to get a real feel for what sort of an impact the travelling could have. I might add though that we currently drive into town (where the school is) 3-4 days per week for various activities (normally there are no complaints about being in the car, but lately one of them is starting to ask 'how much longer?'...usually they watch a DVD on the way in and sleep on the way home).

Oh and just to clarify- it would be a total of 2 hours in the car per day, not 4 hours. Still alot but not quite as bad ;)

And Wems the school is actually a state school (mainstream public school) with a steiner stream, so if steiner did not suit one child, then he could attend the same school in the mainstream part.

[wems]

Oh sorry Lindy i read it as dropping them off at the schools you would be passing

and i also read the drive as 50-60 min drive to and from sorry

[lindylou]

lol mass confusion! You are right- it would be 4 hours for me (if I was coming home and not working that day)...but only 2 hours for them.

another option would be for their dad to drop them off too (he drives to town everyday for work...)

man it would need to be an organised household though!!

and yep- I did originally say about dropping them at other schools on the way too as an option (but that would probably not work as you pointed out)...

hmmmm it is all sounding a bit difficult. but i would still do it if it was going to have a hugely positive impact on their lives- of course. anyone able to predict the future?? ;) lol

[wems]

:rofl

Oh good I wasn't as confused as I thought :)

Go with your heart lindy you know what you and the 3 boys can handle and what is going to be the best for them and you

[random]

wow, there's no way I could do it, sounds so incredibly tiring. But I would do it temporarily if I was planning on moving closer if I was happy with the school - is that an option?

[lindylou]

Yep I think that even if the school is magnificent, it would not be enough to counteract the turmoil of all of that travel. I will simply need to move if the closer schools don't turn out to be great! ;) It is just taking me a while to get my head around that- so thanks for your help everyone (hugs). I just had this idea that I would be able to pick out a school that would be perfect and they would never have to switch...but that is not always realistic unfortunately.

[Esther]

Agree with everyone else.

Lindy I thought I had picked the "perfect" school for my big girl but it didn't turn out so well. You can do all the research but sometimes the only way to tell if the school is good for your child is to give it a go. We are now really happy with her new school and she is doing really well. It has been a big relief compared to the stress of last year at the other school. At the beginning of her schooling I would never have chosen this school for her but everything has worked out well :D

[lindylou]

You are so right Esther...just like everything in life really. Perhaps I just have to let go of this worry and be open to the thought that something really good is right here on our doorstep :-)

[Hailstorm]

For Primary school I want my kids (and I) to be able to walk there and back, when I was in High School I went to a catholic girls school in the city which consisted of a bus ride (20mins) a train ride (30 mins) and a tram ride (15 mins) and it wasn't the travel that messed me up it was the school with a 'good reputation' :2lol

As has been said you can only give it a go, you still have time before you need to enrol (unless there are restrictions?) so maybe do a coupe of test runs and see how yougo hun good Luck