[Scarlett]

I am leaning towards renting in an area close to work (i.e. La Jolla) because the advatanges outweight the disadvantages. The biggest by far are less commute, no freeway commute, less stress, more free time, more flexibility during the day. Then, money saved on gas and insurance – and don’t need to buy a 2nd car! More flexibility in terms of where to buy is just a minor point, really.

We are still open to rent in PQ if we can find a better deal – better and cheaper 3 bdr house w/ yard there than the townhouses we are considering in La Jolla – to compensate for the costs associated with the commute. Advantage – rent in the area where we’ll buy, the kid stays in the same schools as all her friends…

If we rent in La Jolla, we plan to get into a place by the end of the elementary school so no need for another school move barring extreme circumstances until kid finishes high school.

[Scarlett]

Yeah, 10 minutes extra commute would be worth it, I agree. MY real problem is, how do I know I will end up buying in PQ? It’s likely, but we liked other areas as well. Shall we restrict ourselves to buying only in PQ area of attendance for my kid’s high school and doing so only at the end of elementary school at the earliest?

What if we end up not buying in PQ – maybe we discover by renting that we don’t really like it enough to buy in it – for whatever reasons? (and we end up moving one more time!)

Is the kid’s emotional/social stability that important so that to seriously limit or force to buy in a certain area (assuming we should buy in the end)? Isn’t that too much importance attributed to it?

[Scarlett]

Yeah, 10 minutes extra commute would be worth it, I agree. MY real problem is, how do I know I will end up buying in PQ? It’s likely, but we liked other areas as well. Shall we restrict ourselves to buying only in PQ area of attendance for my kid’s high school and doing so only at the end of elementary school at the earliest?

What if we end up not buying in PQ – maybe we discover by renting that we don’t really like it enough to buy in it – for whatever reasons? (and we end up moving one more time!)

Is the kid’s emotional/social stability that important so that to seriously limit or force to buy in a certain area (assuming we should buy in the end)? Isn’t that too much importance attributed to it?

[Scarlett]

Yeah, 10 minutes extra commute would be worth it, I agree. MY real problem is, how do I know I will end up buying in PQ? It’s likely, but we liked other areas as well. Shall we restrict ourselves to buying only in PQ area of attendance for my kid’s high school and doing so only at the end of elementary school at the earliest?

What if we end up not buying in PQ – maybe we discover by renting that we don’t really like it enough to buy in it – for whatever reasons? (and we end up moving one more time!)

Is the kid’s emotional/social stability that important so that to seriously limit or force to buy in a certain area (assuming we should buy in the end)? Isn’t that too much importance attributed to it?

[Scarlett]

Yeah, 10 minutes extra commute would be worth it, I agree. MY real problem is, how do I know I will end up buying in PQ? It’s likely, but we liked other areas as well. Shall we restrict ourselves to buying only in PQ area of attendance for my kid’s high school and doing so only at the end of elementary school at the earliest?

What if we end up not buying in PQ – maybe we discover by renting that we don’t really like it enough to buy in it – for whatever reasons? (and we end up moving one more time!)

Is the kid’s emotional/social stability that important so that to seriously limit or force to buy in a certain area (assuming we should buy in the end)? Isn’t that too much importance attributed to it?

[Scarlett]

Yeah, 10 minutes extra commute would be worth it, I agree. MY real problem is, how do I know I will end up buying in PQ? It’s likely, but we liked other areas as well. Shall we restrict ourselves to buying only in PQ area of attendance for my kid’s high school and doing so only at the end of elementary school at the earliest?

What if we end up not buying in PQ – maybe we discover by renting that we don’t really like it enough to buy in it – for whatever reasons? (and we end up moving one more time!)

Is the kid’s emotional/social stability that important so that to seriously limit or force to buy in a certain area (assuming we should buy in the end)? Isn’t that too much importance attributed to it?

[Scarlett]

I think life was so much simpler then! Wish it still were. Now there are too many choices.

That being said, there are two separate issues – one is trying to do the best you can for your child in terms of school, neighborhood, etc (which I believe most parents my generation who care about education are doing, for better or for worse), the other is consulting the kids in this.

I think the parents are still moving the kids for job reasons, or divorce, or when they buy a house for example. And they don’t ask the kids permission – though they may discuss it with them so they know what to expect (depending on the age).

In my case, I am taking my daughter along to see houses for sale/rent because of logistics. She may express her likes or dislikes, and I am curious to know those, but it’s not influencing our decision of buying or renting a place. As a preschooler she doesn’t have the maturity/experience to really know what matters in the long run. Right now a house may be fascinating for her because it had snails,lizards and pretty flowers or something. Oh, if I’d have bought all the places she liked :), I’d have long since bought a house, LOL…

In my class we also had all sorts of kids, richer and poorer, ADD and “normal”, nerds and slackers. I am not sure which is better? more homogeneous or more diverse? I certainly think that ethnicity/cultural variety is great. about the rest, not so sure.

[Scarlett]

I think life was so much simpler then! Wish it still were. Now there are too many choices.

That being said, there are two separate issues – one is trying to do the best you can for your child in terms of school, neighborhood, etc (which I believe most parents my generation who care about education are doing, for better or for worse), the other is consulting the kids in this.

I think the parents are still moving the kids for job reasons, or divorce, or when they buy a house for example. And they don’t ask the kids permission – though they may discuss it with them so they know what to expect (depending on the age).

In my case, I am taking my daughter along to see houses for sale/rent because of logistics. She may express her likes or dislikes, and I am curious to know those, but it’s not influencing our decision of buying or renting a place. As a preschooler she doesn’t have the maturity/experience to really know what matters in the long run. Right now a house may be fascinating for her because it had snails,lizards and pretty flowers or something. Oh, if I’d have bought all the places she liked :), I’d have long since bought a house, LOL…

In my class we also had all sorts of kids, richer and poorer, ADD and “normal”, nerds and slackers. I am not sure which is better? more homogeneous or more diverse? I certainly think that ethnicity/cultural variety is great. about the rest, not so sure.

[Scarlett]

I think life was so much simpler then! Wish it still were. Now there are too many choices.

That being said, there are two separate issues – one is trying to do the best you can for your child in terms of school, neighborhood, etc (which I believe most parents my generation who care about education are doing, for better or for worse), the other is consulting the kids in this.

I think the parents are still moving the kids for job reasons, or divorce, or when they buy a house for example. And they don’t ask the kids permission – though they may discuss it with them so they know what to expect (depending on the age).

In my case, I am taking my daughter along to see houses for sale/rent because of logistics. She may express her likes or dislikes, and I am curious to know those, but it’s not influencing our decision of buying or renting a place. As a preschooler she doesn’t have the maturity/experience to really know what matters in the long run. Right now a house may be fascinating for her because it had snails,lizards and pretty flowers or something. Oh, if I’d have bought all the places she liked :), I’d have long since bought a house, LOL…

In my class we also had all sorts of kids, richer and poorer, ADD and “normal”, nerds and slackers. I am not sure which is better? more homogeneous or more diverse? I certainly think that ethnicity/cultural variety is great. about the rest, not so sure.

[Scarlett]

I think life was so much simpler then! Wish it still were. Now there are too many choices.

That being said, there are two separate issues – one is trying to do the best you can for your child in terms of school, neighborhood, etc (which I believe most parents my generation who care about education are doing, for better or for worse), the other is consulting the kids in this.

I think the parents are still moving the kids for job reasons, or divorce, or when they buy a house for example. And they don’t ask the kids permission – though they may discuss it with them so they know what to expect (depending on the age).

In my case, I am taking my daughter along to see houses for sale/rent because of logistics. She may express her likes or dislikes, and I am curious to know those, but it’s not influencing our decision of buying or renting a place. As a preschooler she doesn’t have the maturity/experience to really know what matters in the long run. Right now a house may be fascinating for her because it had snails,lizards and pretty flowers or something. Oh, if I’d have bought all the places she liked :), I’d have long since bought a house, LOL…

In my class we also had all sorts of kids, richer and poorer, ADD and “normal”, nerds and slackers. I am not sure which is better? more homogeneous or more diverse? I certainly think that ethnicity/cultural variety is great. about the rest, not so sure.

[Scarlett]

I think life was so much simpler then! Wish it still were. Now there are too many choices.

That being said, there are two separate issues – one is trying to do the best you can for your child in terms of school, neighborhood, etc (which I believe most parents my generation who care about education are doing, for better or for worse), the other is consulting the kids in this.

I think the parents are still moving the kids for job reasons, or divorce, or when they buy a house for example. And they don’t ask the kids permission – though they may discuss it with them so they know what to expect (depending on the age).

In my case, I am taking my daughter along to see houses for sale/rent because of logistics. She may express her likes or dislikes, and I am curious to know those, but it’s not influencing our decision of buying or renting a place. As a preschooler she doesn’t have the maturity/experience to really know what matters in the long run. Right now a house may be fascinating for her because it had snails,lizards and pretty flowers or something. Oh, if I’d have bought all the places she liked :), I’d have long since bought a house, LOL…

In my class we also had all sorts of kids, richer and poorer, ADD and “normal”, nerds and slackers. I am not sure which is better? more homogeneous or more diverse? I certainly think that ethnicity/cultural variety is great. about the rest, not so sure.

[Scarlett]

I agree that at least the pre-college education in Europe is much better than in US, especially in math and sciences. I also went to school in Europe – though I didn’t move around. My first realization of that occured in high school when at International Olympiads in Science and Math my friends and I compared our high school curricula to the American one – we have learned much more. For example, in the country I was in, we did differential calculus in 11th grade, and integral calculus in the 12th grade – it was standard. The integral and differential calculus was not included for the Math International Olympiad, partially because in US they didn’t learn that. Don’t even get me started with geography, foreign languages (2 of them), art, literature during the whole 12 years of school.

[Scarlett]

I agree that at least the pre-college education in Europe is much better than in US, especially in math and sciences. I also went to school in Europe – though I didn’t move around. My first realization of that occured in high school when at International Olympiads in Science and Math my friends and I compared our high school curricula to the American one – we have learned much more. For example, in the country I was in, we did differential calculus in 11th grade, and integral calculus in the 12th grade – it was standard. The integral and differential calculus was not included for the Math International Olympiad, partially because in US they didn’t learn that. Don’t even get me started with geography, foreign languages (2 of them), art, literature during the whole 12 years of school.

[Scarlett]

I agree that at least the pre-college education in Europe is much better than in US, especially in math and sciences. I also went to school in Europe – though I didn’t move around. My first realization of that occured in high school when at International Olympiads in Science and Math my friends and I compared our high school curricula to the American one – we have learned much more. For example, in the country I was in, we did differential calculus in 11th grade, and integral calculus in the 12th grade – it was standard. The integral and differential calculus was not included for the Math International Olympiad, partially because in US they didn’t learn that. Don’t even get me started with geography, foreign languages (2 of them), art, literature during the whole 12 years of school.

[Scarlett]

I agree that at least the pre-college education in Europe is much better than in US, especially in math and sciences. I also went to school in Europe – though I didn’t move around. My first realization of that occured in high school when at International Olympiads in Science and Math my friends and I compared our high school curricula to the American one – we have learned much more. For example, in the country I was in, we did differential calculus in 11th grade, and integral calculus in the 12th grade – it was standard. The integral and differential calculus was not included for the Math International Olympiad, partially because in US they didn’t learn that. Don’t even get me started with geography, foreign languages (2 of them), art, literature during the whole 12 years of school.

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