Bigger house or closer school?

[Tealavender]

We currently live in a 3-bed property in a quiet street. We would love to upgrade to 4 bedrooms and an extra living space.

Have seen a local property which we really like and it fits the specs. However, it means we go from my DD being able to independently walk to school to having to take her to and from in the car for several more years. We have been looking for a long time for something that DH and I both like, so not simply a case of waiting a short time for the next option.

What to do??!!

Unless you desperately need the space, I would leave it. No school runs and quiet road. is priceless.

What’s so bad about the car? How long does it take? How old is she?

We live rurally so have to drive to school. It’s fine, I never really understand the fuss about it on here, tbh.

I don’t think they mean the car is necessarily bad, it’s just that having independence to walk to and from school can be really great for child (and family when they get extra time to work etc).

Exactly!

Personally I would stay where you are for now. My children love the independence of being able to get to and from school by themselves and the extras that brings (spending time with friends etc).

Go for the house unless the school run is going to cause you problems.

I would stay where you are.

If you can do school drop off and pick ups i cannot see the issue. The issue for me wiuld have been the children being able to get home from revision classes in year 11 as there would be no bus.

Is this a primary or secondary school? If primary, where is the secondary in relation to the new house?

Would fitting the school run in even work if you and your DH work?
Also does this mean the house is further out and you would then need to also consider taking DD to meet friends at weekends?

Exactly how far would the house be, and what age?

If it's just the three of you then I really don't see why you'd need a 4 bedroom house. I would value the ability for your child to gain independence far more than another spare bedroom.

Stay.

I have two DC, one went to a school in walking distance, the other went to a school further away. So we had the best/worst of both the scenarios. My advice is to stay where you are and prioritise the school .

Being able to walk to school (and by extension to friends' houses) is priceless imo. The independence is such a fantastic gift.

Do you only have one child or does DD have siblings who are too small to walk to school as yet?

If you only have one child then moving to an inconvenient location to go from three bedrooms to four is a strange choice

No chance of expanding your current home with attic conversion/extension/garden office?

Getting tied to being available at 8.15 and 3.00, 5 days a week, 38 weeks a year is really restricting.
Add in revision classes, half term revision sessions. Neither of us have jobs that would work round that.
Id stay within walking distance (or on a public transport route) until school is done with.

Stay. Walking to school is healthy and the daily exercise helps kids learn.

I have two DC. The elder one is at secondary school and that is roughly the same distance from both houses.

Current house is 5 minutes walk to school for DD8.

New house would be 5 minutes drive from school.

I think it depends how much of a nuisance a school run is to your life. It was quite challenging for me as DH goes away a lot for work so it really restricted my employment options, my teens being able to get to secondary school independently was really important for me after years of tricky primary school commutes (we had to travel 5 miles). We had moved for the house in primary, and I didn’t regret it, but by high school I was very much done with school run.

Oh god 5 min drive?! Just do it! It’s not worth restricting your home options for that little difference; she’s not even far from secondary age. Are there options for her to get to high school independently?

Would biking be safe for her in maybe a couple more years? If it’s only 5 min drive.

It would cost too much for the little we could add.