House move - how far do you drive to school

[Horseradish01]

Cannot afford to buy in the area my kids are at school. School outstanding.
Don’t really have any other reason for staying in this area after marriage ending.

There’s other nice-ish areas that are fairly local (for child contact with their father) that I like/can afford to buy in but don’t want to upset kids by disrupting their schooling so thought about driving to school each day rather than changing schools.
Those of you who drive the school run, how far and long do you drive and how much of a nightmare is it to not be within walking distance? Do you get used to the drive?

Mine’s 18 minutes. It used to be about the same, then we moved at Christmas and it became 45 minutes which was really too much. We had to be out of the house by just after 7 to get them to breakfast club, then back about another 45 minutes to work and the same in the evening. That was hideous.
They are now in a local school, just under 20 minutes drive again. I’ve not known any different and I have to drive anyway to carry on to work (outside of COVID times!)

Around 30mins I would say for secondary/sixth form. There was a bus but they frequently missed it and I was generally a soft touch running them. Added onto a 1 hour work commute was a pain as not really in right direction but could be sort of accomplished via a convoluted route. Feel like I spent most of their teenage years in the car one way or another!!

We do 20 mins from home to school. The journey itself is fine (assuming no major issues with traffic). The only issue is the proximity to friends, play dates etc (she is currently year 1 so it will get harder as she gets older but we just can't afford to live in the area.

Ours is a 30 minute drive....no problem generally as I work in that town. However it does cause problems as she has no friends local to our home and her best friend is also 30 minutes from school but in the other direction. So a long drive for playdates etc. She will be moving to the local secondary school at the end of our road when she is old enough.

90% of kids where I live commute to secondary school.

I'd moved the younger and let the older commute

We did similar needed a bigger house and couldn't afford it near the school. Moved to the next suburb out 15ish Mon drive but too far to walk as it's on and off a motorway. Totally fine and glad we didn't move their school.

I got the train to school from year 5, there was a buddy system until you got to year 7 and then I wasn’t helped, though there was a group that often got the same train. I would put the oldest on a train and move the younger one. Overall though I don’t think a drive is the worst thing in the world.

@Horseradish01

Thanks for reassuring comments so far. I was expecting the opposite!

@FrostyGirl66 it’s difficult isn’t it! Wouldn’t want a regret.

I work from home so wouldn’t have to worry about running late for the office.
Potential for kids to stay at their dads say Tues and Weds nights so then I’d need to only do the drive Mon, Tues and Fri mornings (not worried about after-school pick up) but he can be quite unreliable.

Does anyone resent or regret it?

I absolutely hated it. Luckily it wasnt for long as we moved into catchment . I loved walking to school

We are a 3 mile drive each way but I drop them on it way to work (pre-Covid) and would be passing that way anyway.

We are hoping to move to where they go to school as I think it’s important they live near their friends.

It's about a 10-12 minute drive. It's not a big deal at all. It's literally our closest school, so no closer options, but we share the school run (dh does the morning and I do afternoon), so we both still get full days at work. School bus is also an option, which would make life easier, but we haven't gone down that route yet as this works fine.

Oldest has a 30 min train ride and 10 min walk to get to colleges

DC2 has a 40 journey ok the school bus - 15 minute walk to the stop, but he usually gets dropped there in the morning, though will walk back after school.

DC3 &4 school is 3.5 miles away. 7-10 mins drive depending on traffic.

All of them could go to schools within 1 mile of the house, but we chose these schools because they were the best options for them. It can be fine!

We’re at a rural primary and it’s a 10-15 min drive there. It’s fine, but as others say you need to factor in always having a car - MOTs, service, random doesn’t start in the morning or breakdowns are a massive PITA. It does get a bit repetitive and when they’re old enough to walk e.g. Year 5-6 but they can’t because of geography it’s annoying.

If I were you I’d move youngest and get oldest to go independently if there’s a train.

Thanks for all your helpful comments so far. Lots of food for thought

5 minutes (though we don't drive there)