Journey times to school after move

[Getbehindme]

Hi,

I posted before about a potential move out of the city I currently live to a town (more affordable, more rural) about 30/35mins drive away. We co-parent 50-50 and one of the options we're looking at is keeping the kids in their current school (their dad is currently nearby) and if I do move, then I'll be commuting them on the days I have them. (I work in the city).

Does anyone have experience with a school commute like this? As with many cities, lots of people do the commute for work, but school has less flexibility of course, and the kids might hate it.

I'm just researching options at this point, but affording to live here after the house is sold is going to be tricky. So there will be disruption no matter what.

Side issue: anyone else hating December?

I currently commute about the same time with my child to school and it can be difficult with the usual traffic issues. My child is older so it's not such a big deal, if your kids are young they may find the duration of the commute a bit long, also depends on their personalities. Also your kids may have different after school activities which may mean they need collecting at different times which would be harder. My priority was not to change schools. There's no easy option for public transport either for my child but think long term, if your kids could use public transport when they're older it might help your decision making?

Yes, December is hard for me too,

I think it would be fine as long as the time when you travel to school isn't gridlocked traffic.

Round here (to travel to secondary school) if you set off at 8am you will fly in. If you set off at 8.10 you'll grind to a halt. You know your city, think about those rhythms (or try it out on different days). It's good that it's on your way to work.

Also home time - again round here, 3/3.30pm heralds the start of rush hour, might be different where you are. Or there are places you can get to and walk from without getting stuck.

Only other issue is that their friends will be in the city. Not a huge issue if you're happy to chauffeur them to meet ups. When it comes to secondary school are they likely to go to a school in the city with some of those friends?

How old are the kids?
30 mins on a bus is standard round here for secondary.

Thanks all. Kids are 9 and 7, so we do have to think ahead to secondary for one - I think we'd look at the schools in both areas to be sure, as it's a mixed bag around here.

This would essentially be a bit of a trial, I'm feeling very much stuck between a rock and a hard place to be honest. My ex also may move at some point once he has his equity, so there's a lot of moving parts.

I see your difficulty. Given your ex may move as well, if you do decide to move to a town then research the primary and secondary school options there first. If they are at at least good then I would bite the bullet and move the children sooner rather than later. In a couple of years your 9 yr old will have to make that transition anyway if there isn't a secondary to move up to. It will be easier to move during primary than secondary and have time to make new friends who will probably go on to same secondary when the time comes. I can assure you, you'll want to avoid any big changes during the preteen/teen years!

I think with all the disruption in their lives keeping the school the same is a good thing.
They'll have to sit in the car but the brunt of the commuting will be on you not them. So it's a selfless thing you're doing.
Also close proximity but without eye contact can be really good for chatting about important stuff.