Miscellaneous questions about Albuquerque

[cmerun]

Sorry...I can't figure out how to start a new thread...My question is ...my family and I will be moving to Alb this summer. I have 8 and 10 year old girls and a 18 month old boy. Where are the best schools? Is there a definitive leader among the group? Also, what is the best dance school? They take ballet and tap now. Lastly, which is the best pediatrician and kids dentist??Any other kid/toddler info would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

[abqsunport]

The School cluster that is consistenly the very best is La Cueva High's. I would recommend Double Eagle, North Star, or Dennis Chavez Elem. I would recommend Desert Ridge M.S., and I would recommend La Cueva High, Sandia, and El Dorado. Cibola has good academics, but is highly overcrowded.

Best of luck in your search!

[yukon]

cmerun, to start a new thread, go to the forum you want to start it in, then look at the upper right side of the forum front page, click on "forum tools", and you'll see "start new thread". If you're already in a thread, you won't see the "forum tools" button.

[mortimer]

yukon, engaging in risky advice said:

> ... to start a new thread, ... upper right ... click "start new thread". ....

Yeah, but cmerun DON'T do it now! You are already in.

DO [Search] for stuff like "doctor" "school" "neighborhood" and stuff - making sure to include the word "Albuquerque" so that you don't get results from Poughkeepsie or whatever. Check to see if the forum is the Albuquerque forum and browse through that.

(the [Search] box is four from the left in the blue bar)

[yukon]

Hey, you never know when he/she will want to start a new thread on something else!

[cmerun]

Thanks for the info! Keep it coming

[ziaAirmac]

Originally Posted by cmerun

Where are the best schools? Is there a definitive leader among the group? Also, what is the best dance school? They take ballet and tap now. Lastly, which is the best pediatrician and kids dentist??Any other kid/toddler info would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

I will second abqsunport's answer to the schools question.

As for dance schools, There's one on the NE side called "Fishback" (505-298-8828) that my wife's friend sends her kids to. She says her friend's are very happy with the results and the rates are reasonable, although they're well off, so there's no telling what 'reasonable' means to them.
A quick check found listings for:
Alwin school of the dance:
Discover the Alwin Difference

and dance theater southwest:
Dance Theatre Southwest

Although we've been happy with our pediatrician, our daughters are 19 mo.s and 6 mo.s so I don't know if it would be relevant to your older girls. Her name is Dr. Young with Southwest Medical Associates.

The Dentist we use has a very kid friendly office. It seemed like the entire staff doted on my daughter when we were in for her visit, a familiarization run under the guise of "counting teeth". I was able to accompany her through the entire visit and even sat with her in the chair to comfort her. Everything was decorated with kids in mind and the actual workspace was very open and bright.
That was:
Stanley C. Hess, D.D.S., P.A.
THE KIDS DENTIST!

I would recommend getting family passes to the bio-park and Explora when you get out. Explora is a Science museum with stuff for kids of all ages to do with a fully fenced playground out back that's great for letting the kids wander and play while you try to scarf down what passes as a lunch for parents. There's enough there to require more than one trip for the kids to really hit everything. The bio-park membership actually gets you into a bunch of family spots including: The Aquarium, the Botanical Gardens, Tingley Beach and the Rio Grande Zoo. It's nice having the pass because you can hit a spot like the Zoo as late as 3 in the afternoon and not have to worry about 'getting your money's worth'. There's a big playground/human gerbil cage thing in the Zoo too.