Wauconda (Elgin, Arlington Heights, Palatine: low crime, houses, purchasing)

[Siso]

Hallo!
We live in Germany and will resettle next year. It will be somewhere around Elgin. I would know with pleasure something about Wauconda. Our son goes at the moment to 6 grades of a Rudolf Steiner school and we would want it also furthermore for him.
How is the Rudolf Steiner school in Wauconda?
Can my husband Elgin by the car well reach?
How is the residential climate there?
Which Highscholl is to be recommended?
Many thanks for the answers

Silke

[chet everett]

The commute by car from Wauconda to Elgin would not be easy -- over 20 miles on some rather congested surface streets. No expressways directly link the towns. It would likely be nearly an hour each morning.

I am somewhat familiar with the Steiner educational philospophy though I have no direct experience with the Waldorf School in Wauconda. I suspect that the school is one of the smaller ones you might encounter as it has several combined classrooms and its roots appear to be in the "home schooling" movement which in NW suburbs tends to be somewhat separate from the mainstream...

The government supported high school that serves the Wauconda area is named for the town.


There are many towns in the region that have higher rated schools. There are also a fair number of private schools in the region. Depending on how close to work you care to live and your budget there are lots of options.

[cubssoxfan]

Silke,
I would also consider Lake Zurich, Barrington (and towns nearby that attend Barrington School District) Palatine and Arlington Heights. From Arlington Heights via Rte 53 and I-90 it is about 30-40 minute commute depending on time of day and weather. I have picked the towns listed based on nice suburban lifestyle, good public schools and because a vast majority of these towns have safe, low crime areas. If your child(ren) are really into soccer (fussball) there is the Scwaben Center in Buffalo Grove that has an excellent soccer club and German heritage.
Viel gluck und macht's gut!

[Siso]

Hello,
Many thanks for the answers.
We will have a look in the winter holidays at the area. I never was in the USA. My husband was to often enough work to the USA, but never in Illinois.
We would live with pleasure rurally, because we want to hold sheep and chickens.
Because our son also goes in Germany to the Waldorf school, we thought for him a not so big conversion is. The lessons to the Rudolf Steiner school are everywhere the same one.

Silke

[linicx]

The good news is there ae farms in Illinois in Cook County. How close you can find one to Elgin is a question i cannot answer. You might like to know that Illinois is an Agriculural state that exports large amounts of corn and soybeans. It also exports a large amount of hogs and cattle.

I don't mean to sound disparaging but IL has very strict animal health laws about raising farm animals. You should investigate this before you invest in sheep or chickens if you intend to sell them or their byproducts such as lamb or eggs. Most cities prohibit raising any farm animal in town.

[cubssoxfan]

Ok, so husband works in Elgin and you seek a place where you can have sheep and chickens.
Chickens is relatively easy, many suburbs allow a limited amount of backyard chickens. Sheep is another matter. There are plenty of large properties and farms near Elgin and Wauconda, the issue is if they are affordable. Any posters have insight on purchasing agricultural property near both Elgin and Wauconda?

[Siso]

Hello, I have expressed myself quite wrong. My English is not so good yet. We want only few sheep and only the wool interests us. The chickens would be even for eggs.
We want these animals not for the sales. Best we would live rurally and not in a residential area.

Silke

[chet everett]

While there are both some crazy expensive "horse properties" in Barrington and a few "creative / eccentric" types that have sheep for for things like giving their border collies something to chase as well as some folks that probably keep hens for laying, the difficulty in finding a place like that at the price that will be within reach of an normal folks AND close enough to both work and school gets vanishingly difficult...

[linicx]

Agreed Chet. The probability of finding a farmette on 10 acres is nearly impossible and terribly expensive.

As to weather, the sumers are hot and humid mainly becanse the vast expance of cornfields and large bodies of water that surround and dissect the state. Wintes can be brutal and bitter cold. The sheep will no doubt survive with a loafing shed or grove of trees as long as they have feed and water, but the hens will definately need a heater every night and most days for about 90 to 100 days. The snow is a wet, heavy snow. Last winter was two feet or deeper in most of the state.

When the airport closes everyone stays home for 2-3 days because the roads are not open and the power may fail. If tha happens you could lose all of your hens. Comerical hen houses have secondary power.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by linicx

Agreed Chet. The probability of finding a farmette on 10 acres is nearly impossible and terribly expensive.

As to weather, the sumers are hot and humid mainly becanse the vast expance of cornfields and large bodies of water that surround and dissect the state. Wintes can be brutal and bitter cold. The sheep will no doubt survive with a loafing shed or grove of trees as long as they have feed and water, but the hens will definately need a heater every night and most days for about 90 to 100 days. The snow is a wet, heavy snow. Last winter was two feet or deeper in most of the state.

When the airport closes everyone stays home for 2-3 days because the roads are not open and the power may fail. If tha happens you could lose all of your hens. Comerical hen houses have secondary power.

Home for chickens is easy. Family we know in Prospect Heights has chickens, rabbits and turkeys. The sheep need more space.