Looking for a nice affordable place to raise a family! (Wheaton: house, neighborhoods)

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by citytosuburbia07

Orland Park is a little too far from my parents. I would like more information on schools and the communities of Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Western Springs, La Grange, Wheaton, and Glen Ellyn. Right now I am leaning towards Hinsdale.

Use the "Search" feature on the top bar, as almost all of these communities have been written about to death. Works everytime.

[acdevane]

Towns that are certainly worth looking into, and fit your criteria are: Clarendon Hills, Elmhurst, Downers Grove, (which are now in the normalcy range - you can get very nice housing under 800k) Also consider Glen Ellyn, & Wheaton if you're looking for smaller, quaint towns with character and a downtown center. If you find them too small you can always take a short drive to Naperville for a city feel in the suburbs. I'd consider all of them great places to raise kids. The inventory's great right now, and pricing should be awesome in a month's time, but don't wait too long, as folks will start pulling their homes off the market for the holidays in preparation for a more robust spring. Here's hoping! Good Luck to you.

[janetp]

We live in Berwyn, and it's very nice here, but it sounds as if you can afford more house than what we have to offer. It sounds like you would perfer to stay close to Chicago, so if you do, Elmhurst has a great school district, and their downtown area is very charming, I think. Lots of good shopping and trans is good. Close to 290. Morton Grove and Hinsdale boasts good school districts as well, and there are some pretty nice parks there as well. Personally, I think River forest is pretty nice, as the houses are pretty large and the area around Thatcher is really charming. Elmhurst is the best buy right now if you want to stay close to Chicago. Good luck!

[emmi605]

Elmhurst does have a nice downtown area, as does Glen Ellyn and Wheaton. They are all nice towns and on the train line. Have you actually looked at homes yet in these areas? It seems like there are beautiful homes in your price range that are up for sale; some are new and some are just a few years old. Schools are good in each area also, but the Glenbard High schools have had issues with referenda not passing. Elmhurst just passed two last year (for building and education) and are looking good into the future. The park district is also awesome in Elmhurst. There are great opportunities, especially when your kids are very young. If I were you, I would take the train out of Oglivie train station and stop at the towns so you can walk around and get the feel for each. Then, when you narrow it down even further go VISIT schools. That is the best way to get a feeling for what is going on inside, not school report cards which may just tell you how much "test prep" they are doing. I would pay attention more to the parts on the report card such as $ spent per pupil, average education and salary of teachers, and student:teacher class ration. Too many people narrow in on the test scores only and let those determine their child's future. Chicago Magazine just too all that into account in their article on high schools last month. That may be a good resource also. Best of Luck!

[nanannie]

Great post emmi, good advice.

[jsagil]

Glen Ellyn or Wheaton would also be great areas for raising a family and commuting to the city. And they are located about half way between both parents. Right now there are 144 homes on the market in those areas starting at $800,000 and going up to 3.7 million, so lots of room to upgrade in the future. Geneva is a nice area also, but getting a bit over your commute requirement of 40 min. more like 1 hour.

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by emmi605

Then, when you narrow it down even further go VISIT schools. That is the best way to get a feeling for what is going on inside, not school report cards which may just tell you how much "test prep" they are doing. I would pay attention more to the parts on the report card such as $ spent per pupil, average education and salary of teachers, and student:teacher class ration. Too many people narrow in on the test scores only and let those determine their child's future.

People narrow in on test scores because at the high school level, especially, test scores play a major role in determining which colleges and universities will admit their children.

College admissions has become extremely competitive as the number of graduating seniors grows each year. This year there will be about 3.5 million graduating seniors in the U.S. There's a considerable amount of predictions in the field that colleges and universities will report markedly lower acceptance rates next spring than ever before.

Colleges and universities are aware of high schools' profiles, including test scores. If a town's high school isn't academically competitive with other area high schools, it makes it harder for their students to overcome that disadvantage and present themselves as equally qualified applicants unless they have what is known as a 'hook' in the college admissions process (a top state-ranked athlete, under-represented minority, etc.). UIUC and other top Illinois state schools are increasingly difficult to get into as demand rises.

Like it or not, test scores do matter.

If a child does not plan to attend college, then it wouldn't matter as much.

[InformedConsent]

You may already know this - the College Board publishes a comprehensive analysis of over 28,000 high schools every year including each high school's mean standardized test scores, acceptance rate at targeted colleges, percent of minority students, parents' average income and education level, etc.

The CB provides colleges and universities with an in-depth analysis that summarizes high schools' and students' academic credentials, standardized test scores, number of AP courses offered and number of AP exams taken and passed by students, college-prep curriculum courses, etc.

The quality of education at each of these 28,000 high schools, as statistically evaluated, matters more than the amount of money spent per student (some schools achieve great results with little money, others spend a lot more with mediocre results), class size (lower class size studies report mixed results, with the exception of smaller classes composed of at-risk students), and teacher salaries (which vary widely with no correlation to student achievement).

[Windy City John]

jump on metra and come out to Glen Ellyn 40 minutes by train-- plenty of homes to choose from

[sing4him]

Everyone seems to forget Elk Grove Village!!!! It is about 20 mins from downtown, easy access to trains, rated one of the #1 places to raise a family and has one of the BEST education systems!!!! I am a teacher, and know that the district is in HIGH demand - EVERYONE wants to work there!!! Also, Schaumburg is another great suburb with EXCELLENT schools as well. Both of those suburbs are close to everything - and have somewhat of a small town feel to them too.

You also won't have a problem finding a home in your price range either - THere are several extremely beautiful homes in that range......

Good luck!!