[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by BacktoMA4good

That's right, we are miserable, HERE. Maybe some of us need to express our feelings without OTHER people jumping on us for not liking it here, are we SUPPOSED to like it here, if so, I apologize....

You'll feel better when you get home. Honestly, Leaving Florida was the best thing I've ever done. Can't wait until Fall.

Went to the Titans/Rams NFL Preseason game last night and by the end of the game it was a VERY nice 63 degrees.

[ChrisA70]

Dude... Now I'm jealous....

Originally Posted by TNRyan23

You'll feel better when you get home. Honestly, Leaving Florida was the best thing I've ever done. Can't wait until Fall.

Went to the Titans/Rams NFL Preseason game last night and by the end of the game it was a VERY nice 63 degrees.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by BacktoMA4good

Dude... Now I'm jealous....

It'll be my turn to be jealous in about 3-4 months when we have an inch of snow and you have feet...

[ChrisA70]

Touche!!!! Last year when I was up there in MA. We had a storm every other week. 6-8 inches each time. But it melts away nearly every time between storms from rain. The town I lived in was 1500 feet above sea level, when we got 10 inches, 2 towns over in the valley got 4, and when it was 35 in the valley, it was 20 up there. Well guess where I am living this time... VALLEY.

Originally Posted by TNRyan23

It'll be my turn to be jealous in about 3-4 months when we have an inch of snow and you have feet...

[smtisland]

I would love to be able to leave FL (specifically Key West). Don't get me wrong, KW is a great place to vacation but totally differnet to live here. I want to move back to NC, where most of my family is. I was born and raised in NC. My husband was offered an excellent opportunity in KW about 7 1/2 yrs ago. We moved down here for him. We came with our eyes wide open about the housing costs, etc. Unfortuntely, the business was sold after only 3 yrs and his job was eliminated.

Ironically, during the 1st 3 yrs, I was offered several positions but all wanted to pay $9-$10 per hour. I decided to start my own business. Fortuntely, the business has grown tremendously. That is why I am so torn about leaving. NC job market is not great (in the area that we are looking to move).

Another concern that we have, my brother moved here about 3 yrs ago. So, now we feel that we brought him down here and will be leaving him here. I know we are all adults and he needs to make the right decision for him, but it is still a concern.

I miss the seasons, feeling the Holidays (I cannot get in the spirit when it is 80 degrees), my parents who are getting older, horses, wide open spaces. There are a lot of things that I like about KW like walking to everywhere, friendly local people, and great friends. But KW has changed a lot since we moved down here. Over development, drunk tourist at 4am, no parking, SUMMER HEAT, are just a few things that I have a really hard time dealing with.

I would move tomorrow if I could.

[Muggy]

It's interesting to read the responses about the weather. Wherever there is growth + jobs + financial stability + lower priced housing is where you find the "crisp snow" or "sunshine" or "change of seasons" or "mountain breeze." Reverse engineering + nomadism + cognitive dissonance reduction = ideal weather. The U.S.A., a nation of meandering malcontents. I heard everyone is moving to North Dakota. Seriously.

That being said, Florida is too damn hot and humid.

[Floridamom1970]

Originally Posted by TANaples

I am a Special Ed TA. I have worked in NY (LI) schools and now Florida schools. No question. The standards are lower here. Yeah, I will get outrageous comments on that, but I have actually WORKED in both to make that comparison.

I used to work in a mainstream 1st grade class in NY for a few years. One day here in Florida I was asked to sub in Mrs. ABC's class while she went to a meeting. I didn't know her or what grade this was. As I was walking around looking at the board and helping the kids, I thought it was a Kindergarten class. Yet, the kids seemed big for K. I made some comment and one little girl, very insulted (lol), said it was FIRST GRADE, not Kindergarten. Judging from the work they were doing, it would have been Kindergarten in NY; nowhere near the level of work the kids were doing in the 1st grade class where I had worked. This was NOT a special ed 1st grade class either!

I could go on and on with a lot more specifics, but I won't. I also won't go into the fiscal mess this state is creating in education; nor the obvious reasons why.

No, if I had kids, I would never move here. Never. My younger daughter would have never gotten the education she needed as a special ed student in order to graduate, go to college, and become a certified teacher. Seeing what I have seen in these ESE classes, it would not have happened here.

Education has to be the top issue if you have a family. They can still have a very fulfilling life up North. Year round beaches and warm weather is not necessary for that. My daughter can attest to that.

I hear ya! My youngest daughter is eleven and is severely autistic. Special education in Marion County is a joke. She is non verbal for the most part and sat in an elementary school special ed class for over four years without really learning a darn thing except ABC,123s, shapes and colors. Basically pre-school stuff. I pulled her out of public school on an emergency basis and began home schooling her a year and a half ago. I have got her reading, writing and doing math on about a first- second grade level.

My guess is that since she is mostly non- verbal they figured she was either retarded, uneducable or both and just did not bother. She was also in a class with much higher functioning kids. I realized too late that she needed so much more than what she was getting. She still does not know how to use the picture exchange communications. She should have been tought that in school and if she was she has never shown the ability to do it at home, nor was I ever tought the proper technique. I did not even know that until very recently.She can and does talk but verbalization is very difficult for her.

We recently began using Phonics Pathways with her and she is picking up phonics rapidly.I have got her learning to tell time, add and subtract. She never once showed any ability to read when she was in school. In fact I would get letters from the school saying that she scored a zero on a reading test.

We are moving to Oklahoma on October 1st, the most homeschool friendly state in the country.

[runswithscissors]

for Muggy...Since this site is about MOVING to OTHER PLACES it makes sense that the focus is about that topic. But the nation is hardly turning into nomads. Nobody I know has moved anywhere in a decade or more, except for a handful of people including me who took an employers package and moved to be with FAMILY AND had JOBS lined up before going to their respective states, Florida and NC this past November.

People have moved forever for corporate transfers, military transfers and life events such as marriage, retirement, having kids, and wanting to be near family. And for opportunity too. People have moved to Florida since the beginning of the last century for that matter...it's nothing new.

Malcontent is a newly popular term here and one that I think is very overstated. Malcontent definition is also not just a discontented person but a person who is serially chronically dissatisfied and in reference to the world not just their town. Complainer, rebellious. A negative and pejorative term. MAL coming from the French "sick", bad. Implies shallow, too.

The attrition rate of deaths and internal migration is outweighted by births in Florida on city data stats. The churn is not really all that dramatic, I think it just seems that way since this site is about cities not puppies or other topics

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by Floridamom1970

I hear ya! My youngest daughter is eleven and is severely autistic. Special education in Marion County is a joke. She is non verbal for the most part and sat in an elementary school special ed class for over four years without really learning a darn thing except ABC,123s, shapes and colors. Basically pre-school stuff. I pulled her out of public school on an emergency basis and began home schooling her a year and a half ago. I have got her reading, writing and doing math on about a first- second grade level.

My guess is that since she is mostly non- verbal they figured she was either retarded, uneducable or both and just did not bother. She was also in a class with much higher functioning kids. I realized too late that she needed so much more than what she was getting. She still does not know how to use the picture exchange communications. She should have been tought that in school and if she was she has never shown the ability to do it at home, nor was I ever tought the proper technique. I did not even know that until very recently.She can and does talk but verbalization is very difficult for her.

We recently began using Phonics Pathways with her and she is picking up phonics rapidly.I have got her learning to tell time, add and subtract. She never once showed any ability to read when she was in school. In fact I would get letters from the school saying that she scored a zero on a reading test.

We are moving to Oklahoma on October 1st, the most homeschool friendly state in the country.

I give you big props for taking the bull by the horns and also moving to give your child the best possible chance. When you see the various levels of function in the autism community (AND the high rates of autism spectrum that seem to be increasing or better diagnosed) (speaking as an outsider) it's amazing.

I really don't see how any school can promise a decent education to several types of challenged kids vis a vis mainstreaming. I believe in mainstreaming for social reasons but it seems to me if the schools don't have specific classes to SUPPORT and work with the child then they'll just be invisible.

Even non challenged kids get that treatment, like if they are quiet or shy or whatever... since the squeaky wheel gets the grease so to speak. So how can an autistic kid get a fair shot? I don't understand it.

[big mean bear]

Originally Posted by Floridamom1970

I hear ya! My youngest daughter is eleven and is severely autistic. Special education in Marion County is a joke. She is non verbal for the most part and sat in an elementary school special ed class for over four years without really learning a darn thing except ABC,123s, shapes and colors. Basically pre-school stuff. I pulled her out of public school on an emergency basis and began home schooling her a year and a half ago. I have got her reading, writing and doing math on about a first- second grade level.

My guess is that since she is mostly non- verbal they figured she was either retarded, uneducable or both and just did not bother. She was also in a class with much higher functioning kids. I realized too late that she needed so much more than what she was getting. She still does not know how to use the picture exchange communications. She should have been tought that in school and if she was she has never shown the ability to do it at home, nor was I ever tought the proper technique. I did not even know that until very recently.She can and does talk but verbalization is very difficult for her.

We recently began using Phonics Pathways with her and she is picking up phonics rapidly.I have got her learning to tell time, add and subtract. She never once showed any ability to read when she was in school. In fact I would get letters from the school saying that she scored a zero on a reading test.

We are moving to Oklahoma on October 1st, the most homeschool friendly state in the country.

I applaud your actions. Thank god your little girl has a mother like you.