ATTENTION SINGLE PARENTS...Relocating and I need advice!!!!!!!!!!!! (Atlanta, Mableton: for sale, to rent)

[candacet2100]

I am also a single mother...late twenties with a elementary school-aged son. I want to know if Dunwoody or Alpharetta are good areas? Not to be indecent, but I need to know about school districts for both my son and for myself, being a teacher. I am looking at Fulton and Cobb county schools...DeKalb county schools didn't even make AYP...so that's a definite NO!!! I do want to be near the city, but far enough away from it too...Any advice???

[lastminutemom]

Cobb and Fulton didn't make AYP either. For complete test scores, check http://www.gadoe.org and click on k-12 report card.

Each system close in to town has some good and some not as good schools.

What do you teach?

[shine1]

I can share what I know about living in GA. I moved here about 10 years ago, went through several low paying jobs and now I'm working for a large company in downtown Atlanta. I think the hardest thing for me was to find a niche. The first year was hard. If I had to do it all over again here is what I would do:
1.Find a local church and attend regularly. If you are moving here without family or friends you will need the support of others to help you through the tough times (It's kind of hard to meet people that are dedicated single parents to socialize with)
2.Get a resume together, field interviews by phone then set up a few days to come visit Atlanta and do face to face interviews..line up the job before coming here so you can look for a place to live near your work because the commutes here can be very long.
3. Rent the 1st year to get an idea for the area you like. If you purchase a home right off the bat and find you are in an area you don't like it takes a lot of work to sell a home...
4. Daycare can cost anywhere from $90 - $160 a week for 1 child and it only goes up from there. Look for companies that have subsidies day cares, it might help some. If you pay on the lower end, just keep in mind you get what you pay for.
5.Have substantial savings built up before you move. If you don't have a job and health care benefits, doctor visits/prescriptions can be expensive no matter what side of the city you live in.
6. In terms of good schools, every school has their bad apples, I think it's really up to the parent and parent involvement to help with schooling their children. But if you are looking for good schools I'd suggest researching the school districts at gadoe.org which lists schools by county, city and name...
7. Atlanta is great place to live. There is so much diversity and things to do. The drive to weekend getaways to the mountains, or beaches is an average of 6 hours. People are friendly. I have been all over this city and for any gas station, restaurant visit I've made, it's very seldom I don't recieve a nod or a hello from the employees to other people in the area. You will love Atlanta.

[BOOGCAT]

I Have Lived In Ga For 18 Years Right Now North Atlanta Is Great Depends On Why You Are Moving And What Location. I Live West Of Atlanta And Find Commuting To Atlanta Not Very Hard. Douglas County Depends On Location Of Buying Is A Wonderful Place I Know Several Single Moms Two In Which Are Moving From Other Areas Of Atlanta To My Area. Alot Of Friendly People And Wonderful School Systems Which Has After School Programs If You Need Daycare Later They Even Have A Daycare That Is 24 Hours I Don't Know Much About The Daycare But They Have Not Been In The News.
Let Me Know What Are I Have A Cousin In North Ga And I Know Some Of The Communties, Around Atlanta Being A Mom Myself I Am Always Looking Out For Communties.
Boogcat

[thea]

Dear Tab1975,

I can only imagine the stress of trying to obtain very necessary information prior to you moving. I am sorry that everyone is not sensitive to that. Let me begin by saying that you are brave and to be commended for your efforts to decide to relocate. You are wise to put the questions in any and every forum because you never know who's reading. There may be someone that knows something- and every little bit helps. Also, yes the needs do very from single parenthood to married couples. The basic needs may be similar but the intricacies are not the same. For instance in a marriage, there is a built in support system, unless you're married to a loser and being single you have to think about things such as; what do you do, who do you call, where will the kids go if they need to come home from school early, or become sick, or has the chicken pox and cannot return until doctor says so. Not to mention you may still be within the probationary period of your new job and cannot access the sick, personal or vacation time that will be available after your probation period is over. To get some more info. you may need to disclose more info. For instance: How old are your children?.(school age, preschool or daycare)
What type of job are you looking for? Do you have a degree or certain work experience? Have you tried Monster.com? and do you know anyone in Georgia that can put the word out, that you are looking for employment? If not e- mail me and I will put you in touch w/ my friend who lives in Smyrna, Ga.
In all that we do we should prepare for the worst and expect the best.
Attempt to save up to 6 months of expenses including rent, car note, insurances, day care, grocery, utilities, etc according to living costs/possible rent cost approx. 650-800/mo. So we are talking 6500.00 -8500.00, just in case it takes you 6 months to get the job that you need. (You can work somewhere for less to suppliment until then) My friend's rent is about 650 she's divorced with no children one bedroom gated community very posh, and safe, Theology masters degree student, and 34 years old. Whether you rent or buy depends on several things for you to consider, are you a home owner now? (retorical question) If so can you sell and use the money for a down payment?(rq) You do not want to buy a home in a neighborhood you know nothing about. You can get info from the City Hall/director of education, City planning in Georgia,a relocation company will be able to give you some information re:schools and some info about neighborhoods. also try Move.com and Relocation.net


Another single mother that is planning to relocate,

Thea

[LEMON&SPORT]

Being a single parnet can be hard for anyone but if your moveing to georgia its not that bad. My mother has been a single parnet for 23 years hear. Their are alot of great school and program which very in areas. If you have a high school child then I would say look for a school with fbla or ffa these schools will have a lot of after school program set up with teacher who understand single parneting. Middle schools and pk_8 grades have some of the same things like 4-h and science clubs you have to look for the schools with this. Most people can fine really good jobs hear in georgia the pay is'nt the best but they're willing to work with parnets of any kind. Also if your child or you would like to go to college Georgia is the place to be. They will pay for most single parnets and child to go to school. It really a great place to rasie a child.

[Tab1975]

Hello all,

Before I respond to some of the replies. I want to thank you for your replies. I wrote this a few moths ago and I did get alot of responses but in the past week or so, I want to thank you for that so much. Although my relocation was always in mind. I had put it on the back burner. But over the past few weeks, I have placed it on the front burner and turned up the heat.

As some of you said, I needed to give a little more education.

I have a 16 year old boy who is in Special Education, and I have a 7 year old daughter in regluar ed. I work in the apparel industry right now in operations. Basically, I work in an adminstrative capacity. So I can do alot in that field. I plan on renting for a year or more in the Lawerenceville area.

I got alot of ideas from the replies and I will be following them and to those how told me to e-mail them. Pls private message me with your info.

Again I thank you and the forum is still open, dont stop those responses.

[andy8010]

Whatever you do, dont move to the northside of Atlanta. It's over-crowded and the traffic is horrible. The schools in Fayette County, south of Atlanta, are the best in the metro.

[cool_mommy]

Hi,

I have been doing a lot of research for our upcoming relocation to Georgia as well. My favorite sites for checking out the schools are: schoolmatters.com, greatschools.net and most importantly Georgia's Department of Education web site is Georgia Department of Education. There is an awful lot of detailed and valuable information on these web sites and I suggest studying them carefully. I have found that there are some districts with top notch schools and bottom rung schools, in the same district.

For crime rates I like going to the FBI's web site to look at the uniform crime reports:Federal Bureau of Investigation - Uniform Crime Reports. Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

I have also found that reading the local papers on-line gives me some insight into the towns that we are considering.

And of course this web site provides a lot of information on the towns. You can google the name of the town and "detailed" to get info, for example Atlanta, GA detailed. This will also bring you to some other valuable links as well.

Hope some of this helps. Best of luck to you!

[lastminutemom]

Be careful of Greatschools.net

Lately, I have noticed a lot of tit for tat postings, for example, a parent writes a less than favorable review and then, within a few weeks, a bunch of parents write very positive reviews. Same thing when I have seen a positive review -- several people might jump in and write negative things.

The best way to pick a school is to try and visit before you buy and lease. Narrow your search down and visit a few schools.