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Old 10-16-2007, 11:23 AM
 
12 posts, read 54,808 times
Reputation: 10

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Hello All!

My family we be relocating to VA in a few weeks and I need some help! My husband will be working in Hampton, VA at the ferry building, we need a place to live, hopefully with a 30 minute or so commute for him. We have 2 children. These are our interests and so called housing allowance. We wish to rent for a few months, in hopes of selling our house here in Florida.
* rent under $1,000/month we have a 45lb black lab house or apt. preferably would like to rent in the same school district that we'd hope to buy in (your advise will help)
* prefer a school with the IB Program or live close enough to it for bus transportation thru the school for him to participate in it.
*safe area for kids to grow up and live
*low crime in schools
*good marching band program in High school, variety of clubs honor ociety, Beta etc,
*band in middle school and girls soccer if possible, variety of good clubs
My son is 15 in 10th grade, my daughter is 12 in 7th grade
*We are in our early 40's, ok he his, I just turned 40 lol
My husband likes to play softball and our daughter likes soccer she plays on the travel team now, she likes track/cross country, so a town with sports in and out of school would be great.

Can anyone tell me about the standardized testing here? Any and all help anyone could give quickly would be very important. We know nothing about the area. We will be visiting to look around this Thursday 10/18/07, leaving Florida around 7AM. Thank you so much for any help!!!

Cathy
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Old 10-16-2007, 07:54 PM
 
13 posts, read 42,530 times
Reputation: 14
We moved from Tampa, FL Dec 06 to Northern Virginia and now are being moved to Suffolk, VA. I have spend many days over there doing IB school research as I also have a 15 year old daughter in the IB program. She is handleing two moves in one year very well, but I feel for her. Princess Anne High in Virginia Beach got my vote hands down over the rest. I met with each IB coordinator in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, York and Virginia Beach. There was no comparison for us. The other programs were very new with not a lot of choices or they were so small they did not have much to offer. Coming from Florida, Virginia Beach felt more like home too. You can email me and ask anything as I have lots of info on the school transfer.
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Old 10-16-2007, 08:00 PM
 
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
2,124 posts, read 8,844,683 times
Reputation: 818
cathy, Mr. Williamsburg is a real estate agent that works the hampton area, check a few threads and send him a DM. He may be able to help you out, or steer you to a few things that may help.

I don't really work that side of the river. I work mainly Va. Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk (the other side of the river). So I won't be much help with the schools and stuff over there. I have heard good things with York county schools. if you haven't already, look into GreatSchools.net

Shelly
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Old 10-16-2007, 08:01 PM
 
13 posts, read 42,530 times
Reputation: 14
Oh yea...forgot your other questions....

The SOL(standarized tests) are different than FL. They are on each subject that they take that year. My daughter came up and did just fine. I also have a 7th grader and she did fine too. One of the hardest things I had to get through was the health forms. You have to get a VA health form completed and I could not get a doctors appointment until their doctor sent them to the new doctor...whom I had to choose blindly as it was rushed wanting to get them registered. The Northern VA doctors would not request the records as they said they do not do that and the FL doctors would not send them without the request. I recommend getting their FL doctor records before you move as I said that was one of the biggest obstacles. Also, VB school district if they were in gifted in FL makes the child go thru retesting all over again....in case any of your children need that. Where are you from in FL? We found York that everyone was talking about was not for us....way to rural. I need a Target near by. We loved the north side of Virginia Beach by the water.....as long as you are in Virginia Beach they will bus him to the IB high school.
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Old 10-16-2007, 08:06 PM
 
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
2,124 posts, read 8,844,683 times
Reputation: 818
whyunpack, I agree with you that Va. beach is has a lot to offer. Unfortunately, that drive across the hampton roads bridge tunnel may be a little overwhelming. She might like the newport news area, what did you think of that when you looked?

Shelly
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Old 10-17-2007, 03:50 AM
 
13 posts, read 42,530 times
Reputation: 14
Default based on schools....

I agree the tunnel is not ideal, but when you have to look at a certain school program it outweighed. I did not lool at Newport News as the IB school rating was not good. For us it was not an option due to that, but that is just us. For others the drive is to big of a factor. After living in DC, we understand the traffic issues
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Old 10-17-2007, 05:46 AM
 
Location: Chesapeake
36 posts, read 110,856 times
Reputation: 12
Most likely you will want to stick to Hampton, Newport News, or York County for commute reasons. All three have an IB program available. York County is considered to be the best of the three, however it is also the most expensive for housing.

I personally have 10 years marching band expierence, so I know how that can be important. My kids aren't school age yet, so I am not that familar with all the programs, but I have some past clients that insisted on the Grafton school district in York County specifically because of the marching band. I also know some band parents in my neighborhood for the Warwick High school district in Newport News, if you have any questions I would be glad to ask. Warwick also has an IB program (Grafton does not).

It will be hard to find a short term lease, especially under $1000 a month. There may be a possibility of finding a home for sale, leasing for a few months until you are able to buy (depending on how desperate a seller is).

If you have any other questions about the area please feel free to contact me.

Rosalind
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Old 10-17-2007, 11:01 PM
 
12 posts, read 54,808 times
Reputation: 10
Default need a place to call home

I appreciate all the posts, I have a ton of questions. We are leaving 7 am to visit up there. I've spent the past few days on the phone with the counselor at one of the IB schools and they pretty much told me they couldn't except my son because he is on a block schedule and he couldn't make up the classes that he has the next half of the year, and PE was not requirement here because of marching band, but it is in VA, so he'd have to make that up too. My head is spinning can't even sleep. I have been in touch with PAHS, very nice very helpful they didn't seem to think it was going to be an issue to move him. We are in Deltona, FL it's between Daytona Beach and Orlando.
I will get back to all soon. My husband starts work in VA 11/12/07/

Bye for now.

Cathyfla
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Old 10-18-2007, 04:37 AM
 
13 posts, read 42,530 times
Reputation: 14
Default if you need help

cathy,
do not give up on IB....call me if you would like. 813-495-2015. I got pretty quick appointments with the IB coordinators when I had mt one week whirlwind trip and may be able to answer a lot of your questions.
Tammy
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