Places for Young Families

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by Vanyali

../..but when I came back through a couple of years ago, the place looked like a shopping mall had exploded. There were chain restaurants and, if I remember right, mall-stores where all those great independent Vietnamese restaurants used to be.

There are still a few Vietnamese restaurants left, but I know exactly what you're talking about. I saw those type changes happen over the years. The change in Arlington from the late-80's to the present boggles the mind.

Originally Posted by Vanyali

Just checking, but McLean is completely suburban, not really walkable at all, and full of older families (kids in HS/college), right?

Pretty much my impression too, unless you're just a few steps from their "downtown" area @ Old Dominion and Rt.123. Bethesda is much more "walkable."

[dakwilk]

You would love University Park. Great Elem. school, foreign language, lots of parental involvement. But, IMO the commute to Tyson's would be too far. I would stick with Virginia/no further in than Bethesda. My sister works in Tyson's and one night it took her 2 hours to get to my house in UP from there. If you want more info on UP send me a direct message. There is also a french immersion program at a public elementary school in PG County. I think it is a lottery to get in if you don't live in the neighborhood.

[FrankLaw]

Originally Posted by vanyali

What would you say is the biggest difference between Bethesda/Chevy Chase and Tacoma Park? Would you say the areas attract different sorts of people? Someone mentioned that they thought of Tacoma Park as very liberal. Is that in contrast to, say, Bethesda being very conservative?

I wouldn't categorize Bethesda/Chevy Chase as conservative by any stretch, but it's more of an upscale liberal class, if that makes sense. Takoma is more of the working man's liberal neighborhood with a truer sense of multiculturalism than B/CC. B/CC is still a very liberal area, but honestly, I'd categorize it as more of an Ivy Leaguer's liberal neighborhood than anything else.

I'm a minority and consider myself to be very liberal, and I'm quite comfortable in B/CC. I could live there no problem. But the families that live there tend to be quite affluent to large measure, and you're going to have third graders going to school with $400 iPods and such. That's okay with some people, not okay with others. It just depends on the individual.

Originally Posted by titaniummd

I lived in 20852, North Bethesda. There are a lot of single family homes and townhouses there. Off of Tuckerman Lane there are a lot of communities with similar backgrounds as yourself. You are just off of the Beltway for your husband to go to work. Cabin John Park is just up the street, as well as a ice skating rink, and you are between 2 shopping malls within 10-12 minutes of each other. You are in walking distance to the Grovesnor Metro to take the Metro downtown to the District.

I lived off of Tuckerman Lane, myself, for a number of years and still think quite fondly of the area. You actually can walk around quite a bit and not live in mortal fear that you'll get run down by a car, but depending on where you are exactly, things might be just too far away for you to walk to on a casual stroll. I wouldn't walk from the Grosvenor Metro/Strathmore Music Hall to the Cabin John Ice Rink, for example. (In fact, there's really no sidewalk down Tuckerman Lane west of Old Georgetown, and people really zip by on that road, so you'd be taking your life into your own hands if you tried to walk that road.)

The condos and townhouses in that area are getting quite pricey. What I would consider a decent two-bedroom condo is now going for about $500k. A good townhouse is going for $700k. It's crazy, but that's the real estate market in the DC area.

Originally Posted by vanyali

Does anyone know whether the public schools in the area (Bethesda/Chevy Chase) teach any foreign language on the elementary school level? Do you know of any private elementary schools in the immediate area that teach French on the elementary school level?

Thanks!

I know there's a Chinese language immersion program at the elementary level further up north in Montgomery County.

According to the MCPS (Montgomery County Public Schools) website, there are Chinese, French, and Spanish immersion programs at the elementary level. Montgomery County Public Schools - Department of Foreign Languages - Immersion Programs

There's also something called the Foreign Language in Elementary School program affiliated somehow with MCPS. I don't know much about them, but you can read up on them here: FLES PROGRAM SITE

[vanyali]

Originally Posted by FrankLaw

I know there's a Chinese language immersion program at the elementary level further up north in Montgomery County.

According to the MCPS (Montgomery County Public Schools) website, there are Chinese, French, and Spanish immersion programs at the elementary level. Montgomery County Public Schools - Department of Foreign Languages - Immersion Programs

There's also something called the Foreign Language in Elementary School program affiliated somehow with MCPS. I don't know much about them, but you can read up on them here: FLES PROGRAM SITE

Yeah, the public French Immersion program in Silver Spring is full, has a waiting list, and after 1st grade they want your kid to already be fluent to even get on the waiting list (and they won't, say, let a 1st grader repeat a grade to catch up on the language. I think the director was laughing when she wrote me that e-mail). So that's a no-go. I'm betting any other MC public school immersion program (Chinese, etc) is going to be exactly the same. There's a French "Lycee" private school in Chevy Chase, but the director of the elementary school isn't returning my e-mails, so I'm taking that as a bad sign.

[FrankLaw]

I think the Lycee school in Chevy Chase is one of three campuses in the area, and there's another a little further north on Bradley Blvd. Maybe they have different directors/admissions officers? Informations générales

[Kensington]

I don't know if a non-fluent child can start at Rochambeau in the 1st grade. A friend of mine, who is a French national, toured it, and she said that most of the children that went there have parents who work for the World Bank (or similar IOs) or at embassies of French speaking countries. It's very pricey, and all of these folks have their tuition subsidized by work. A colleague of mine who is Senegalese and works for the World Bank sent his kids to a French program at Rock Creek International (I may have the name wrong).

Are you a French-speaker? The Bethesda-Chevy Chase YMCA has a lot of French speakers (and whose kids go to Rochambeau). Also, there used to be a large French speaking playgroup that met one afternoon a week at Ayrlawn Park in Bethesda (near the Y).

Spring Bilingual Montessori in Kensington has a French Immersion class for pre-schoolers. Most of the kids are not native speakers and do not have parents who are native speakers.