Young Homeschooling family move to NY or NJ? (schools, university)

[bethree5]

Dear Mum of2,
best of luck. NJ's a good place to homeschool these days. The negative input you're getting about homeschooling is kind of outdated. what you'll find here are large homeschool networks who cooperate on field trips & athletics & share cost of "specials" like art, foreign language, computers. If you're part of a Christian homeschooling network, you may or may not be in for culture shock, I don't know; most homeschool parents I know are old hippies like myself, in it in order to avoid the high-burnout high-end materialism around here that tends to breed high-pressure conformity for our kids.

I was fortunate to be able to afford a place like Westfield where the public schools can do anything including headstands if you ask loud enough, but even here we have homeschoolers. Take a look at Edison and Colonia, maybe Metuchen. I teach in that area & the people are hard-working, friendly, from every possible ethnic background. The commute from MetroPark station near Metuchen is express, about 30mins from midtown Manhattan.

Somebody up there said people are more "closed" the closer you get to the city; that is the opposite of my experience, but oh well in my 3 yrs in the Midwest I found I had to keep my mouth shut about religion, politics, or anything else I felt deeply about. I think you'll find people in this area big-mouthed & big-hearted. It's always tough to get comfortable socially when everybody has to work so hard to make ends meet that they don't have time or energy to socialize. But if you're in a homeschooling network you have a leg up on that problem.

Best of luck.

[Mumof2]

We did meet a family where both parents work. Their children have been going to Daycare from when they were 6 months old, and now they go to PS. They go to "After School" and then get picked up by parents at 6PM. Then they go home, mostly watch TV or play Gameboy, eat dinner and go to bed. On weekends the parents are so busy with laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping, and so much more that they leave their children to TV and Video games. It is very tough for this family to even take their children to swimming and other events. They are now beaming with pride that they are going to be able to afford the huge home in Princeton for thier children. And when it comes to cleaning the house, she smiled and said, nobody ever stays home, so where is the cleaning problem? I cannot understand this lifestyle. I am sorry it is beyond my comprehension. We do somehow make ends meet, but such awsome things that materialism affords, we don't care. If it was in our means, we would have considered it a blessing, if not, we still count our blessings. If the schools here are that great, and my children express their interest to go there, I am open to it. I will be ready to teach middle school to high school math in the PS pretty soon. I will still be hanging around with them anyway. We are more into Classical education with Latin based curriculum and extensive Montessori training. All this is done without any stress on the child in a relaxing warm environment. When we met this family, thier child was playing with the gameboy. My children went up to their boy, introduced themselves and kicked off a conversation. When we left, my kids shook hands with all and even hugged that lady good bye. They were surprised at my childrens' social skills. I am proud of my children.

We visited MillBurn and Summit today, awsome places. Looked like Swiss alps. Wonder how it would look with all the snow. The Osage road did not show up on the GPS. So we were not able to visit that place in Old Bridge. My DH kept getting office calls. I will drive by to see Metuchen and the other places tommorrow. I am dreading going back and selling everything and putting my house up for lease all by myself. I am waiting for it to be done quickly so I can settle down here quickly and give my 100% to my DH and children. He shed his "good guy" image in office and blew his top. He is not able to take all this blame game, lying, screaming, banging tables...... But now that he is in it, he is telling people when they lie, asking them to read Deepak Chopra instead of banging everywhere and stressing out. He is learning and growing up. He hates it now, but I promised him that this too shall pass. He is not ready to let us all go and come back to an empty room. Again, this too shall pass.
Take care you all.

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by Mumof2

He works on Waterstreet, Manhattan. It's opposite to South Ferry. We just did the calclations, it is stressful.

I know exactly where that is, its downtown near Wall Street. That is the area my Husband commuted from. It is close to Brooklyn. I'm sure its stressful for someone that's not used to it, and I know my husband could never do it again. Every Year the commute would get longer.
Did you ever think of looking in Aberdeen/Matawan. They are need the train station and you should be able to find Affordable rentals. The only problem is he will still need the subway.
Some of the Areas that are close are Hoboken, but the problem with that is that I believe the rentals are high. There are some good areas of Brooklyn that would be an easy commute, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Heights.
Also, Valley Stream , LI, NY has a deverse population and rentals look ok there. The LIRR from there is less than an hour.It goes to 34th Street, Penn Station. Its a family area and not far from Lawrence, LI where I grew up.
Gibson, Hewlett, Woodmere, is on same LIRR Route.

Apartment to rent apartment rental and apartment for rent. Rent rental apartment to rent apartment rentals apartment for rent apartment finder apartment search

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by Mumof2

calculations that is. The farther we go, the more expensive his commute. All the apartments are not nice, in the sense, after living in a brand new home for so long, it does not look nice. I expected it, but hubby and kids are not happy with it. I guess it is only a matter of time after we settle down. None of the apts. are available until Nov/Dec. There is just one availble immediately for $1405 in Edison. There are two nice parks close to it and also some tennis courts. It looks comfy and DH's commute is $350 Vs. $150 from Secaucus. I don't know if I should confirm the apartment from them or let go and keep searching. We looked at Harmon Cove, it's like a five star hotel, but the monthly maintanance itself is close to $700! I don't think we are ready for it. We still have to go to Old Bridge and the Village East apt you provided Diane. The problem with this apt. in East Windsor is that there is no easy commute at all and did you checkout the crime rate there. I don't know if we have the time to visit Princeton and Robbinsville. I liked those pics. though. I have to start packing up to leave next Sunday. What do you think about this apartment in Edison? I don't want to take too much time thinking and miss that too considering how tough it is to find a nice apartment. I will defintly plan to make it to Old Bridge tomm. and check it out with Hubby. What do I do if the office is closed? DH cannot make it during weekdays. We need to decide together.

Unfortunatly , the office at Pinegate Apts is only open, M-F. Oldbridge is a safe area and that is why we found the Apartment there for my son when he moved. It also offered the most for the least amount of money.
Pine Gate Apartments - 732-360-1230
There are buses to Downtown not to far away. Edison, I really don't like at all.
It's crowded, and I know even I would get culture shock living there.
I just spent the weekend at a hotel near by daughters University, she's moved it but will be home next weekend, only 35 miles away, and she has her car up there,
I

[Mumof2]

Any info about apartments in summit and MillBurn please.

[Mumof2]

Pinegates has openings in the next two months
Nothing for now

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by Mumof2

Any info about apartments in summit and MillBurn please.

Here is a Link for Milburn

Millburn Apartments - Rent an apartment in Millburn, New Jersey

categories:apartments listings in Summit, NJ at Yellowbook.com

Diane

[LauraPetrie]

In addition, there are a host of sites on the net where you should be able to find rental apts in both these places. Try rent.com, apartments.com, apartmentguides.com . You can also try apartmentratings.com. Do a search and click on any apt in Millburn/Summit and you will find more apts in the same neighborhood at the end of that page. I would suggest that if you are really interested in these places, you should take a drive around town (on a weekday preferably), and you will see many apartments which are not listed on the internet. That way you can also stop by their leasing offices or note down their phone numbers and give them a quick call later.
Two bedrooms in Millburn and Summit can go anywhere from 1300 to 1600. I am not sure of townhomes . There may be quite a few, but again you might have to shell out a few extra dollars for it. Good luck in your search !

[Mumof2]

We came back to Dallas yesterday. I am happy to be back home, it is heart breaking to be away from my husband though. I did manage to find some good apartments. We zeroed in on Summit apts. It is nice, clean, and reasonable. I will be moving in Nov. By that time my husband will also become more stable in his new job. Thankyou all for helping me out and having enough patience in your busy schedule to go through all messages I posted here. We had an awsome time there and are waiting to move. I already got a mom close by who is waiting for me to move as she needs a nanny for her daughter. She will be leaving the baby with me at 7AM and pick up at 7PM. she will be paying me enough to help us with the rent. This lady happens to be the best friend of my distant cousin, and after she met me, she was very keen on leaving her child with me. So that is worked out too.

Thankyou again.

Mum :smiles and hugs:

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by Mumof2

We came back to Dallas yesterday. I am happy to be back home, it is heart breaking to be away from my husband though. I did manage to find some good apartments. We zeroed in on Summit apts. It is nice, clean, and reasonable. I will be moving in Nov. By that time my husband will also become more stable in his new job. Thankyou all for helping me out and having enough patience in your busy schedule to go through all messages I posted here. We had an awsome time there and are waiting to move. I already got a mom close by who is waiting for me to move as she needs a nanny for her daughter. She will be leaving the baby with me at 7AM and pick up at 7PM. she will be paying me enough to help us with the rent. This lady happens to be the best friend of my distant cousin, and after she met me, she was very keen on leaving her child with me. So that is worked out too.

Thankyou again.

Mum :smiles and hugs:

Mum, Very best of Luck! Summit is a nice area and your job sounds perfect for You.
Diane G