Meritage Homes/Trinity Prep (Orlando, Merritt Island: 2010, chapel, buy)

[TATINEE]

Good afternoon everyone!

My husband and I are looking at moving our family to the Orlando area in summer 2010 and found some nice homes in Winter Garden through Meritage Homes. Is this a pretty reputable company? I know that there will be some complaints about any company, but I want to make sure that they are overall good people to work with.

We have three children and one of them is in private school here in PA. I am looking at enrolling her at Trinity Prep starting in 7th grade. Does anyone have experience with this school? What I see online is that the academics can be tough, but I think her current school is like that, too. My older daughter will probably be at a public school starting in 9th grade (she has a 'thing' about private schools...) and I'd love any info about those, as well.

Thanks so much!

[Parrotrosie]

Well, I looked into Trinity Prep, and while I would LOVE to send my daughter there, I cannot afford the nearly 20k per year tuition It looks like a beautiful school.

[TATINEE]

Thanks for the reply! My daughter currently attends a school that costs just a little bit more than Trinity Prep, but she gets an excellent scholarship. Maybe you should look into going that route!

[Parrotrosie]

Thanks...I make just over the amount for scholarship...lol...but not enough to actually cut that much into my budget! Eh...what can one do tho...and I am Epicopalian to boot! LOL! Best of Luck to you...It truly does look to be an excellent school!

[Otownmain]

We moved to Orlando from the Northeast and put our kids at Trinity. It's the best in the Orlando market, but it's not up to the level of some of the good Northeastern prep schools. Rigorous class work, decent college admissions (some ivies, many good lib. arts, lots of FL state schools, which offer free tuition and are getting harder and harder to get into, especially the honors colleges). They lack much imagination, new ideas, creativity in their programs, maybe because they're the best in the area and don't have to try to innovate. The other school to look at is Lake Highland Prep. The cheer at the end of a Trinity/Lake Highland game is "we're still smarter!" Trinity is harder to get into. Lake Highland puts a strong emphasis on their athletic programs, though Trinity can still beat them in some sports! Public schools are problematic. Big, over-crowded, under-funded. Some have issues of violence, drugs... Orange County Schools have had lots of budget issues. I don't know what Winter Garden is like (although it's a long drive from Trinity Prep). You might look at some of the good magnet programs in the public schools and buy in an area that gives you access to the programs. For example, Winter Park High School has a well-respected IB program. Good Luck.

[annerk]

I agree that Trinity is a really long drive from Winter Garden. With traffic I'm going to guess at least an hour each way--not to mention it's all toll roads. You're probably looking at $50 a week in tolls plus gas. Lake Highland isn't a whole lot closer. You might want to look into Montverde Academy which is also highly rated and much closer.

Meritage Homes is a California based builder. Nice homes but I don't personally think the design fits the Florida lanscape--they look like California homes to me. Not sure how else to explain that.

[nativefla]

My kids attend Trinity Prep and we have been very satisfied with the school. My son graduates this month and was accepted at Univ. of Virginia, Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Vanderbilt. While we know kids coming all the way from Merritt Island and Eustis to Trinity, I wouldn't recommend the drive from Winter Garden. Why would you want to live there?