Moving to Pittsburgh with 4yo; recommends? (Patton: sublease, sublets, apartments)

[mrmahann]

Hello!

Seems the winds are blowing in the direction of Pittsburgh, work bringing us there. Our move would be middle of JUL. My situ is in the same realm but a bit different from this post from 3 years ago; does the info therein still apply?

http://www.city-data.com/forum/pittsburgh/915246-moving-pittsburgh-seeking-preschool-where-live.html

This less directly applicable, but includes helpful info:
Another relo with lots of questions!

The specifics:
I'm a single father of a wonderful 4yo girl. Her mom is totally out of the picture; she's on the other side of the earth and may not even be able to get back into the country. We have no relatives closer to Pittsburgh than Buffalo. We'll be making u$85-90K.

Objectives:
- Find her a school that will keep her from, say, 8am thru 6pm.
- It'd be great if the school teaches Spanish and/or Mandarin.
- We plan on living in the city for the first year or two, if it makes sense; then perhaps find some old farm and raise ostriches, should the job go well. I'm used to the city; lived in 3 boros of NYC (real city boros, not Staten Island) and own a house in Baltimore City, where I lived for several years.

Questions:
- How much do schools for 4yos typically cost? We're currently paying about u$800/month for a 3-K (pre-K for 3yos). She'll be 4 in NOV.
- Biking: How good of a "biking to work" city is Pittsburgh? I'd biked daughter (and her half sister, when she was here, who returned to VN with her mom) when in NYC. I'll be working on the Chatham U campus; I'm 50 and in reasonable shape, ex-USMC, ex-Rugger, ex-farmboy. When I lived in NYC, I biked to work 4 seasons. I do have a biggish, dumb car (that I really like).
- We're currently looking for a short-term (sublease, etc) in Shadyside or Sq Hill or the other areas mentioned in the URLs included above. Am I on the right track?

Thanks!
Todd


My next house:
http://gaia-health.com/gaia-blog/201...for-only-3000/
Man Builds Fairy Tale Home for His Family - For Only £3,000

http://inthralld.com/2012/03/eco-per...gn=scribol.com
Eco-Perch Tree House by Blue Forest | Inthralld

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― pg wodehouse

“At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies. ”
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- General George S. Patton, Jr
(addressing to his troops before Operation Overlord, June 5, 1944)

[Bong477]

Many people bike to work. I think it feasibility depends on what kind of job you have, what hours you work, where you live and work, and how badly you want to.

Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are nice neighborhoods but also the most expensive in the city, other options certainly exist. SH and to a lesser extent shadyside may strike you as fairly suburban compared to what you are used to.

Can find preschools cheaper (esp the Catholic ones) and more expensive but $800/month will be in the right ballpark for many of the city private preschools. There is a Spanish one La Escuelita Arcoiris, Spanish Immersion Preschool & Kinder

[Bong477]

Also meant to answer your initial question I don't think things are markedly different than on the first thread you linked and the information still applies. There are quite a few posts about preschools in the East End (Squirrel hill, shadyside, etc).

[Stijl Council]

I doubt you could get in at this point, but Pittsburgh Montessori might be an option. They have a full-day preschool program and I am pretty sure they offer aftercare (I know they do for kids in kindergarten and beyond). It's part of the public school system and is free.

Among folks I know the most popular preschool option for anyone needing the hours you're looking for is Carriage House by a long shot. It's very convenient to Chatham, too -- just a few blocks away. Shady Lane is another place I've heard good things about but less convenient to your work. I don't know about prices at either of those places.

I live in Squirrel Hill and there are lots of bike commuters. There are a number of rentals off of Wightman and that would be a really easy bike commute to Chatham -- a straight shot up Wightman to Fair Oaks or Wilkins.

[robrobrob]

Full day preschool with your hours is basically daycare. Pitt and CMU have nice programs. The Carriage House is really the premiere one in the city. Might be tough to find a spot there. I would bet that the Carriage House is more than 800/month.

Most day cares want your child picked up by 6 pm. No exceptions.

You could always price the preschool at the private schools. They might even have after school care. Nor sure about the cost.

The JCC also has after school care but I am not sure if you can do this preschool.

[mrmahann]

Thanks for your responses! We have a place thru AUG; its u$1000/month. If I can find another place in the next couple days, we'll go w/ that. But, she has a place; we can figure out a lesser-expensive acceptable option.

I work as a programmer, 9-5ish MON-FRI.

Now... a place to live. Heinz Apartments are an option, but we're looking at 1100+ a month for 6 months. Doable, but seems we'd be paying for alot of stuff we'd not use. Hints/help? Back to CL to look for sublets...

[OniNoKen]

We've been very happy with our day care on the North Shore, not far from Heinz apartments at all. They provide care from 6:30 to 18:30, but are around 1100.00 a month. It's been great for our son though. If you would like to know more, feel free to PM.