Lot of Good Info (neighborhood, schools, living in)

[Mainland Farmer]

Glad I came across this forum. Had a job offer on Big Island that paid very well. My wife and I started to research moving from the mainland with 5 school age children. Needless to say, all the info I've read on here moving my family might have been a bad idea. Hopefully one day we can come visit and see Big Island as tourists. Great forum and great info!!

[hotzcatz]

It may or may not be a bad idea, a lot of the difficulties of living on the islands - especially Hawaii island - is finding employment. If you're willing to take charge of their education and just use the schools for the social aspects of their growth, then even poor schooling can be overcome.

If it were my family, I'd think about sending the possible employee person over to start the job now and let the other parent and the kids finish out their school year on the mainland. That would give them half a year to say goodbye to all their friends and get a lot of "wow, you're moving to Hawaii?" vibes. That should help offset the moving upset. Depending on where you're starting from, they will get more or less awe and amazement. You can also explain to them that this gives them a chance to be known by their best attributes when they get here, so if any of them are plagued by something stupid they did when much younger, it won't be known by their new friends.

Starting the job now and leaving the rest of the family on the mainland until summer also allows for you to find out if you're going to like the job and if it will work well for you. If you can take a year long sabbatical from where you work now, that would also cover your bases for going back to where you are, too.

But, it's still a big move and it would most likely be away from your relatives and support system, so that should be taken into consideration as well.

[Mainland Farmer]

The schooling was the scariest part. I would have loved the adventure though. I read a lot of posts where people burn out and leave the island and hard to make friends because so many people burn out. Beautiful place though.

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by Mainland Farmer

The schooling was the scariest part. I would have loved the adventure though. I read a lot of posts where people burn out and leave the island and hard to make friends because so many people burn out. Beautiful place though.

From my experience, in Hawai'i, if you get involved in the community, you will have no shortage of friends.
I had more friends after living here for 1 year than I had back in California after living in the same town/neighborhood for 15 years.