Crystal Lake area & toddlers? (Chicago, Peoria: appointed, daycare, house)

[runnings]

We are thinking of relocating to Crystal Lake area. Does anyone have young children in the area that are involved in the classes held by the park and rec? I see on there website they have a ton of youth activities. We have an almost 1 year old so we would like her to get involved in a few classes. Do you have any problems with getting into the classes you want? Have you been happy with the teachers/classes?

We will also be looking at Algonquin and Lake in the Hills areas, but I have not found any child friendly classes.

We are currently in Minnesota and they offer Early Childhood classes through the school district- Does Illinois offer this for infants/toddlers? I havent done a lot of searches, but so far have not found any such classes offered by the school district.

Thanks for any comments.

[pw72]

All the areas mentioned above are family-friendly. No problems. In fact, McHenry County in general feels more "Waterloo, Iowa" or "Peoria" than Chicago. However, the Chicagoland growth is changing things quite fast.

[xxJoyfulxx]

I lived in Crystal Lake for a few years with a toddler and there were a LOT of activities for him through the park district - as well as his daycare group. At age 1.5 my son started going to Sunshine Early Learning Center - which is a daycare/preschool - in Lake in the Hills (which took me less than 10 minutes to get to from Crystal Lake) and they do a LOT of fun stuff which I was very happy with. It is owned by a mother and her husband (who have 6 children of their own!) and they have several licensed teachers and helpers.
My son is now 3.5 and we just moved from Crystal Lake to Belvidere in July, but we come to CL each day for work. He STILL goes to Sunshine every day and has been in their preschool program since he was 2. He LOVES it there and asks to go even on the weekends. They always do fun crafts and games, songs, etc. I couldn't be happier with the owners/providers or the experience he is getting. They have even potty trained him!
You can find lots of great groups and centers like Sunshine all over the Crystal Lake/Lake in the Hills/McHenry area. It is very family-friendly, especially for very young children.
Oh, my son was also involved in some other early learning programs held in the Schaumburg area when he was about 1-2 because he was a premie and it was important to me that he catch up developmentally-wise.
So there are many programs/activities in this area and you won't be disappointed. If you'd like any more specific references or ideas, feel free to private message me.

Good luck!
Joy

[runnings]

Thanks for the input. How do you like Belvediere? We also thought about that area - seems like you get more for your money. How long is your commute to CL everyday?

Thanks also for the input comparing to Waterloo IA - I actually grew up in NE IA so I can relate to that.

[xxJoyfulxx]

My family and I love Belvidere - we have a nice house that is way larger than we could've afforded in CL or anywhere east of where we are. Belvidere has decent schools (especially good elementary schools) and it's a very small town feel to it. I grew up in a small farm town so it is a similar feel compared to living in Crystal Lake or any other burbs.
Our commute is 30 - 45 minutes, depending on traffic and the time of day. Between 7:30 - 8a and 5:00 - 5:30 seems to be the worst traffic to and from CL. And on Fridays I've had major traffic getting out of CL at 4:30 - 5:30p. Even when traffic is at its worst, it takes 45 minutes to get to Belvidere.

Belvidere is still building - there are a couple new developments still going up and shopping coming into the town also. Which helps, being that there is currently only a Wal-Mart here for shopping (including groceries!). I think there is another small grocery store downtown, but I haven't been there.
There are a lot of people moving out this direction and the Metra rail (I believe the same line from Woodstock) will be out here in about 4-5 yrs. It has already been approved, it's just going to take a while to build. So it will definitely get built up from that.

But as long as people don't mind the more quiet, less-commerce type lifestyle, Belvidere is a great place in my opinion. I haven't been disappointed whatsoever.