Need schools, family suburb Lake County (Waukegan, Highland Park: house, transfer, theater)

[Hepmac]

I'm looking to move my family to Lake County and am interested in recommendations. Schools are essential, since I have two kids in elementary and one in middle school. I would love a community with arts programs for the kids (preferably in the schools, too). As well, I hope to find a school district with strong special education services (speech and gifted).

From a community perspective, I would like a walkable downtown with restaurants and shops. We need to be within a half hour drive to Waukegan, and hope to find a 4 bedroom house between $500-$800K.

Any suggestions?

[Paige65]

Sounds like Highland Park (North Shore District 112) might be a good fit for you, except they do not have a specific district wide gifted program. The district has pull out programs for students who are excelling in a particular subject, usually beginning in about 2nd grade. However, the district has many, many students that excel, and they have differentiated instruction for most subjects. If your child is out of this world "gifted" then it's not the right school district. If your child consistently scores in the top 95% or higher on standardized testing (Iowa Basics, MAP, ISAT, etc.), then he or she will have many peers at that same level and differentiated instruction for the most part. For example, in sixth grade, students test into lower track math, regular track math, advanced math, and pre-algebra. For English, there is a regular English program and something called Humanities, for accelerated students. However, the Humanities program is pretty small, and many students scoring very highly do not get in. It's based on 5th grade CoGat scores, MAP scores, and at least two blind essays. If you are transferring in, I believe you can request testing even if you are in 7th or 8th grade.

The arts have not been cut in Highland Park schools. Students in grade school take art and music at least twice per week and have the opportunity to play an orchestra instrument beginning in 4th grade and a band instrument beginning in 5th. Drama begins at the middle school level. The arts are well supported at the high school (District 113) with outstanding theatre, music, and fine arts departments. Every other year the high school holds a three day event called Focus on the Arts which brings in talented artists from all over the world. Music, visual arts, dance, creative writing, media, and theater are represented.

The special education services in Highland Park are very good. I can't speak specifically to speech therapy.

Highland Park has a great, walkable downtown.

Some other communities that you may want to explore are Libertyville, Deerfield, Lake Forest, and Lincolnshire. Deerfield and Lincolnshire don't really have walkable downtowns. All of the towns mentioned have well regarded school districts and you should be able to find something in your price range in any of these towns. You'll get less for your money in Lake Forest, and probably Highland Park, but still a nice 4 bedroom home in the $650-$800 range.

Good luck.

[sweetiejenn]

Originally Posted by Hepmac

I'm looking to move my family to Lake County and am interested in recommendations. Schools are essential, since I have two kids in elementary and one in middle school. I would love a community with arts programs for the kids (preferably in the schools, too). As well, I hope to find a school district with strong special education services (speech and gifted).

From a community perspective, I would like a walkable downtown with restaurants and shops. We need to be within a half hour drive to Waukegan, and hope to find a 4 bedroom house between $500-$800K.

Any suggestions?

I would recommend Libertyville. It's about 25-30 minutes from Waukegan and has a fabulous downtown area with lots of cute shops and places to eat. It's a very safe, desirable area, highly family-friendly, and has lots of community spirit. The school districts are also quite good. I would move to Libertyville in a heartbeat if we could afford it. You will have no problem finding a lovely home with that budget.

[cpm314]

I have to agree that Libertyville is your best choice (it actually was a year ago!). I have never lived in such a vibrate community before and they have such a strong emphasis on familys (top schools and sports programs).