Have to move! (Rockford, Aurora, Wheaton: house, catholic schools, college)

[vinmar4]

Hello,
Our family currently lives in the south suburbs steps away from Munter Indiana. We love it here as all our friends and family members live close by. We own a business close to Midway and now my husband is looking into opening another franchise in Glendale Heights on North ave. not too far from 355. I'm a nurse and also work.I need to be close to the expressways and have to have a couple of different options to get to them. I usually try to avoid the rush hour and try to get back home before rush hour starts again. Now, we stil have to kids at home, one that will go to middle school and the other one to HS or college depending on how soon we move since we still have to sell out home here. We are a Hispanic family and we are in our mid 40's, our kids currently go to private Catholic schools and we like our current town because of the family parades, gatherings with our friend and neighboors ( who are all caucasian). Our children also play club level soccer.
we like the towns of Wheaton and Glen Ellyn so far but feel that we need to see more of those two towns. I also like Homer Glen.
we would like a friendly and family oriented town with great schools ( in case we don't want to send to Catholic school anymore) tons of stuff to do for families and couples as well as good soccer teams.We will be looking for a house from 350-400.
Thanks for any inputs in advance

[ToriaT]

Wheaton and Glen Ellyn are both beautiful communities and are side by side each other. They have good schools and also have Catholic schools and several large Catholic congregations.

[vinmar4]

thanks,
yes, those are our first picks.
our life style is of work, soccer, Mass on Sundays, gatherings with friends and family and go out from time to time just us two or with friends to have dinners or to watch a bears game in a nice grill bar or so.
We also like to participate in church activities when we have time. My daughter wants to go to a public school for the first time, but to be honest I'm a little afraid just because she has always been in Catholic schools and she is so used to talking about her religion freely.
thanks again!

[TempesT68]

I agree I think both wheaton or glen ellyn would be a good choice. Wheaton more so, but both are pretty heavily religious towns that would have plenty of activities you are looking for.
Also it's common to see many kids go to the public highschools after going to catholic grade and middle schools. If you did keep going with catholic schools, wheaton's st francis is highly regarded. I don't believe glen ellyn has a catholic high school.

[cubssoxfan]

So why do you "have" to move if you really like where you live now? From I-294 and I-55, it is only another 25-35 minute drive to I-355 and North Av. Subtracting the 15 minutes it probably takes to get from 294 to the Midway area via surface streets and I don't see this as being a dramatically longer commute.

Of course if the commute from where you currently are to the Midway location has been a stress inducer, I understand the desire to live in between the 2 locations or closer to both. But it sounds like you really like where you currently live. How have the commutes been from where you currently are to the new location?

[vinmar4]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

So why do you "have" to move if you really like where you live now? From I-294 and I-55, it is only another 25-35 minute drive to I-355 and North Av. Subtracting the 15 minutes it probably takes to get from 294 to the Midway area via surface streets and I don't see this as being a dramatically longer commute.

Of course if the commute from where you currently are to the Midway location has been a stress inducer, I understand the desire to live in between the 2 locations or closer to both. But it sounds like you really like where you currently live. How have the commutes been from where you currently are to the new location?

for my job, I travel all over the place, from Kankakee to Rockford to Aurora and as far east as Valparaiso but like I said,most of the time is after and before rush hour. I'm used to it. Now, for my husband, he has to sometimes close the restaurant and by the time he gets home on the weekends when he works he gets here at 2 am. if gets very busy. He wants to live closer to this second one because we would be able to help him if he needs my son's help or mine to manage the place in an emergency if somebody calls in sick or if he has to go somewhere. Right now my son helps him but I have to go get him or take him. My son is 16 so he will start driving soon but we don't want him driving tht far if he needs him. If we are about 15-20 minutes away with no freeways that would be ideal. Righ now his partner lives close to midway so my husband doesn't worry that he is not close by this one.

[vinmar4]

Originally Posted by TempesT68

I agree I think both wheaton or glen ellyn would be a good choice. Wheaton more so, but both are pretty heavily religious towns that would have plenty of activities you are looking for.
Also it's common to see many kids go to the public highschools after going to catholic grade and middle schools. If you did keep going with catholic schools, wheaton's st francis is highly regarded. I don't believe glen ellyn has a catholic high school.

yes, I was thinking that she would probably finish middle school in a catholic one and then try the public HS. I was just reading that the North Wheaton HS woman soccer team are State champions

[cubssoxfan]

^^Based on that, Glen Ellyn.

[vinmar4]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

^^Based on that, Glen Ellyn.

thanks for your opinion