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Old 02-25-2015, 06:50 AM
 
61 posts, read 87,645 times
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Which would you choose, and why?

Work involves travel so being near the freeway is helpful. Young outgoing family, good affordable preschools and good public schools (that will continue to be good 10 years in the future!). We are semi-"crunchy" and want to be accepted in that even if the community isn't. We want to make good friends, have neighbors that we can invite over on a whim if we see them in the yard, and vis versa. Good church options, fixer upper $200-$250 with 1/4 acre or more. Small is fine, but some kind of downtown is preferable. Organic food option within 20 minutes/farmers markets, non-stuffy people. We have a high income for where we live now but like to live frugally (7 year old ford) vs our neighbors bmw. But we are totally accepted which makes it fine. So, we just don't like keeping up with the jones' stuff. Art appreciation would be a bonus.

Any other suggestions are welcome. We were considering st charles but now sure anymore.
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Old 02-25-2015, 07:09 AM
 
Location: Chicago
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Batavia. Its just cuter and closer to more entertainment options. St Charles is also a nice town, not sure why you wouldn't keep checking it out.
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Old 02-25-2015, 07:23 AM
 
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Thank you I just heard that St Charles can be a bit stuffy? We havnt visited anywhere yet so we will be exploring soon and it will help us understand. I think I lean more towards Batavia from what I hear and hubby would probably enjoy the more rural sycamore, and we both know how to compromise . St Charles would add more options in the mix which would be helpful
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Old 02-25-2015, 09:07 AM
 
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Default Agree that keeping St. Charles in the mix makes sense....

Not sure I would call Sycamore all that much more "rural" -- it has quite a few subdivisions and they mostly turned cornfields into tract homes. Not exactly the sorts of woodsy image that I think of for "rural"...

Batavia is decent option and should have some nice value priced choices. I would not put any stock in generalizations like "stuffy" -- that is ridiculous! A decent number of folks work at Fermi and tend to be very much college town people -- "crunchy" in your terms.

Things like art and music are gnerally more appreciated by parents in more affluent areas but for specifics you need to see what is going on NOW as many districts are facing tough choices...
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Old 02-25-2015, 09:12 AM
 
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What do you mean by facing tough choices?

I mean art appreciation as a community more than in schools I guess, I know that's being cut in many places. I'm an artist so it'd be nice to have a community where I can meet fellow creatives
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Old 02-25-2015, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Tri-Cities
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St. Charles isn't on a highway. Batavia all the way!
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Old 02-25-2015, 09:26 AM
 
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I've heard that St Charles is also a bit stuffy. Have you considered Elburn or Sugar Grove? They're smaller towns in between Batavia and Sycamore and have easy access to I-88. They are both part of the Kaneville School District which is better than Sycamore schools.
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Old 02-25-2015, 09:29 AM
 
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Thank you for the suggestions. For some reason I thought Sugar grove/Elburn schools weren't as good? I'm kinda overwhelmed by information and research so forgive me if I'm wrong , I'm happy to be corrected
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Old 02-25-2015, 11:21 AM
 
Location: Tri-Cities
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Batavia's schools are better than Kaneland's.

Batavia has a lovely arts scene with Water Street Studios, the Batavia Fine Arts Centre, etc. Definitely worth checking both of those out.
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Old 02-25-2015, 04:31 PM
 
Location: Chicago
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For art, there's also this out in the far west side of St. Charles: Fine Line Creative Arts Center | Providing year-around classes in Textiles, Ceramics, Metals, Glass, Painting, Papermaking and other Art Forms in St. Charles, Illinois. The Paramount Theater in Aurora does a Broadway series of plays that is wonderful: The Paramount Theatre - Aurora, IL. They recently did Mary Poppins which was spectacular. Next up is Les Miz.
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