[kidyankee764]

Good luck with your decision!

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by Rich Cabeza

If you move to Stratford be sure to eat at Paradise Pizza. Food's just like Paris.

Paris= French

Paradise= Greek

[parisbuckeye]

Originally Posted by seymourct

Not thinking there are any towns offering French in the primary grades. How important is that?
Seymour tried dropping French all together in favor of Chinese as the next global economic language. I think that Woodbridge is pushing Chinese too.

Not that important to have in the school. I found a place in New Have called 3 Aux Pommes that offers a number languages as extra-curricular for both children and adults. This is ideal because it allows him to keep up his speech for 1 hour per week, which is really all we were looking for.

It makes since in the US to introduce Spanish as early as possible and to offer Chinese as they get older.

Thanks!

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by parisbuckeye

I got to drive around all the areas that have been mentioned and enjoyed the drive. There are not too many places anymore where you can get a nice home that is on a nice piece of land. I was pleasantly surprised not to see all the cookie cutter neighborhoods. If there is a disadvantage, it is with kids and not having the luxury of the ability to let them go outside their door and play with a number of other kids that live next door, but this is really minor.

I really liked Cheshire and Oxford for the furthest away from Stratford. I also like Milford and Orange for the proximity to Stratford. Overall, it was a good trip and should be making our decision next week and are really excited about the area.

Good luck with your decision. Let us know if you have any other questions. Jay

PS - I did not think you were complaining, I was just confused. Again, good luck.

[S2000]

1. For those of you with children in Milford schools, what is it like on the ground? I understand the importance of test scores, but it is still a public school and we are not expecting the #1 school in the state. Our 1 child is 6 so will be attending elementary school. What is your thoughts on the teacher? Quality of education?
Milford school system is above average although they just redistricted the grade levels for the elementary schools meaning schools catering to k-2 and 3-5 and closed down another elementary school due to budgetary considerations. I have a 5 yr old that started kindergarten and didn't send him to public because the school that was a 5min walk away is now for 3-5 grades. We also had the opportunity to send him to a better school, he is attending St. Mary's School.

I did hear from many of the parents that stayed the public route and indicating that at first the transition was a little getting used to but they are now more than happy with the education their kids are getting.


2. Commuting to Stratford from other towns in the area with good schools and affordable within the above budget? Branford? Chershire?
As others indicated you can try Orange, Woodbridge, Trumbull especially if you want a more rural feel.

3. With this budget for a home, are there other locations that I may not be thinking of with good schools?
$350k will get you an average sized family house 3bed 2bath in any of the areas mentioned. Note these aren't brand new places and might require you to get your hands dirty.

4. Our 6 year old is now fluent in French and we would really like for him to keep this up, so are there foreign language programs in certain school districts for this age group or are there programs in the area that can offer after school programs?
Most likely have to either do private lessons or join networks of other french speaking families to keep it fresh in their minds. The school system doesn't introduce french till High School

[S2000]

Originally Posted by parisbuckeye

Yes, I currently live in Paris, but it can not be compared because I am living in Paris as an Expat so it does not qualify. I know it is very expensive in Paris and also New York City. I would just like to know what some of the biggest impacts to the cost of living when compared to a lower cost of living. I was there this weekend and in general (everyday living) did not seem so different.

Largest percentage of cost of living outside your mortgage will be:
1. Property Tax
2. Electric Utility Bill

Then your -
3. Grocery Bill
4. Gas Utility Bill

After that it will depend on your lifestyle.

[parisbuckeye]

Originally Posted by S2000

1. For those of you with children in Milford schools, what is it like on the ground? I understand the importance of test scores, but it is still a public school and we are not expecting the #1 school in the state. Our 1 child is 6 so will be attending elementary school. What is your thoughts on the teacher? Quality of education?
Milford school system is above average although they just redistricted the grade levels for the elementary schools meaning schools catering to k-2 and 3-5 and closed down another elementary school due to budgetary considerations. I have a 5 yr old that started kindergarten and didn't send him to public because the school that was a 5min walk away is now for 3-5 grades. We also had the opportunity to send him to a better school, he is attending St. Mary's School.

I did hear from many of the parents that stayed the public route and indicating that at first the transition was a little getting used to but they are now more than happy with the education their kids are getting.


2. Commuting to Stratford from other towns in the area with good schools and affordable within the above budget? Branford? Chershire?
As others indicated you can try Orange, Woodbridge, Trumbull especially if you want a more rural feel.

3. With this budget for a home, are there other locations that I may not be thinking of with good schools?
$350k will get you an average sized family house 3bed 2bath in any of the areas mentioned. Note these aren't brand new places and might require you to get your hands dirty.

4. Our 6 year old is now fluent in French and we would really like for him to keep this up, so are there foreign language programs in certain school districts for this age group or are there programs in the area that can offer after school programs?
Most likely have to either do private lessons or join networks of other french speaking families to keep it fresh in their minds. The school system doesn't introduce french till High School

S2000,

Thanks for the breakdown. This is really helpful along with the information regarding biggest costs outside of mortgage. This is what we figured. Each of the areas that others have mentioned all have their qualities. If the time comes, we just need to think about what is really important.

thanks again for all the information and feedback!

[Acipenser]

I'm coming late to this discussion, and you've received lots of excellent advice (plenty of nice towns to choose from), but I wouldn't let the possible Q bridge commute scare you out of looking north of New Haven in the Branford/Guilford area. I drive that several times a day, at all different times of the day and the traffic is really not that bad. If you've ever driven in real city traffic like Miami, San Francisco, NYC, Boston (or, say, Paris), the Q bridge is a joke. You get a couple miles of slow-down from exit 51 to 48 and that's it. The difference between no traffic and heavy rush hour is about 10 minutes and it's generally less than that. I personally find the merge from I91 south onto I95 south to be as bad or worse than the bridge. Anyway, that's been my experience, for what it's worth. Good luck with the job and move.

[diddlebug57]

Milford does not have higher test scores than stratford, they are actually worse, which to the earlier point does is suprising because Milford is more homogeneous than Stratford. I have to say the Stratford teachers work very hard and are super high quality, the district pays very well which may be part of it.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by diddlebug57

Milford does not have higher test scores than stratford, they are actually worse, which to the earlier point does is suprising because Milford is more homogeneous than Stratford. I have to say the Stratford teachers work very hard and are super high quality, the district pays very well which may be part of it.

According to Money Magazine, that is not correct.

% Above/Below State Average

Milford
33.5% Reading 21.3% Math

Stratford
15.6% Reading 12.4% Math