[CJFlorida]

Wow, we must be a strange family. We truly don't worry a second over Florida schools. And yes, we did years up north too.

We don't worry about them because we study as a family every school night. We review what they learned and supplement it with other on topic courses we get from online schools.

I wish someone could explain to me why I have met 3 doctors in the past few years who grew up in the poorest ghettos and ended up MDs. And I have heard many of my northern friends grousing how their kids, who went to the finest northern schools, never amounted to much.

Folks, its the parents job, end of story. Turn off the TV, get off the cell phone, and take full responsibility for your kid's education.

Once again, doctors have come out of the ghettos and bums from the best schools...no excuses, educate your kids no matter what the local school situation is.

By the way, I have friends whose kids have graduated from public schools in Pt. St. Lucie, Ft. Myers, Naples, Sarasota, Ft. Pierce and Coral Springs. Every one of them is headed to solid 4 year colleges.

Advising the poster to stay in Long Island just because of schools is beyond ridiculous. With involved parents, many kids in Florida achieve great things, with the added benefits of tons of physical activity year round.

We love all the activities Florida allows our family to do. We all scuba, snorkel, play tennis and golf, beach walk, volleyball, inline skate and on and on. Our kids are accomplished junior tennis players and love the Florida lifestyle.

But since schools here are not that good, we should ignore all those pluses and move to better schools? Or just work harder on education in the home like we do. The answer is easy. They get all the Florida activities they cherish...and get a great education with our in home work.

OP, if you guys hate the cold and LI, move to Florida and enjoy life. Just stay on top of your kid's education and they will be just fine!!!

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by CJFlorida

Wow, we must be a strange family. We truly don't worry a second over Florida schools. And yes, we did years up north too.

We don't worry about them because we study as a family every school night. We review what they learned and supplement it with other on topic courses we get from online schools.

Just the fact that you feel you have to do this is exactly why I hate the FL schools. My children are children. They should be able to go to school, come home, do a reasonable amount of homework, and then be free to play, and explore as they choose. I should not have to supplement their education. I should just be a facilitator to help them learn more about things that interest them.

Our family time should be fun, not an opportunity for them to have the deficiencies of the school remediated.

We live here and have chosen to send the kids to private school. If we did not have the money to do that we would probably do as you do. But I feel that a child should be able to spend time doing things other than studying. My kids play football, lacrosse, roller hockey, and participate in wresting. They also all play at least one instrument (1 plays 3, another 2, the little one just 1). I feel these activities are important to the development of a person who has interests outside the academic world. If we were spending every second of our lives studying there would be little time left for pursuits such as these.

Nobody says that you cannot be successful if you attend school here in FL. The odds are lower here than in other places, but some people WILL be successful despite the less than ideal situation. There will also be lazy bums who were provided superior opportunities, but never took advantage of them. That doesn't negate that the opportunities were superior.

It is not just the job of the parents to educate the kids. There are some parents who are not capable (for various reasons) of providing kids with educational opportunities outside of school. Those kids deserve an opportunity for success just as much as kids who have able parents. The schools need to provide those kids with the opportunities they need to succeed. Not just a few of them, but ALL of them.

[HockeyMom72]

Originally Posted by CJFlorida

Wow, we must be a strange family. We truly don't worry a second over Florida schools. And yes, we did years up north too.

We don't worry about them because we study as a family every school night. We review what they learned and supplement it with other on topic courses we get from online schools.

I wish someone could explain to me why I have met 3 doctors in the past few years who grew up in the poorest ghettos and ended up MDs. And I have heard many of my northern friends grousing how their kids, who went to the finest northern schools, never amounted to much.

Folks, its the parents job, end of story. Turn off the TV, get off the cell phone, and take full responsibility for your kid's education.

Once again, doctors have come out of the ghettos and bums from the best schools...no excuses, educate your kids no matter what the local school situation is.

By the way, I have friends whose kids have graduated from public schools in Pt. St. Lucie, Ft. Myers, Naples, Sarasota, Ft. Pierce and Coral Springs. Every one of them is headed to solid 4 year colleges.

Advising the poster to stay in Long Island just because of schools is beyond ridiculous. With involved parents, many kids in Florida achieve great things, with the added benefits of tons of physical activity year round.

We love all the activities Florida allows our family to do. We all scuba, snorkel, play tennis and golf, beach walk, volleyball, inline skate and on and on. Our kids are accomplished junior tennis players and love the Florida lifestyle.

But since schools here are not that good, we should ignore all those pluses and move to better schools? Or just work harder on education in the home like we do. The answer is easy. They get all the Florida activities they cherish...and get a great education with our in home work.

OP, if you guys hate the cold and LI, move to Florida and enjoy life. Just stay on top of your kid's education and they will be just fine!!!

education. If you want beaches and sun, it can wait until your kids are grown up and on their own. RETIRE to Florida when you get OLD.

They can play all the sports they want up in the north too. My daughters played on travel teams in soccer, softball, field hockey, and ice hockey. They were not very good at basketball. We traveled all over the coastline. My younger daughter played travel ice hockey on both girls and boys teams. She has played with both a woman from the USA Olympic team (against) and an NHL player (with) when they were teenagers. She played on a women's college hockey team. Sports isn't just going to the beach. Soccer is played indoors in the winter too. If they like the beach and swimming, many of the HS have indoor pools and they have competitive swim teams also. They don't HAVE to sit and hibernate all winter. That is a MYTH. Mine played some kind of sports all year round the entire time they were in school. You would be very surprised how competitive youth sports are in the NE.

As another poster said, something is very, very wrong if you have to spend that many hours overseeing your kids education. The schools are not doing the job your tax dollars are paying them to do. I say this as both a parent of grown children and as an educational para of 10 years.

[headendtech]

thank you all that responded,ill have to think about it lots more..but im favoring staying where i am until atleast my girls get out of school which would be another 11 years..u see my wifes brother lives down there and loves it but he does not have any children and didnot really have a job up here...
maybe im afraid of loising my job here dont think it would l happen but if it ever did id have to leave...make any cense?its stress me out...

[daniellefort]

Originally Posted by headendtech

thank you all that responded,ill have to think about it lots more..but im favoring staying where i am until atleast my girls get out of school which would be another 11 years..u see my wifes brother lives down there and loves it but he does not have any children and didnot really have a job up here...
maybe im afraid of loising my job here dont think it would l happen but if it ever did id have to leave...make any cense?its stress me out...

In other words it sounds to me like your job up there takes all of your pay for the cost of your lifestyle and your afraid of not getting another job with similar pay up there but don't guarantee you'll find a similar paying job here right away.

[smb5575]

it depends what you do for work too. Down here many jobs don't pay much because why would they pay you when they can hire a "newcomer" to the country less to do the same job? The population down here is beyond diverse and there are many immigrants who sadly will be overworked and underpaid therefor taking away the deserved wages from the rest of us...so this is something to think about too.

[headendtech]

Danille you got it right ,the fear of losing my job here (may never happen) butt its a weight on my back uno??because if something happened here ,id have to leave.im in a really nice area where i am smiththown new york,maybe im in fear ((of what if?))?make any cence?and flordia looked good because i could sell my homem here and buy a house outright there....taking some of the weight off me...but then again id have to uproot my kids from here confusing huh...

[seeriously]

Originally Posted by CJFlorida

I wish someone could explain to me why I have met 3 doctors in the past few years who grew up in the poorest ghettos and ended up MDs. And I have heard many of my northern friends grousing how their kids, who went to the finest northern schools, never amounted to much.

A Florida doctor is a Florida doctor. When choosing a new doctor, I always look and see where they attended medical school. I never opt for the Florida doctor.

I have a friend in retail who says they always throw applications from Floridians away knowing they can get northerners with better work ethics. I'm not saying this is right. I'm just saying this is what's done.

[tallylady46]

Originally Posted by verobeach

A Florida doctor is a Florida doctor. When choosing a new doctor, I always look and see where they attended medical school. I never opt for the Florida doctor.

I have a friend in retail who says they always throw applications from Floridians away knowing they can get northerners with better work ethics. I'm not saying this is right. I'm just saying this is what's done.

Wow! What if they were born up north but attended Florida schools? My youngest daughter, who was born in New York, attended high school in Palm Coast (which btw, I think is better than the one she attended in NY). If she applied at your friend's retail shop, her application would be thrown out because she lives in Florida or attended Florida schools?

I work with many people from all over at my work, and believe me, I see bad work ethics from those originally born in northern states. The best workers, atleast at my work, are the two women who happen to be natives of Florida.

Native Floridians get a bad rap. Everyone assumes just because you live in Florida or have a Florida license plate, you must be from Florida. Some of nicest people I know down here are native Flordians.

[kmtjss]

If you have any doubts about moving here you should stay in NY. The Florida natives are decent people. I regret moving here now that I see whats going on. Taxes are higher here than they are in upstate NY. The weather is better here but the people are not as friendly as New Yorkers. You find out soon enough that no one is really from here. You have people from all over the states moving here looking for the promise land and they run into low paying jobs, high taxes and senior citizens that don't want to see kids in there development. Food cost more here than NY but Gas is cheaper here than there. People don't want to work here and it's tuff to find skilled labor. Everyone here seems to be running from something up north but won't tell you why. Yea, the beaches are nice but how much beach time do you really need in your life? I hate the winters too but if I had my choice I would have moved to the Carolinas. Better season change and the weather is so much better. The jobs pay better there and the housing cost is a lot better than Florida. I took a $40K cut a year only to move to an area where it cost more than NY does. Summers last about 6 months here and yes, it's hot. You stay in the A/C all summer instead of staying in all winter up there. Homes have gone down but are still way over what there worth. Work in Florida has really droped out and you see more moving trucks every day heading north on 75. For some they love it here and it's a matter of choice.
I live in Sarasota county and the schools are ok but you have a lot of confused kids that moved here from somewhere else that want to go back north to be with there friends. It's very stressfull for them down here and it shows.
Florida is for the retirees and thats the truth! They remind you every time you step out of your house. It's set up for them and I can't blame them for wanting to keep it that way.
If anyone wants to move here my advice is to only rent don't buy a home.
Good Luck with your choice!