Move during kids high school years?

[dblackga]

Is it ideal? No. Is it going to improve the quality of your family's life? Yes? Then everyone - kids AND adults -- is just going to have to suck it up. Don't get me wrong -- there's a lot to be said for stability. But sometimes, you have to weigh stability with what's right for the entire family. What year will your daughter be? My answer might be different between being a senior and being a freshman/sophomore.

The flip side is illustrated by a friend of our daughter's. Her parents moved the same week she entered college. They had stayed to let her graduate, even though the two younger kids were in 8th and 10th grade. She went on to college -- the family moved to a new state -- and she has commented that she doesn't like going to her "parent's house" (notice that it's not "home") because she doesn't know anyone there, and it's just visiting a strange town every couple of months. The rest of the family acclimatized to the area, learned how to live there, made friends . . . she feels that she's been the odd man out since the move, since she hasn't been around to share in it. So there's pros and cons both ways.

On the other hand, we knew a guy whose family made so many corporate moves that his mother sent him a change of address card during his college freshman year -- the kind people used to send to magazines when they moved, before the internet. :-) He said it gave him a weird feeling to see a new address half-way across the country, his mother hadn't even mentioned it . . . that, to me, is a bit extreme. :-)

Do check out the schools in your new home carefully, though, and make sure credits carryover. The only thing worse than moving during high school is moving and having to retake classes or -- horrors! -- take summer school to catch up!