ECFE in a different city (St. Paul: homes, neighborhoods, living in)

[1stpontiac]

I know several of you on here are big proponents of ECFE. Have any of you gone to ECFE in a different city than where you actually reside? My wife and I are interested in moving from the north suburbs to St. Paul in the next couple years, and I tossed out the idea that maybe we should sign up for a class in St Paul, as a way to get a feel for people around that area, and get some more idea for where we might and might not want to live.

Does anyone know if they frown on "outsiders" coming to a different city's classes?

On a related note, I looked at St. Paul's class offerings and it seems like they offer one, very general class per age group. My local ECFE has a bunch of themed classes, such as outdoor exploring, buildings and crafts, sports play, meetings with dad, and so on. Was I missing something, or are my local options just larger than usual?

[golfgal]

We had some people in our ECFE from other towns way back when we were in ECFE. The "locals" have priority and not all ECFE programs allow out of area people so it is hit or miss if you get into the out of town programs. We didn't have themed classes, just general classes and each class they did something different with the kids.

[uptown_urbanist]

I haven't, but I believe that a few of the parents in our ECFE classes were from outside of our district.

Another suggestion to get to know parents in St. Paul: I know there is an active St. Paul parents meetup group with lots of playdates, etc. You did not have to be living in St. Paul to join, although of course most of the events were in St. Paul homes or playgrounds, etc. It would be a nice way to meet St. Paul parents and get a sense for the different neighborhoods.

[1stpontiac]

Thanks to you both. I should point my wife towards the meetup dates, she'd probably enjoy that, and she takes our daughter to Como almost weekly, anyways.