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So my husband's new job in a town 6 hrs away starts in mid-October, and we are debating how to handle the move with a 5th grader.
Our last mid-year move was in kindergarten, so it wasn't a big deal - we just pulled him out mid semester and put him back into his new school two weeks later.
I'm thinking that won't work so well this go-round.
Advice please from those of you who have lived through this dilemma?!?!
We have to sell our current house on our own, so we will likely have a place to stay until the end of the semester (assuming it takes the predicted 4-6 months to sell). But then we would be divided as a family for 2 months, and searching for a new home and school will obviously be more challenging from 400 miles away.
And I'm afraid my sanity will be shaky managing on my own for that long with 2 kids and a dog, while showing the house and trying to keep working myself (sadly his company no longer does guaranteed buyouts, so there is just a *bit* of financial pressure on top of it all!).
Unfortunately Grandma and Grandpa are also 400 miles away, so no support available there unless we move in with them - and then he could be in 3 different schools in the same academic year. Not cool either.
He seems pretty impartial - he would like to move in with the grandparents, but I don't think he really understands what that would mean with the three schools. He's pretty ambivalent about school this year, because his best friend from last year moved to a new school over the summer. SO he's ready to move, and not too emotional about it. He will have friends that he misses, but his closest friend is already gone. Sad, but in a way that makes it easier for us.
I moved as a kid mid semester in 3rd grade. We moved during Christmas break. I do not recall it being a big deal. The new school was scary at first. Riding a bus to school was exciting and a bit weird. I made new friends in about three days. I forgot my old friends in a month.
We have moved once during a school year. For our older son (5th grade at the time) it was not a big deal, but for our younger son (2nd grade at the time) it turned out to be very hard for him. Really it was the complete opposite of what I thought was going to happen. I thought because our older son had friends and was gearing up for middle school and so on that he would have the harder time moving mid-year and younger brother would have an easier time with the move since he was so much younger and at that time still hadn't really formed a bond with any close friends yet, but that's not at all what happened. That experience really taught me that you never really know what is going to happen or how your kids are going to respond until you get there, or you are in the experience with them. There's just no telling a lot of the time.
It sounds like your son is ready to move, and he probably benefited by the experience of seeing his friend move away. I'd talk to your son more about it and have him help make the decision. There's nothing worse for kids than feeling like they have no voice during times like these. Their opinions and feelings matter almost more than the parents sometimes, kids don't like feeling powerless and like they have no control over their own lives. It's important for us as parents to remember that and really listen to them. If your son says he's fine with it, he's probably fine with it. If he wants to stay with grandparents, maybe that wouldn't be so bad? You could even homeschool during that short time period.
We chose to move mid-year once, so that our kids wouldn't get lost in the shuffle of a new school year.
The school was happy to pair them up with "buddies" for a couple of days, and they got a lot of attention because they were new faces.
I wouldn't worry about it too much at that age. It gets harder when you hit the high school grades.
I say take your clue from your son's response. If he's ready, do it.
I waited for my daughter to finish 5th grade and then switched schools for 6th. Here 6th grade starts middle school so all the kids change schools and everyone feels like the 'new kid'. There was only about 6 weeks left of the school year by the time I bought my new house so for 6 weeks I didn't want her trying to fit into the curriculum, learn new teacher styles, meet friends, adapt to new house in new area, etc. She had the summer to get acquainted with our house and neighborhood and to meet kids at the park, etc.
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