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I moved my children starting 2nd and 5th grade 4 years ago. It was a significant cross country move and we knew no one. We thought about it and did the following:
- Had them finish the school year - my spouse stayed behind with them;
- had a huge going away party for all their friends and our family;
- Memorial day weekend had them come up a few days prior and tour their new schools ( we toured 2 schools for each of them so that they could choose which they liked better and would find a home in the respective school district)
- Moved them the weekend after school ended.
-Enrolled them in the summer program run by the school system
They made friends; were accustomed to the schools and had a really smooth transition.
We moved mid-year because we had no choice. My daughter was in 2nd grade and had some trouble because the schools had focused on different things...her old school focused on reading, the new one wanted them to be able to do 100 math problems in 2 minutes. She broke her arm at school after she'd been there a month and that just made the school year more difficult for her.
Wow, these are some great, thoughtful responses!! I can see it is not going to be a clear cut answer. I appreciate everyone's responses and sharing their experiences! And it is so helpful to see all the different perspectives. And that's exactly what I was hoping for - to see a myriad of different views/angles/opinions so I can make the most educated decision for our family.
I think there have been good explanations of pros/cons of both. My only advice is, if you're going to move, just do it. My parents moved when I was a sophomore in high school, in December.
HORRIBLE.
I had to wait until mid-January to start school and went to a weird alternative school in the meantime and I was just never really "in" with people because they'd been friends since elementary and junior high school. To this day, my close friends are the ones in my hometown vs the people I graduated high school with.
When I was a kid, my family moved in February of my 5th grade year. It was not a positive experience for me at all. I really would try hard to avoid moving schools mid-year if that came up for me. I am hoping to sell my house and move to another in the next town over if I can, but the timing won't matter in my case because my kids would stay at the same school either way, as long as I do it while they are still in elementary school.
A few years ago we moved mid-year. We didn't plan on it. At first we thought we'd move the kids at summer break. But it was only November when I started my new job. The expense of maintaining two homes was going to be a deal breaker. So we decided to move them at winter break. But then the emotional expense of maintaining two homes proved way more horrible than we'd thought. I don't know if it only being 70 miles apart made it easier or harder on us. Those Sunday nights were rough and it didn't help that I'd have to be at work at 4 a.m. so I'd have to leave my wife and kids in enough time to drive more than an hour, wind down and get at least a half good nights sleep before waking up for work.
So what started out as a planned summer move that turned into a move at Christmas break turned into a move over Thanksgiving Weekend. And it was wonderful. Breaking the family up even for a few months was rough. So my only advice would be to move the whole family at one time if you can, no matter when that may be.
It's interesting that adults who moved their families mid year seem to think it wasn't such a big deal. But the people who were children during mid year moves remember it being horrible.
Honestly I never shared with my parents how horrible our mid year move was for me, they had enough going on.
It's interesting that adults who moved their families mid year seem to think it wasn't such a big deal. But the people who were children during mid year moves remember it being horrible.
Honestly I never shared with my parents how horrible our mid year move was for me, they had enough going on.
Just a thought.
I think what the OP should take away from this are the suggestions on how to ease the move, regardless of the time of year. If you can enroll your kids in summer activities in the new town, then that would be ideal. In our case, everything started weeks before we arrived. Moving during the school year was greatly eased by the school assigning each of my 3 a "buddy". There didn't seem to be any angst at all involved in not being there for the first day, if anything, people realized they were new and went out of their way to welcome them.
I think what the OP should take away from this are the suggestions on how to ease the move, regardless of the time of year. If you can enroll your kids in summer activities in the new town, then that would be ideal. In our case, everything started weeks before we arrived. Moving during the school year was greatly eased by the school assigning each of my 3 a "buddy". There didn't seem to be any angst at all involved in not being there for the first day, if anything, people realized they were new and went out of their way to welcome them.
That was the same experience I had. My new teacher had me sit with the smart girls who he had told to show me around and get me settled and we ended up being really good friends.
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