We are a family of 5 as well, and moved to the Cary/Apex area 12 months ago. I have a son in 10th grade, a daughter in 3rd, and a daughter in 5th grade.
We have a family of 7 on one side of us in our neighborhood (Glenrothes Cove in the Royal Senter Ridge neighborhood off Blaney Franks in unincorporated Wake County). I believe their 5 children attend a private Catholic school, and if you'd like I can put both of you in contact by email.
My wife is a former private school teacher and - prior to moving here - our kids attended a private school in Virginia. We put no small amount of effort toward touring schools prior to selecting a home. Ultimately, we opted for Wake County public schools and we've been pleased so far. Our elementary school is Yates Mill Pond; our high school is Middle Creek. Yates Mill Pond benefits in an unusual way from being positioned on a watershed; in this way it's growth is quite limited and "temporary" classrooms aren't allowed. Middle Creek H.S. was built on one of Cary's new parks and enjoys a very nice campus including:
- a golf course
- 4 baseball/softball fields (lighted) with restrooms
- 2 multi-purpose fields (lighted) with restrooms
- 8 tennis courts (lighted) with restrooms
- 2 Basketball Courts
- 18 Hole Disc Golf Course
- Community Center
Beyond the facilities, and more importantly, we've been very pleased with the community of teachers, parent involvement and performance of both schools. High school, where I think it's most important to stay in the loop, has been a very positive experience for us. We have a direct line of communication with our son's teachers and that's been very helpful. Also, Middle Creek H.S. teachers all use Blackboard online, and in addition they use the Wake County SPAN (student parent access network) so you can track your child's schoolwork completion and testing performance. The lag time is just 24 hours, so you can really help guide a child if they need some extra motivation (or a "Hey, did someone forget their French I homework?")
Living outside of Cary or Apex town limits may or may not increase your husband's commute, so that's an important issue. Another important issue to consider is property tax. Property taxes anywhere in the Raleigh area will seem cheap by comparison to SoCal, but keep in mind that property in unincorporated Wake County can have a much lower property tax cost.
To a large extent you can control whether or not you'll have all kids in a traditional calendar by the house you select. Some houses have a base elementary school that is Year-round, for example. Others have a base that is Traditional. I'm unaware of any high school with a year round schedule, so that is an issue. To that end, this link will be useful:
Determine School by Student Address
It will allow you to find out your schools by a home's address.
Depending on the house you select, reassignments may or may not be an issue. Within our particular neighborhood, I doubt strongly that we'd be subject to a re-assignment, given that we already pretty much attend our "community school" meaning, the school that is closest to our house. The shift with the new school board is to lean toward the neighborhood school concept, so as long as you select a home where the base schools are clearly the school closest to your home, then you should be fine. Your mileage may vary.
Hope this helps,
Sean
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