many Questions ! and really need help.. (Savannah, Garden City: to rent, hotels, buying a house)

[We need help! :-)]

I´m new in that forum and have spend the last nights by reading almost everything posted about savannah, specially poller,RH and PW areas. But still got some questions... :-) we are a german family with 2 kids (4 & 3 years old) and have the opportunity to move savannah next spring. My husband will then be working at PW. The U.S. is actually known well to us, we´ve been there on many vacations and myself for Work´n´Travel before i got married. But Georgia is unknown to both of us.
We would like to live in areas like pooler, RH or PW...wich area has good schools? What is a preeschool? is it like a kindergarten or more like a school and by what age does preeschool starts? We are thinking about renting a nice 3bdr house for the beginning. is it possible to buy a house by not having a GC yet?

hmm... i actually have a thousand questions more.... :-) Does anyone has experiences about immigrating?
Can someone explain me the school system? Whats the difference between middle and high school?

Í´m thankfull for any advice, help and responce!!

[megasue]

Hi,

I dont really know much about Georgia, but do know a lot about Florida, and I know the school systems are the same.
Compulsory schooling in the US starts at 6 years, Pre school is any schooling before this age. Most schools have a Pre Kindergarten and Kindergarten class which is not compulsory but which most children go to. Same as a nursery and Reception class in the UK if you are familiar with that by any chance. Hence pre K would start at 4 yrs but you can get other child care facilities at an earlier age.
Elementary school is usually Kindergarten - Grade 5 (age 5 - age 11)
Middle school Grade 6 - Grade 8 (age 11 - 14)
High school Grade 9 - 12 (age 14 - 18)

Some schools can differ by a year or so. And you can get some elementary that go straight through to grade 8.
Sue

[Padgett2]

If your husband is going to be working in Port Wentworth ( I am assuming that's what you mean by PW) then there is no reason to think about Richmond Hill. The daily drive would be an aggrevation. Garden City is between Port Wentworth and Savannah. In fact, it's hard to tell where one starts and the other ends. I would think about Port Wentworth, then Garden City, then Savannah or Pooler. Schools are about the same. So much depends on the individual teacher rather than the entire school, that's it's difficult to say which would be the best.

The Kindergarten and some pre-school classes are funded by the Board of Education. Pre-school classes are in short supply due to a lack of space in established schools. Therefore, students are picked for the pre-school by a lottery system. Any child not picked, and that means a lot of them, usually goes to a private pre-school. There are many. Others simply stay home.

Generally speaking, pre-school gets the child used to doing things in groups, following directions, sitting quietly in a chair, listening to the teacher, and taking turns with others, even when they don't want to. It's a big thing for a lot of children. It's a social experience for a lot of them if they have not had many playmates. Very worth while.

They are also exposed to counting, colors, ABCs and other basic things that help start them off in Kindergarten. They don't have to go, but it certainly gets them prepared for the big step of REAL School

Renting until you get to know the area is a very good idea. Nothing is worse than buying a house in the wrong section of town.

[boilrmkr]

Pre-school here starts at age 4. Private schools have pre-schools but cost a lot of money. The public schools have free pre-school classes but you have to put your name in a lottery in the spring to get in. There are only 1 or 2 classrooms for pre-school in each school. I don't know if you work outside the home but if not you may want to consider White Bluff United Methodist Church pre-school. That is if you plan to live in the general Savannah area. I am not Methodist, and you don't have to be, and I sent my child there and couldn't have been happier. They are wonderful over there. I have heard that the best private schools in the area have said that the kindergarteners they get from White Bluff are very well prepared. It is a half day program 4 days a week. When my son went there 2 years ago it was @ $110.00/month.

As far as public schools go in Savannah, Georgetown is a great school and if you live in Georgetown the drive to PW won't be too bad. There are a lot of great magnet and special schools that are public in the area but almost all of them have a lottery to get in.

[Padgett2]

I had forgotten about the church sponsered pre-school programs. Quite a few of them are excellent. They are usually much less expensive than the ones connected with the private schools. If you decide to live on the West Side of the County (Port Wentworth, Garden City, etc.) White Bluff would be a little awkward to get to. The Jasper Springs Baptist Church in Garden City had a great one just a few years ago. I can't imagine that they would have stopped it. Hot meals, nap time, everything!!! Don't worry, you'll be able to find something suitable.

Once the child enters the regular class set up in kindergarten, he or she will go to the school that serves the area in which he lives. At the present time, there are school buses that pick up the children that live beyond one mile. This may change as gas is costing the Board of Education a ton of money that has to be taken from other programs.

[We need help! :-)]

Thanks Padgett2,
now i have a little overview about the school system... does anyone has experiences about living the pooler or gardencity area? is it a good choice?
and another ( very stupid) question... :-)
i heard that living in that area means u have to deal with, snakes, little alligators and ect. in your yard... i´m a bit worried about that :-) is it true that animals like that would be a daily matter????

[Padgett2]

No, animals like aligators could be a once in a LIFETIME happening.

We do have snakes. Mostly non-poisoness little garter snakes that eat bugs. We also have lizards, worms, bugs of all kinds, both flying and crawling, slugs, snails, roaches, turtles, and a million different kinds of birds that eat the lizards, worms, bug, slugs, snails, etc.

I have lived in Garden City. Not much going on there, but that might be changing. It's a quiet little town, most of the social life is centered around the various churches.

[mrsnespy]

I live in PW now and it has big plans to change quickly. We just got a super nice (although expensive) grocery store and another super nice (less expensive) store is in the works. There is also a Starbucks and some "high end retail" (no further details) on the way. Lots of new houses going up and now is a good time to buy since the housing market is needing buyers, but I cannot comment on if that is possible before getting a GC.

[bgnzsavnh]

Port Wentworth has 2 distinct residential areas 7 kilometers apart. The "core" city is near the port and industrial area. The homes there were built 40-60 years ago. The "New" residential areas are now being developed. The developments are Rice Hope and Rice Creek on GA 21 North of I-95 and Lakeshore and Newport on GA 30 West.

City of Port Wentworth, GA
Port Wentworth, "Savannah Starts Here" (broken link)
Savannah Hotels and Restaurants: Port Wentworth, Georgia
Port Wentworth Georgia Area Information Guide (http://www.portwentworthga.com/area-today.php - broken link)
http://www.thespiritnewspaper.com/2008/January/24th/1AStory.html (broken link)
Schools set events for speciality programs | SavannahNow.com
Letters to the editor | SavannahNow.com
Publix to open store at Rice Hope | SavannahNow.com

The education system is very different
There is no Gymnasium nor Realschule nor Hauptschule
But within each school are similar programs or "Magnets"
Some for advanced students and some trade programs
There are many opportunities.
We live in Port Wentworth but chose to send our younger children to Bloomingdale Elementary for its art programs. For Middle School our son goes to Derenne Honors Academy. And we have one child in Savannah Arts Academy
Savannah-Chatham County, Georgia Public Schools

There is also a ESOL Program
Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools (http://www.sccpss.com/District/Academic+Affairs/Curriculum+and+Instruction/ESOL+%28English+to+Speakers+of+Other+Languages%29/ESOL+Program.htm - broken link)

[We need help! :-)]

Thanks for all the responce! my husbands company invits us to come in winter to check out the area and look for nice homes to rent. The company is in P.W. so i thought we should check out most areas in a radius of maybe 20 miles. or would that be to far for the daily drives? i heard a lot good things about pooler but on the map it seems to be close to the airport? is it very noise?