Move to Delaware?? (Claymont, Georgetown, Lewes: to rent, house, school districts) - (DE) - City-Data Forum

Commocean · 05-15-2008, 07:33 PM

Need some advice - - - We have 4 children 20, 14, 8 & 2 . . . We currently live in Southeast PA in a beautiful home (husband customized it), 4-bedroom, 4-bath, 1-acre property, above-ground pool, hot tub, etc. These are the good things . . . now the not-so-good . . . Our road has become very busy as it is now a "cut-through" to our local Walmart that was recently built. We live a across from a Chicken Farm with flies that make me CRAZY. Our taxes are around $5,000.00, terrible public school system. I currently homeschool my 14 & 8-year old. My husband has a disability and had to do an early retirement and I work from home for a company that I have been with for about 20 years. We spend alot of time at the beach (we have a camper in lower Delaware as well as a boat). We are talking about moving there since we already spend so much time there. We also believe it would be a huge finanical burden lifted from us compared to here. My daughter wants to start High School this fall. I cannot put her in the public school here and would have to either continue homeschooling or put her in the Catholic Highschool, other close to $6,000.00 on top of our taxes, etc. Our family for the most part is here inPA. We've lived in this house 15 years and its hard to think about walking away from all the work my husband has done here. How are the public schools in lower Delaware? We would be considering Indian River School District. Not sure if there is a Catholic school near. Is there a Homeschooling community there? How 'bout the extras like, Scouts, Youth Groups, etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks . . .

maryCh · 05-15-2008, 09:57 PM

I can't speak of the Indian River school district, as we targeted the Caesar Rodney district in Kent County when we moved to DE in Sept 2007. I will say, having been here for such a short time, we are VERY pleased that we moved to DE.

We too have 4 kids, the older 2 stayed behind in central NC (where we had lived for 15 years). That part has been a BIG adjustment, as they are 20 and 17; in college and high school respectively. We never got to the point of homeschooling, but it was a serious consideration back in NC... particularly for the younger 2 (ages 13 and 11). If you've read my other posts, our 13 yr old has autism; the MAIN reason we sought a change in our life at the time we did. Private school was not an option, with college tuition already on our plate.

We are coming up on our 1 year anniversary here, and played it safe and rented our home the first year. Our experience, both with the schools and outside of school, has been SO good, we have made an offer on a house and hope to close this summer. We purposely stayed in the same school district, and fully intend to stay here in DE.

We have made a few acquaintances in Sussex County... mostly through networking with parents of other children with autism. I would suggest you contact the district, arrange a meeting to discuss your children's current situation, and weigh the pros and cons. Obviously, one con would be moving away from family there in PA. I for one think it could very well be worth your while to check into it! As far as Scouts, Youth Groups, etc., we have never been busier with extra curricular activities than we have been since moving here. DE seems to be a very family friendly state, with loads of things going on all the time.

Hope this helps... from someone who was in your shoes not too long ago. I know this can't be an easy decision, but read up here on this forum, and come check things out!

Mary

movn2del · 05-16-2008, 06:42 AM

We are moving to Delaware and have school aged chidren. Before we decided on location, we checked out the schools on GreatSchools.net We also did a search on the internet of the School District to gain as much information as we could. Most school districts have their own website and other sites may come up as well. After that, we contacted the superintendent of the school district and also met with the principals and toured the schools. A lot of research was done by both myself and my husband but our children are worth it!

I hope this is helpful.

Good luck!

Commocean · 05-16-2008, 08:20 AM

Thank you so much for you post. I forgot to mention my post that like yours, my 20-year old does not want to move and would stay in PA. Although the house we are interested in has 5 bedrooms, I would really like him to come with us. As I type this we are getting ready to head down to Delaware and meet with the realtor and look at the house again and then hopefully make the decision to put ours on the market and get ready for the leap! I like your idea of contacting the school, etc. I think that will be something else I will do today. Thanks!

kramirez · 05-16-2008, 10:06 AM

I'm thinking about going to work at Claymont Steel in Claymont. If I do I'll be looking for a place to rent.I live in Dyersburg,TN right now.

movn2del · 05-16-2008, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commocean

Thank you so much for you post. I forgot to mention my post that like yours, my 20-year old does not want to move and would stay in PA. Although the house we are interested in has 5 bedrooms, I would really like him to come with us. As I type this we are getting ready to head down to Delaware and meet with the realtor and look at the house again and then hopefully make the decision to put ours on the market and get ready for the leap! I like your idea of contacting the school, etc. I think that will be something else I will do today. Thanks!

I wish you luck with the schools and resolving things with your son. Please post results for others and to let us know how you made out. Enjoy the trip to DE. I'm jealous. Wish I were going

Randi Smith · 05-20-2008, 06:44 PM

I have a friend who moved here a couple years ago with two teen daughters and they LOVED Cape Henlopen High School in Sussex Co. There aren't a lot of jobs here though and I have no idea what the homeschooling community is like. I doubt that it is very big. There is a Christian High School in Georgetown. I don't think there is a Catholic school yet but St. Jude's in Lewes just added a huge education center to their "campus". I'm not catholic so I don't know much about it.