Relocating to Warner, NH 2018

[bigbear99]

Looked at Greatschools.com. No methodology listed. Looked at schools in communities I know well, and can't see any pattern to their ratings, other than the standard sociodemographic patterns.

This is consistent with what I've read and seen - that school rankings tell you more about community income levels and parental education levels than they do about the schools itself.

Put another way, it's hard to tell if student performance (most rankings use it) is because of, or inspite of, the schools.

[supton]

I live next to Warner so I can't give too much about Warner, like exact crime rates. But the area seems low crime in general. Wouldn't call it cheap, as nothing is local. Well, you do have Market Basket in town, but you'll find yourself driving to Concord for most things. For myself, I drive to Manchester every day for work (50 miles, yikes) but OTOH it allows me to hit up various stores on the way home. I89 can be messy, but I find it's not bad from Warner down--it's going north that I think gets real bad. [Well, I find the bottom of 89 can be surprising, it can suddenly get slick; and of course, traffic slows down due to volume.]

TDS Telecom has been rolling out fiber. Which is good as I think the closest theater is Concord... we usually go to Hooksett for the cheaper theater. Honestly, we simply got out of the habit. [Not sure how available fiber is, once you start getting off the more beaten path.]

I'm not sure if I want to call it rural or not. Biggest distance between houses is maybe two miles? Hard to truly get lost. Very few farms, save for a few persons here and there doing small scale farming (land is too expensive). But all the towns are 2,000 persons and less. I don't think there's a traffic light in Warner for miles, save for three over in Bradford.

I've always lived in New England so I don't think anything of our attitudes. But I'm guessing you'd find us standoffish. As in, if I'm in line at the grocery store and someone were to say "hi" that I didn't recognize--I'd find it weird. Not that I'd tell them that, of course; but it's just not common. We tend to stick to ourselves as we go about our day. There are places to be social, and we'll be social there; and once friends we'll talk outside of those events. But in general, we tend to go about the day somewhat oblivious to the people around us.

I've heard good and bad about Kearsarge. From the kids (adults) who have gone there. If you live close enough by, and can afford to be involved with your kids schooling (perhaps single income), it probably is "good enough": you can be involved with their schooling and make up for any deficiencies. The schools are small, not huge campuses with thousands of kids.

Wife and I like it, though. Quiet life.

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I'm not sure what Missouri is like, I tend to think of Mass as being "south". We have long cold winters and aren't particularly religious. Drive lots, but our cars don't last long due to road salt. And we have state vehicle inspections to contend with (no check engine light allowed, no defects, etc). High property taxes, high house values. Some of us tend to drive like we're from Mass too (probably from driving in MA and having learned how to survive down there). Summers can be hot and sticky, with skeeters, black flies and ticks. I like to bicycle but our roads are hilly and often lack good shoulders.