I moved to Alliston, ON just recently and my neighbour commutes to downtown Toronto everyday...she's looking for something closer.

She leaves home at 6:15am and gets home around 6:30pm... Not sure exactly what hours she works but her hubby said something about her commute being approx 2 hours each way!!!

I certainly think from my limited experience that if you are going to live anywhere north of Toronto you want to be right near a GO station to make it manageable...

Where was he commuting to? Georgetown has 5 or 6 trains to Union at each end of the working day, takes about an hour and ten minutes. Provided you live close to the station in Georgetown and work not too far from Union I would think that could work. Acton is also possible but only 2 trains at each end of the day and takes another 10-15 mins. 4bed detached in Georgetown for less than $400k could be tough, the one Siouxie linked to is a semi, its an option in Acton. Until you know where you are going to be working its almost impossible to make a decision about location, a visit to take a look around is a great idea though. I agree end of Jan beginning of Feb is usually the coldest. I, personally, find that the extremely hot and humid summers (this has not been one) are way worse than the winter. You can always put another layer on, there is a limit to how many you can take off.

There's never a limit to taking off clothes

I know it's not going to be mega cold, but it's the only time we could do as it's the easter holidays and we won't get one of those stupid school fines for taking a holiday in term time.

Oh yes, I had forgotten about that fine thing. There is none of that silliness here, as long as the kid keeps up with assignments they don't seem to care.

Is schooling better or worse than over here?

There are even more viewpoints on that than there are about where is a good place to live. Personally I prefer the system here and I definitely think that this system has worked well for my two sons.

I have two boys, they were 9 and 5 when we moved here. They are now 19 and 15. The 19 year old was a bit of a late developer, not really that interested in school when he was young. The system here is very (very) relaxed in the early years and then gets more intense when they hit high school at 14, and even then only their last two years are that stressful.

For a late developer, this was perfect. Already, in the UK, by the time we left the kids were being streamed, he was not getting into the top streams and I had heard that once you are determined to be 'not top stream material' it was tough to be promoted. The system here allowed him to be a kid, find out what subjects really interested him and then when he was old enough to motivate himself, work towards his goals.

People who don't like it here find the lower academic achievements of the younger kids compared to their British counterparts to be unnerving. And some have complained that their kids have been bored in class because the work has been less challenging in the lower grades.

So I guess it very much depends on the each individual child, and your faith in the system that it will all come good in the end. I have to admit that at about Grade 9 we did worry about the level of knowledge that was being taught in the school, as we couldn't see how they were going to teach them all they needed to know in just 4 years. But they managed it and now that the oldest one is out the other side, we are very comfortable with his level of knowledge and more importantly his work ethic.

That's interesting about late starters. First daughter is quite a slow starter bless her but she does try. Second daughter is very bright having only just turned 4. Worryingly bright as in how did something that smart come from me :rotfl:

It's such a hard decision to make. Whether to make the jump or not.

I think you have to pick and choose your schools carefully in Ontario to get the best one. You can compare on some website I can't remember the name of. google it!

Like the UK though you are going to have to pay to be in the catchment of a good school. They are definitely not all equal.

[QUOTE=Tirytory;11387448]I think you have to pick and choose your schools carefully in Ontario to get the best one. You can compare on some website I can't remember the name of. google it!

Fraser Institute?

This looks like what you want...

Compare academic rankings and ratings of Ontario schools

The Fraser Report Card is quite good for giving an indication of how well a school is performing, I find the stat that looks at the parents income and says whether the school is performing better or worse than would be expected based on that is really interesting. It is based on the premise that richer parents are expected to value education and have the resources for extra tuition etc. so you would expect good results from the school, and those results may not all be the school's doing. I was working with some people last month and the area that they were looking at had an average family income of $18,000 and the school was under performing, they decided to go elsewhere

Having said that for elementary schools, academic performance here is not so critical. It is more important that the child is comfortable in the environment and they have a positive experience. I think different schools suit different kids.

Any child happy in his/her environment will work better...

Union + 2 minutes. The problem was his need to catch the last train. It's not professional to say that you have to leave by a certain time to catch the train, if work needs doing you should stay and do the work. I replaced him with someone who lived locally and needed the money, there are always people who need the money.

Bradford?

N3005160, 436 BRITANNIA AVE, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ontario  L3Z1A7

In any of these places life will be dominated by the commute. If work is in Toronto, it's easier to live in Toronto.