Ozzidoc

How'd S like it? M starts in a few weeks

scrubbedexpat097

Ah yes, BE babies all grown up now.

Good to see you my dear

SultanOfSwing

I know, right?

She seems to be enjoying it so far. It's only been two days of course, but she's adjusting to getting the bus and everything pretty well.

Ozzidoc

They grow up so fast!

Ozzidoc

The bus! So Brave!

SultanOfSwing

She was in a preschool/daycare that always did field trips throughout the year, so she got used to being ferried around in their van (it also now picks her up from school to take her back there for the afternoon), so I guess she sees the morning bus as an extension of that.

Ozzidoc

Cool

SultanOfSwing

Either way, she seems to like it well enough. I was ready to be asked to drive her in or something, but she asked if she could get the bus all the time because she thinks it's fun.

N1cky

I'm rather envious of all the postings about school buses on here, and on Facebook.

We don't have them here. I wonder what the criteria is for school bus service, a lot of the kids live within a 1 mile radius so have an easy walk/bike ride, but I see plenty of kids waiting for the normal bus too, and drop off/pick up is always packed with cars. We live around 2.5 miles away, across the freeway so I have to do drop off.

I dread to think what high school drop off will be like, we live 5 miles away, and the number of kids who live in a 1 mile radius drops significantly.

Do people with school buses travel further to school, or live in a less residential area?

SultanOfSwing

Sort of a no on both. We live in a mostly residential area, though the town centre is a mile away, and the elementary school is less than five miles away. I think the school districts here just offer buses no matter what, because if she really wanted to when she's in 5th grade, our daughter could get a bus (shared routes with the elementary school) to the middle school which is in town, about 3/4 mile from our house ...

kodokan

The school district we've just moved to offers bussing for kids who live more than a mile from the school; my daughter's middle school is 0.5 miles so she'll be walking, my son's high school is 1.7 miles but he has zero interest in catching a bus and will be either biking or walking.

Edit: we in fact chose the location of our house based on the kids' sole housing wishlist item, which was 'we don't want to have to catch a school bus'. Son was already biking almost 2 miles daily at his old school, so I drew a 2 mile mental ring around the high school and we only looked there.

Back in AZ, the bussing rules were 1 mile for elementary (and maybe middle, we lived right next door so I never looked into it), and 2 miles for high school.

petitefrancaise

Hey N1cky, join the rest of the silicon valley ex-pats here in sunny Austin!

We live about 1 mile from MS and 3 from HS. Kids take the bus which gets them to school in about the same time as it takes me to drive it. Not too many kids bike to school as in our area it's very hilly and hot.

scrubbedexpat091

Watch out for the super lice, so far found in 25 states. Seems lice has started to become resistant to the most commonly used OTC treatments and harder to kill and get rid of.


Bus service here,

K-3rd grade 1.9 miles from the school.

4th to 12th 2.48 miles from the school.

Not all area's are served by a school bus though, so even if a kid lives further bus service may not be available.


I walked to elementary school as a kid, but middle and high school was the bus, we lived on the last stop, so quick to get to school (10-15 mins) but about an hour and a bit to get home..

scrubbedexpat099

We have 2 school age children and one goes locally but we hae a school bus stop.

Bob

Where we used to live, school bus cost you $400 a year.

Where we are now, you've got to be over a mile for the bus up to first grade, it's 1.5 miles for second grade and goes up a little more each couple of years. Seems most kids don't qualify for the middle school and possibly about half for the high school. The thresholds are lower than the state requirements...but they're measured as the crow flies so we don't qualify but it's not a bad walk in spring/autumn, bit sweaty in summer and nearly hazardous during winter.

Car drop off gets silly busy in winter and it's silly busy at the middle and high school to the point there has been a EPA complaint