cranleigh48

Hi there,

Moving to Houston with my husband (both early 30's) and our children (4 and 2yrs) at the end of the year from Edinburgh. The Woodlands seems to be the front runner at the moment for location, safety and lifestyle (shops/green space). Does anyone have experience of the area?

-Looking for a good montessori or international elementary school.

-Suggestions for family friendly residential area near-ish to shops and nursery (Very reluctant to drive in the States but know ill have to). Our rental budget is about $3000 a month for a 3/4 bed house if poss.

-Is there much in terms of cafes, nightlife and kids activities? I know it'll be a slower pace of life to Edinburgh/London but wondering if I might be a bit bored and feel compelled to bake (Im no Delia!) and go to church (not religious).

Any info/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

ChocolateBabz

Hi cranleigh,

The best place for specific Houston info is www.city-data.com/forum/houston.

We moved from Aberdeen to Houston just over 2 years ago and have settled in Pearland, South of Houston. I know most people moving over immediately like the idea of Woodlands or Katy - both have established expat communities and are large suburbs of Houston itself.

We visited Woodlands before the relo and liked it very much. It is quite far North of Houston and the commute can be terrible but if you or hubby are working there it is a good choice. They are quite a self-contained Master Planned Community and you probably wouldn't ever have to leave if you didn't want to. They do get a bit of a snobby/stepford reputation on city-data but I don't know as I don't live there. Check out HAR.com for rental prices.

International schools are British School of Houston, Awty and Village School (there may be others but I haven't heard of them) but I wouldn't write off the idea of a good local school - we have been very happy with our local schools.

I was panicking about the driving as well but I promise you if you can drive in the UK you can drive over here - I never thought I would hear myself say that!

Good luck with the move and if I can help with other questions let me know!

cranleigh48

Thanks for your response. Really helpful.

Not sure how Ill fare with the Stepford wives (!) but as my hubby will be flying lots The Woodlands seems to be in the right area for the commute to the airport.

Re: Schools. Do you know where I can find HMI type reports for the local schools if they have them?

Also, do you have experience of hiring babysitters/nannies in Houston.

Thanks again.

Bill_S

For school ratings try greatschools.org. But I daresay that Americans are much less obsessed about getting young children into the "right" school than British parents seem to be. I lived in Houston for a while and had co-workers who lived in the Woodlands. They had no complaints about the regular public (i.e. state) schools there.

As for babysitters, nannies and the like, I hope you speak Spanish

cranleigh48

Erm, nope to the spanish. Would that be a problem? Sorry if Im sounding a bit niave. Thanks.

ChocolateBabz

Yep if hubby is working near the airport or constantly flying out of IAH the Woodlands probably won't be bad but still be prepared for it to be busy during rush hours.

Can't help with nannies/babysitters - 2 years in and I still haven't been brave enough to use a babysitter plus the local babysitters are 13 - 15 and my dude (almost 12) says he is not having someone looking after him who is only a year or so older than him. Luckily we have good friends who will look after him if necessary.

ukintexas

Don't believe a word of it - they just lock him in cupboards whilst they go out - terrible I say