

Ask HN: Best Places to Raise Kids? - yef

Not your usual HN topic, but given http://ycombinator.com/ycca.html I thought it would be apropos for the moment to get the HN take, outside of just comparing Cambridge and Palo Alto.<p>Meta: what factors do you take into account? Safety, schools, cost of living, nearness to family, etc?
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tokenadult
Anywhere with a fuss-free homeschooling statute.

As the children grow older, it's a good idea to look for a place with strong
advanced curricula for secondary school students, such as UMTYMP

<http://www.math.umn.edu/itcep/umtymp/>

and PSEO

<http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=797>

in Minnesota, the PSEO clones Running Start

<http://www.k12.wa.us/runningstart/default.aspx>

in Washington State, Youth Options

<http://dpi.wi.gov/youthoptions/youthop1.html>

in Wisconsin, or other similarly named programs in a few other states.
Especially cool is to have an explicit high school for the gifted such as
Montgomery Blair

<http://www.mbhs.edu/>

in Maryland or Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

<http://www.tjhsst.edu/>

in Virginia or one of the several state "governor's schools" for highly gifted
learners. Some families move to Reno, Nevada for the Davidson Academy of
Nevada

<http://www.davidsonacademy.unr.edu/>

but so far I haven't tried it.

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brandonkm
It really depends on the part of the country you're in (or interested in
moving to). I grew up in North Carolina where lots of families move to raise
kids. Growing up, I saw growth of epic proportions. Families would migrate in
droves to the triangle area from places like Ohio, Massachusetts, and New
Jersey (this is still going on and the whole region is having some pretty
serious growth problems). From what I gathered back then, and looking back on
it now, I would say that good schools, good climate, nice people, safe area,
reasonable cost of living, good colleges in state, and a nice outdoor
environment are all paramount. These are mostly the reasons that people move
to areas like where I grew up ( Cary, North Carolina).

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iigs
Near family is my wife's primary deciding factor.

Near a lot of opportunity is my primary deciding factor. I grew up essentially
on a farm in a small enough town that we had no (and they still have no)
stoplight. I'm very thankful for what I was given, and I take pride in my blue
collar education/skills, but I was the only computer geek in my school, and
while we were only a few minutes from a city of ~500k, I never built a social
circle of people who shared my hobbies. I'd like my children to have the
opportunity to experience a lot of cultures and be able to seek out situations
that will allow them to excel at whatever skills they have.

Fortunately my wife's family is in a big city, so we lucked out. :)

