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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
relocating from CA to Houston Area
We have gotten the official word that we will be moving from the San Francisco Bay Area to Houston, sometime after the first of the year ( hoping to at least finish out school year here) I previously posted asking for some general information and the areas that keep coming up are Katy, Woodlands & Sugarland. I have a 6 yr old in Catholic school & and 4 year old who will be entering K in fall 2012. I would like to keep the kids in Catholic school, can anyone recommend catholic schools in those areas? I gotten mixed reviews on the public schools....
Any other information on areas to live in would be great too!!! thanks!!!!
Re: relocating from CA to Houston Area
I don't know much about Sugarland and Katy, so I'll comment on The Woodlands.
In the Woodlands, the big Catholic Church/School is St Anthony of Padua.
As far as the public schools, they are all very good in The Woodlands. The biggest difference you'll find is in the school size in the various Elementary schools. The "older" parts of the woodlands (where most of the older resales are) will have a smaller population of students than in the newer areas (a lot more new construction). But, all the areas are wonderful. I'd guess that coming from the Bay Area, you might have a bigger budget to play with in terms of a home so you might be able to find you a good size resale in the older (more centrally located) parts of The Woodlands.
I forget where you said work would be located as that obviously plays a big factor into which of those burbs you'll want to focus on.
What part of town will you and/or your husband be working in?
The Woodlands is great, but it is really far (IMO) if you work at Galleria/Greenway, etc. I guess it's not horrible to get downtown, but it would be too much for me.
Katy and Sugar Land are both great options.
This exactly
Houston has a lot of great suburbs, but there are wonderful places to live in town as well... depending on your housing budget.
If you have an idea where you/DH will be commuting, we can help you understand proximity to neighborhoods : ) Houston is very spread out and very flat.
There are a zillion Catholic Schools in Houston. My cousin is in Sugar Land and her kids go to St. Laurence., she loves it.
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He could also be in the Energy Corridor, which is in West Houston. If that is the case, W. Houston/Katy is where I'd look if I were you.
So IMO, that's the "worst" one because it doesnt give a clear answer between Sugarland, Katy, The Woodlands
. Ha. I guess its a good problem to have.
We love The Woodlands so here is my input on the Woodlands (in addition to what I said before)
If you look in The Woodlands proper, try to stay east of Gosling Rd, or at least dont get too far west of it. I just say this because the further west you get, the longer it is to get to the highway, the longer and more annoying the commute. And you are closer to the "heart" of The Woodlands... mall, restaurants, etc. I say this from personal experience based on our last house and sort of even this house. You won't find much New Construction but you'll find fantastic homes, fixer uppers and already remodeled. You'll find anything from 30yo to 10 yo homes in the "older" parts of the Woodlands.
If you want New Construction, you might have to go further West in The Woodlands which means you are further from the "heart" of the Woodlands.
Another option is a neighborhood called Spring Trails, just off the Hardy Toll Road. Super easy commute to downtown (30ish minutes) and about 15-20 minutes from The Woodlands. There is still new construction going on here as well as resales of under 10 year old homes.
All that said, most of us will recommend renting somewhere for the first 6months to really get yourself familiar with the area and make a good decision for your family. Houston is so spread out and big, I can't imagine having to pick which part of town to live in without experiencing them a little.
Oh, and The Woodlands has really great bus service to Downtown. It really wasnt that bad of a commute to me when I was doing it. Especially compared to my commute now.
I'm pretty sure your husband will be working for the same company my husband works for. We live closer in because we're just not suburb people. St. Rose of Lima is the Catholic Church by us and St. Pius X is a co-ed catholic high school very close. http://www.stpiusx.org/ Not sure about middle schools.
For Catholic schools in Sugar Land, St Laurence is a great school that goes up to the 8th grade but it's very hard to get into.
For Catholic HS, they are very limited. St Agnes, Strake Jesuit, and St Thomas. I know people who drive out of the way for over an hour to drop their kids off at high school.
If you're going to stay "inside the loop" to be closer to downtown, then St Anne has an excellent catholic school but the wait list is long.
St. Theresa is also inside the loop... my entire family went there (including me for kindergarten). It's on the um, East? side of Memorial Park.
Is Duchesne Academy a Catholic School? They turn out some absolutely incredible kids.
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Yes, Duchesne is an all girls' Pre-K - 12. I have a good friend who teaches there, and she really loves it.
I have a cousin attending St. Pius X, and my aunt has nothing but great things to say about it.
ETA: My other young cousin is at St. Jerome, in Spring Branch. It is Pre-k through 8.
This, exactly. I live in Sugar Land and we'll consider sending kids to St Laurence. My nephew is in Kinder at St Anne and loves it.
My DH is a Strake alum so I imagine our kids will likely be St Agnes/Strake attendees. There's also St Thomas (all boys), St Pius (co-ed), Duchesne (all girls) for high school options.
The most popular middle school feeders that I can think of are St Michael, in the Galleria area, and St Cecilia, in the Memorial area.
You might consider the Memorial area, too. It's "outside the loop" without being a true suburb. Very family friendly.
Here's more on Catholic schools in the Diocese: http://www.archgh.org/Find-a-school/
Good luck!
Texas is just too confusing for me. There are fabulous schools that don't have the highest (exemplary) rating, and so so schools that do. There are a gajillion factors, that maybe the teachers can help you with. A large part of it is test scores, but then there are all sorts of other factors that go along with it.
There is a list of top schools here, but I couldn't tell you how they came up with it.
http://schools.cfisd.net/cycreek/docs/children_at_risk_rankings2010.pdf
If I were to choose between two areas of Houston with the offerings of good public and private schools it would be Memorial or Bellaire. Both areas also offer a decent commute to downtown vs. further out in the suburbs. (20 mins vs. 45-1hr). I know Memorial is a really nice area. Living in Bellaire I can say the highlight of the neighborhood is it is very family oriented (not to say that Memorial isn't). Drive down Newcastle any day of the week and you will see what I mean; family events, several parks, and a nature center that hosts children's events all of the time. Good luck!