My husband wants to move us to an island

Hopefully she will see this and answer you. She seems to know a lot of what you're asking. She just did it.
RL

Hello Ready to Relax,

My husband and I moved to St. Thomas last year with our three kids. I started out trying to homeschool them which became too much of a challenge. I have a Kindergartener and 1st grader as well as keeping up with a toddler. I checked out some of the private schools. There were many I liked, however because of expense we decided to send the kids to public school. I figured that if the public schools were behind - I had all the homeschool materials and I could supplement their learning. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of the curriculum. My daughter was learning to read in Kindergarten and my son was learning to write sentences in 1st grade. They both had homework to help get them caught up each night and by the end of the year they were both making good grades.

I really have nothing but good things to say about the public elementary schools. The public junior high and high schools by reputation has some major needs and we will decide whether or not to send our kids to public when they go into 6th grade. I am hopeful that I will be pleasantly surprised there too. It depends on the communities' want of better schools and the government's actions.

As far as adjusting, my husband and kids adjusted to living here right away. It was harder for me. I didn't make friends right off, I didn't understand how things worked, I didn't know where to shop for groceries, etc. It was actually a bit depressing and frustrating at first. More frustrating because I didn't understand why I was depressed! This beautiful island is fabulous - don't get me wrong - it just seems to affect the women more than the men for some reason. I had never left the midwest til now, so not having traveled was part of it. My little world suddenly got big so to speak. It also depends on your level of income. The island has everything you need, but not everything you want and unless you have the money to ship it in, you go without. So you learn to live with less which in my opinion is a good thing. All in all, I love living here now, and am pretty satisfied. I am still adjusting, but my daily routine isn't as difficult.

I don't know how much relaxing you can get with four boys, but life is slower paced here in good and bad ways. Things you need and want don't happen as quickly as you may like, but you also learn to just relax and not worry about it so much either. I tend to think we added a few years onto our life by not stressing so much. 🙂

I wish you luck in following your dreams, it is warm here year around, which is the my favorite thing and the view can't be beat.

Teresa

Teresa,

Thank you for your information. I didn't even know that public schools would be an option for my 4 year old if we moved to St Thomas. Are the public schools similar to the mainland? Such as, different schools in certain areas may be better than others? If so, are what areas are more desirable than others? Any other information you can provide would be appreciated.

I have to say this is my main area of concern about moving. If it was just my husband and me...no big deal. But, I want my son to receive a good education. I also, don't mind supplementing it with additional information if needed. Heck...you have to do that some state side schools.

Natalie,

My kids are in Peace Corps Elementary and it is a newer built school on the North side in Mandahl Estate. I have heard from many people that Sibliy School (near Mountaintop?) is also a favorite among mainlanders. I don't know of a 'bad' elementary school on island, but I personally don't care for one of the junior high schools.

As far as being like mainland schools - no. They are different in a million ways, but many teachers are dedicated even with low pay and in some ways they are ahead of mainland schools. One way is that they are teaching the kids from 4 years to recognize and read words. They have the kids write a ton and they have quite a bit of homework, but for my kids that worked out great. It really launched them into learning to read. For Kindergarten, the cutoff for turning 5 is Dec. 30th. So many 4 year olds are starting Kindergarten. Anyway, I encourage parents to check out the public schools for themselves. There may be things you don't like and things you do. It is very subjective to what you expected. They have PTA and other thing that they encourage parents to be involved.

The island is small (STT) something like 31 square miles. There are some areas that are depressed financially and others that have million dollar homes. But these areas are hard to define. They do try to get your kids enrolled in a school near you, but it isn't necessarily dependent on where you live. Did that make sense? 🙂 Well I could talk all day about this, but hopefully it gives you an idea that you really need to see for yourself to understand. 🙂 Good luck and check out all the schools before deciding!

Teresa

Teresa,

Thank you for the information, it is very helpful. I will be sure to put checking out the schools on my list of things to do.

Natalie,

Your welcome. I reread my post and that was so hard to understand! I did want to clarify that they try to enroll your child in a public school close to where you live, but if the school is full they will look at other schools. That is why my kids were enrolled in a school on the North side while we were living in a home on the South side. Good luck.

Teresa