It's been a dream of mine and my husband's for many years. I am convinced it is a wonderful way to raise your family. We opted to buy a smaller home and are getting ready to place it in the vacation rental market, and use it as much as possible. We have three kids, one in middle school, so we continue to hesitate. In my research (which is a lot of question asking, and some research on schools)is the following:
There are no district lines for the schools, you can choose your elementary school. The Seaside Neighborhood School is on a lottery system. The new facility for Emerald Coast Middle just opened, and supposedly has a state of the art science department. I get mixed reviews on SWHS, but understand it is improving all the time, with more AP classes being offered as well as extra-curricular. You can also choose to go to the High School just over in Bay County for more variety in course work and athletics. North West Florida University has a satellite campus adjacent to SWHS, eligible students can attend classes at the college for FREE!! while finishing their degree at the high school.
Eating out is EXPENSIVE... it's not vacation anymore so a $9.00 hot dog doesn't usually cut it. You learn to eat in more.
Things become dramatically different for your family in a good way. The kids don't really have all the extra-curricular things to take up their Saturday's. Instead, you spend them as a family attending local festivals, art shows, and outdoor concerts.
You get LOTS of company for the first few summers.
Can somebody please hand me flip-flops and sunglasses? I'm ready to head down NOW!!!
There are no district lines for the schools, you can choose your elementary school. The Seaside Neighborhood School is on a lottery system. The new facility for Emerald Coast Middle just opened, and supposedly has a state of the art science department. I get mixed reviews on SWHS, but understand it is improving all the time, with more AP classes being offered as well as extra-curricular. You can also choose to go to the High School just over in Bay County for more variety in course work and athletics. North West Florida University has a satellite campus adjacent to SWHS, eligible students can attend classes at the college for FREE!! while finishing their degree at the high school.
Eating out is EXPENSIVE... it's not vacation anymore so a $9.00 hot dog doesn't usually cut it. You learn to eat in more.
Things become dramatically different for your family in a good way. The kids don't really have all the extra-curricular things to take up their Saturday's. Instead, you spend them as a family attending local festivals, art shows, and outdoor concerts.
You get LOTS of company for the first few summers.
Can somebody please hand me flip-flops and sunglasses? I'm ready to head down NOW!!!