How do you decide on school?

PKP30

Here I come! Starting with my crazy questions! :P

DH and I are looking to buy a house in April. We dont know what will come first, the children or the house. We are starting our researches on what to look for when buying our new home. 

Knowing myself and  if it was up to whatever I want, I am so protective that I would simply put my kids in a bubble and keep them by my side 24 hours. We all know that aint gonna happen. So my H and I are talking about what to look for in a school. What is best for the kids? We are talking about keeping them in a catholic private school, but that wont leave much money left for other activities, we can move to a more suburbian  area which is far from our jobs, but the schools have better ratings, or we can stay in the city and keep them in a traditional public school. We are also considering home schooling (close to my bubble idea )

We are definitely getting an Au Pair that will help with the kids and teach them a second language besides other things.

For those who adopted already older kids, how did you decide what type of childcare and school you would have arranged for them? How did you decide it? What is your opinion about private schools versus Public schools? living right in the city versus living in the suburbs? 

PKP30

fredalina. And that is the thing with us. A house in a good school district is much more expensive so we would need to buy a smaller house... Sp much to consider I must say I feel overwhelmed... I just dont know how my kids will be and I dont know what to expect...

lovelyplanet

When we were deciding on locations of where to buy, one of our criteria was definitely a great school system. Yes you definitely pay more and property taxes can be ridiculous but to us it was worth it for 2 reasons. Obviously one reason is our future kid(s) but also for future property value. 

But I do think every situation is different and what was most important to us is financial security. I would never feel comfortable paying more than I can safely afford just because the town has a great school system. Just my $0.02. :-) 

4N6s

We are very lucky to live in a great community with excellent public schools. We are only foster parents, but it's nice having kids in the community and living by kids whom all attend the same school.