Redwood shores is surrounded by Slough. Not real bay. Too small to be considered a full city.
Are you in Roy Cloud district or another neighborhood?
John Gill Elementary
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My fiancee is obsessed with San Mateo Park - he loves the trees, walkability/bikeability to downtown Burlingame and SM, unique homes on big lots, better neighborhood feel / less pretentious/isolated than Hillsborough. I grew up in a mid-peninsula neighborhood very close by and this might be coming a little too full circle (+close to the parents) for me! but can see the appeal, maybe in a few years if I get tired of city living…
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What about schools? The only reason why I didn’t buy in San Mateo is because of the schools there.
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We find schools SM are quite good (some excellent, in particular Baywood, Highland Elementary), and will likely only continue to improve as more techies settle in the area. There are also several well-regarded magnet elementary schools, including an interesting mandarin immersion option.
For sure it is not as stratospheric high test-scoring / or with as many uber-competitive (asian) families as in Palo Alto, Cupertino, Lynbrook etc. areas, but we think this is actually a plus - prefer my future kids in a more relaxed and diverse learning environment that gives the kiddos a balanced life, exposure to different sorts of people and room to explore interests outside of class. Both me and my fiancee went to good-but-not-top public schools at similar level to San Mateo schools, had academically successful yet mentally healthy and balanced childhoods, ended up at HYPSM for college - hoping to replicate this experience! Many friends who were probably at similar levels of innate intelligence/diligence as me but went to Gunn / Saratoga etc. and burned out, gave up on activities, or otherwise couldn’t stand out in their environments, ended up at middling UCs (of course some also went to top colleges, and all are generally doing great now). Also think parenting is a huge part of it and look forward to supplementing classroom learning with educational travel, arts, exposure to life experiences as a family.
We are actually concerned this type of school experience is getting increasingly harder to find in the Bay Area, and think Marin County schools are very appealing for this reason, but commute is too far. Other suggestions on the peninsula? my high school for example used to be like this but is now much more of a stresscooker environment, different vibe than 15 years ago.
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While I don’t have kids, I find your approach spot on. Who hasn’t heard stories of kids so stressed out that they end it all? Is it really worth it? Besides, going to great schools is not the only way to success in life. I know plenty of folks who went either JC then State schools who came out fine and are doing well. One just needs to work hard, regardless of the field and school situation. Opportunities typically present themselves and as long as you are willing to sweat a little and put in the effort there is no reason why success can not still be achieved.
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Too many tiger parents here that’s why.
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Yeah. I’m really grateful for our son’s private school. They don’t want that stress in the school–they just want kids who love to learn.
Terri,
Curious what school? Sounds like you really like it.
Will PM you.