Hi friends,
You were all sooooo very helpful to me when I was brand new to Chicago 2.5 years ago and was looking for an area of the city to live (renting). I was enormously grateful for the caring responses from a group of stangers! At that time, you steered me to a wonderful spot in between Lincoln Square and Andersonville. I can walk to both and it's been divine.
A couple of years on, our jobs have stablized and led us to look into purchasing a home. Our family has expanded and after processing our future moves long and hard, we've decided to move to the north shore. We're focusing our home search on Evanston/Wilmette/Winnetka. So far, of the three places I really like Wilmette, and am looking for some assistance from those of you who live there/grew up in the area.
It looks like all of the elem schools in Wilmette are 'winners', is that correct, or is one more favorable, etc.?
Are there places I should focus on/stay away from? I gather some streets are busier than others (Wilmette/Lake), but I don't exactly know the best districts to hone in on. Thoughts?
Even though we're focusing on Wilmette, the higher diversity of Evanston appeals to me.
I have a 6 year old, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I work from home and my husband works at the Merch Mart and from our current home he takes the Metra, but could take the purple line OR Metra.
Thanks in advance for your input and any feedback you care to provide on life in Chicago's north shore!
Skokie! Great schools, incredible diversity, great city services, awesome library with great kids programming, convenient access to the highway, Metra and CTA - with a new CTA station opening any day. Downtown Skokie is up and coming with some great new ethnic restaurants that recently opened. Taxes and homes are more affordable.
What an exciting time! I live in very east Glenview but my children are in the New Trier school district. Romona Elementary, Highcrest Middle, Wilmette Jr High & New Trier High schools are what I am familiar with. I have friends whose children went to Harper, MacKenzie & Central. I truly cannot say anything bad about any of them. I will say that Romona & Harper parents seem to be the most passionate about their children's experience from what I've noticed.
We love the area and pretty much do everything in Wilmette. Yes the diversity is broader in Evanston but you will have diversity in Wilmette. The schools are wonderful about educating the whole child and teaching acceptance. My children have developed wonderful compassion from assisting and making friends with peers who might be physically or emotionally challenged.
Feel free to message me with more specific questions. And good luck with your decision!
Great choices! You might also consider Glenview as well if you are thinking about schools districts. We have friends who just moved from Andersonville to Wilmette, for school reasons, and are very happy. However, if diversity is appealing, Wilmette & Winnetka are NOT known for being diverse. Our Wilmette friends tell us that they very much feel that there is a pecking order in terms of which elementary schools are "best" from other parents (they are all great btw). Harper seems to be #1 at the moment and parents will let you know it! :) As for Evanston, it's also a great option but beware that the taxes are high because Northwestern does not have to pay them- everyone else makes up the difference. Parents seem to flock toward Willard, Lincolnwood, Kingsley and Orington elementary schools. I personally love Evanston and the families that we've met from there seem to be really great (friendly, smart & down to earth).
We picked Evanston for our Post-baby move out of the city. We had originally been looking at both Evanston and Wilmette, but after renting for a year in north Evanston (right on the Evanston/Wilmette border), we ended up purchasing in South Evanston. I personally found a complete lack of what i consider to be diversity in North Evanston and Wilmette, and even though the schools in Wilmette were highly rated, we felt it was not a justifiable trade off for the lack of diversity.
We have been in our home now for almost two years, and I get happier every day we are here that we did not go further north. We had a lot of people try to scare us out of South Evanston, and I am so so glad we did not listen to them! I have great neighbors, but do not in any way feel like we are playing keep up with the Joneses, a common feeling I had further north.
I don't want to make it sound as if we met only horrible people in our time living further north. We met some great people. And I teach Pilates in Central Evanston, and I work with alot of women from all over the North Shore. They are all wonderful people individually, and I am grateful to know them. But there are different attitudes in different areas along the North Shore that I don't have an issue dealing with, as long as I don't have to be surrounded by it all the time. For my family, we felt as though we could be the most ourselves and help our children grow to be the best possible people they can be in South Evanston.
I think the most important thing is that you don't feel like you have to rush, and pay attention to your feelings and instincts about what you truly want in your home and neighborhood. I knew I had to tune out what everyone else's opinions of what I wanted were, and know that I was not making this decision for anyone else. So if that is Wilmette for you, that's great! If not, you will find where you are supposed to be. Good luck!
