Considering moving to Amesbury from Boston, help?
Hi there!
For background: my husband and I are trying to find a town to live in that is near my mom by 20 minutes or less (ideally), and she lives in Exeter NH. We are moving from Brighton because once we have our second and probably last kid, we would Iike to be closer to help.
Right now I’m home with our toddler, and do telehealth as a therapist in the evenings. Husband works at GBH but only goes in twice a week, and then he takes care of our toddler in the evenings. It’s a grind but childcare is so expensive.
Anyway, I can’t get a gauge on the school system there. The Zillow ratings are not great (4/10 for elementary, 5 for middle, 6 for high school). I know these ratings are primarily based on standardized testing, so I’m taking it with a grain of salt. Plus, I went to Westford academy which is rated super highly but I feel is super high pressure/lots of affluent parents who can afford tutoring, etc.
Amesbury is out of our price range but thankfully will likely have some help from family, though not a ton. If we are going to move I want it to be somewhere that has a good school district, though it seems impossible to find a town with that where the houses don’t start at 650k….
So, I’m wanting to know more about the school system and people’s recent experience with it.
I know Amesbury has a cute downtown and a farm but I’m not sure what else.
Is it a good place to raise a family? After years in the city I’m looking forward to the quiet of the suburbs but I also really care about community, making mom friends, etc.
Also, don’t mention the awesome breweries, I’ve heard lol. My husband and I are sober so that doesn’t appeal to us unless they have good bar food I guess lol.
Thanks so much : )
And other suggestions for somewhere close to exeter that’s affordable-ish (under 600k?) that has a decent school system, I’m open to them. Doesn’t have to be Massachusetts.
Or, is the dream just impossible?