Because you have children in multiple age groups and you want to stay close to Chicago and you are looking for a great school in a safe neighborhood, I would look at Oak Park/River Forest. On public transportation it is only 30 minutes from the business dirtict of Chicago, by car it is only 15 minutes as there is a major highway that will get you there. This does not include rush hour traffic as that exist no matter where you live. I live there and it is a great community. Very diverse in ethnic and financial background. Craigslist is a great website to find housing. Narrow your search to Chicago west suburbs. The grammar schools and the high school is amazing. I was considering Evanston, but I found Oak Park was more family oriented and children focused. Be careful when moving to any suburban school, as you can not live on the "outskirts" and still attend. You must live within the district. Most suburban schools have maps that show in detail what they consider their strict borders. Some schools have been known to even make a visit to the given address to make sure that the family lives within the district. I am not making this up. To be legitimate, you must show proof of residency like a rental agreement, an electric bill, the mortgage papers or a water bill. The suburban schools usually have a list that helps as a guide for items you must present before registering your child for school. I am not trying to discourage, because it is actually pretty easy. Oak Park/River Forest High School has foreign exchange students and a club that helps them adjust to America. There is a place for everyone at the high school, and the classes are very challenging. The list of sports, clubs, and extra curricular activities is quite impressive. There is a massive amount of support from the parents and the community. Good luck.

Definately look into private schools, my children ,all three were in public schools and the teachers are over worked, and understaffed besides underpaid. My 14 and 12 year olds are going to Grace Lutheran School, they have "shared classes for grades "to teach in but the change in my childrens grades are unreal !!! When they were in the public school near by , they had no extra help and fell behind in class,having to go to summer school every year. Look into private they are worth it,I'm a single mom ,it takes alot of money but well worth it !!! Good Luck !!

I attended the University of Chicago many years ago. At that time the surrounding neighborhood was called Hyde Park/Woodlawn. It was great back then but I don't really know what it's like now. An upscale suburb called Oak Park, west of Chicago is nice. When I visit Chicago now I tend to gravitate to the "near North Side" north of the Chcago River and bordered on the east by Lake Michigan. There are a lot of things to do there for families such as the Lincoln Park Zoo and the surrounding park itself and the Navy Pier among others. I don't know about the quality of the public schools in that area, but there are a lot of private schools there. Good Luck.

Hi there- relocating to a new area is really difficult, but there is a great website with very comprehensive guides to education, dining/entertainment, and family (as well as other topics) in the North Shore Area. Check out:
www.makeitbetter.net/

Good luck with your move!

Welcome, and thanks to drjohnson for pointing me to this discussion. I think she's already given you some excellent suggestions, and I'm willing to try to give you additional information if you've got specific questions.

I've lived in the Chicago area my entire life. Since you've visited previously, you might already know that it's quite diverse and wide-spread. It can take more than an hour to drive from one end of the city to the other, and that's not even including the suburbs. The Metra train, which drjohnson mentioned earlier, is a very good option for most people who commute from various suburbs into the downtown center of Chicago. You will definitely want to look at the map of where it operates before deciding which suburb to live in. metrarail.com/System_map/index.html
Housing costs can vary greatly...

I actually grew up and attended a parochial school on the south side of the city itself, but now I live in a suburb northwest of the city, about 20 minutes from O'Hare International airport. My brother-in-law's family lives on the north side of the City of Chicago, and his children attend a very prestigious public Magnet School. I have friends in Naperville, as well as many other suburbs, but most have children that are teens, and so they may not be as "up" on elementary schools.

If you don't mind my asking, how long do you expect to stay on assignment in the States? The reason I ask is because public elementary schools in a given neighborhood can differ quite a bit from high schools (9th-12th grades) that serve a wider area. I would imagine if your daughter is almost 12, she would be entering 6th or 7th grade in autumn, which is probably "Middle School" in most public school communities. If she attended a private school, they might go all the way from Kindergarten to 8th grade, so one advantage is that your children might all be able to attend the same school.) I guess without knowing a bit more about your situation, it's hard to give you specifics, but if you have other questions, please let us know.

It sounds like Oak Park or Evanston might be good choices for you. They are both older suburbs immediately over the Chicago border. Both have trendy shops and restaurants. both have hospitals, Evanston has two and Oak Park has one. They are all major hospitals. Both have schools that are pretty good if your kids are normal learners, but not so great if they have learning disabilities. Both have huge high schools that produce amazing academic stars. Both communities are quite diverse with many immigrants and many minorities.
Evanston is just to the north along the shore of Lake Michigan. So it has several beaches and summer camps that offer sailing lessons. It is also home to Northwestern University which has it’s good and bad points. On the plus side, there are many university students and faculty in town. On the con side is the continual disputes between the city and the school over taxes and funding.

Oak Park is immediately west of Chicago. It is the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright studio and home as well as Unity Temple.

Both towns have relatively good public transportation. Chicago is rather vertical, so Oak Park is somewhat closer to “the loop”. It probably takes about 30 minutes on the “L”, or elevated public transit system. It is also divided by a major expressway that leads directly into the city. It also has commuter railroad service.

Evanston is a bit further from downtown and probably takes more like an hour on the L. It also has commuter rail service downtown. But it doesn’t have a major expressway. You have to drive a while to get to either of the two options.

Both cities have a wide range of housing stock, ranging from mansions to small apartments. Oak Park is probably a bit cheaper. For some reason, it doesn’t seem to have as many houses for rent right now, so I searched on 3+ bedrooms below. You should be able to get an idea.
www.oak-park.us/

www.cityofevanston.org/

www.google.com/base/s2?q=&hl=en&gl=us&sa=X&oi=gb_refinement&ct=title&a_n0=housing&a_y0=9&a_o0=0&a_n1=Location&a_y1=6&a_v1=oak+park&a_o1=0&a_n2=Listing+type&a_y2=1&a_v2=for+rent&a_o2=0#ajax%3Fa_n0%3Dhousing%26a_y0%3D9%26start%3D0%26q%3D%26scoring%3D%26%26a_n1%3Dlisting%2Btype%26a_y1%3D1%26a_o1%3D0%26a_v1%3Dfor%20rent%26a_n3%3Dprice%26a_y3%3D8%26a_o3%3D5%26a_n4%3Dproperty%2Btype%26a_y4%3D1%26a_o4%3D5%26a_n5%3Dbedrooms%26a_y5%3D2%26a_o5%3D2%26a_v5%3D3_%26a_f5%3D3%26a_n6%3Dbathrooms%26a_y6%3D3%26a_o6%3D5%26a_n2%3Dlocation%26a_y2%3D6%26a_o2%3D0%26a_v2%3Doak%2520park%26a_t2%3D-1%26%26lnk%3Drefine-5%26gdci%3Dtrue%26hl%3Den%26gl%3Dus%26view%3DMap


www.google.com/base/s2?q=&hl=en&gl=us&sa=X&oi=gb_refinement&ct=title&a_n0=housing&a_y0=9&a_o0=0&a_n1=Location&a_y1=6&a_v1=evanston&a_o1=0&a_n2=Listing+type&a_y2=1&a_v2=for+rent&a_o2=0

If Oak Park & Evanston don’t work out, here are some other options:
To the west, you might try Brookfield, Riverside, North Riverside, or Elmwood Park for older near-in suburbs. Not as good transportation though. If you want to compromise with Naperville, you could go somewhere in the middle like Downers Grove. But that’s still pretty far out, just not as far as Naperville. But still a nice town with some charming housing.

Too the north, you could go to Skokie which is next door to Evanston. It’s not as charming, but the schools may be easer to deal with and it’s cheaper. Glenview is a bit farther out but it has lots of great amenities.

Or you could go northwest to Park Ridge. Also an older suburb with a nice town feel.

Thanks very much for your advice. We have heard Naperville is nice as that's where many colleagues live and send their children to school, but we are not sure about commuting to Downtown Chicago. We are looking for a family orientated place, lots of local amenities, good schooling for- Elementary, Middle and High and we also need a good hospital, as our son suffers from asthma and allergies. Semi urban sounds similar to our current lifestyle, local shops, easy access to the city, restaurants, cinema's etc. How far from Downtown are Evanston and Oak Park? In terms of budget, it will be rental accommodation to begin with, this being at least a 4 bedroomed detached house with gardens. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

I live in the northern suburbs. A lot depends on your budget and lifestyle.

There are lovely, old and gracious suburbs that are semi-urban in feel like Evanston to the north and Oak Park to the west. Both of these towns tend to attract people with lots of education and liberal politics. When you go a bit further out in either direction, like River Forest or Wheaton to the west, or Wilmette and Winnetka to the north, you will find a very high income demographic with very expensive real estate. but the schools also will have higher budgets. The towns I've mentioned are also very accessible to downtown Chicago. Evanston and Oak Park are also served by Chicago trains and buses.

When you go even further out, like Naperville, Barrington or Northbrook, you can still get down town by commuter train, but they are much newer and more suburban in feel. These three are kind of pricey, but there are many more. Chicago's big.

Then there's the option of staying in the city itself. The school system is much more complicated however. Some public schools are very good, but you have to be very careful of attendance areas before you buy a house. There are magnet schools but they depend on a lottery system. and then there are private and parochial schools which can give you anything you want. There's even a British school that meets European curriculum requirements. Within the city are very trendy locations like Lincoln Park or Hyde Park, and other very middle class, almost suburban areas like Beverly. If you're interested, I could give you more detailed info.

The south side of the Chicago region also has a lot of variety, but north-siders like me tend not to know very much about them.

If you can give me some idea of what atmosphere you want and what your priorities are, I can give you more helpful info.

Thanks for the heads up about the schools, I will check these out.

Thumbs up for Naperville! I moved there with my family when I was only 4 and moved away after living in the area for 33 years. (Yes, I still miss it!) It is only an hour to Chicago by Metra, and it is very family oriented. The Naperville public schools whether they be in Will Co. or DuPage Co. are all highly rated. There are also several excellent private schools (including Sts. Peter and Paul or St. Joan of Arc for elementary and Benet Academy for high school) in Naperville and the surrounding communities.

Thanks a lot, I will check it out !