Post #54410 by Humuhumu on Wed, Oct 8, 2003 8:13 PM

My input should be counted for nearly nil, as my experience with living in Hawaii comes from 25 years ago, on Oahu, from the point-of-view of a five-year-old. But I'll give it anyway.

When I was about your daughter's age, my parents did basically what you're considering -- they got the nutty idea that living in Hawaii would be Super Cool. And it was. It was the best place in the universe to be five years old.

However, a year later we were back in Seattle. They weren't fully prepared for the difference in the cost of living, and I still remember my parents scrounging for every last coin in the house to be able to afford to move back home -- they even went into my own piggy bank. It being the late 70s, my parents had a rather nice coke habit to support, which didn't help things.

Also, the schools were a little... weird. My parents pulled me out of the public school right away, they gave that about a week. They put me in a private school, where I was supposed to be in the first grade, but that wasn't a good fit either, until they bumped me up to the second grade. When I came back to the mainland a year later, I basically took second grade over again. I don't remember ever learning anything in school in Hawaii -- I do, however, have lots & lots of memories of hanging out at the beach collecting sea glass & bottlecaps and weaving palm fronds; our school took two field trips a week, almost always just to go hang out at the beach. I'm not sayin' it's bad, just perhaps not as stimulating as I could have used. But hey, this is one anecdote from 25 years ago, so who knows if it's any reflection at all on the current state of education in Hawaii. But you may want to look closely before you haul the little rugrat out there.

There you go! Almost useless input, that's what I'm good for.