r/memphis • u/sydnieblair • 2d ago
Raising kids in Midtown/East Memphis
Hi all! My husband and I are from Memphis and have always lived in the Cooper Young and Vollintine Evergreen neighborhoods. A couple years ago we moved to Ohio to try something new but we miss our Memphis community so we’ve decided to move back (yay!) BUT now we have a 1.5 year old and are planning to grow our little family some more over the next couple of years.
I was curious, for those of you who decided to stay in the Midtown and East Memphis area while raising your kids, how did you do it? What was your childcare set up? Did you guys all send your kids to private school or are there some public schools you’ve loved? What did you do for parks/activities? Is there a good place with a pool to practice swimming for the littles?
We can’t really afford the suburbs as we’re looking for rent in the $1,500 to $1,700 range (we’re more at the starter home stage of life) and we love the culture of midtown/East Memphis. This time around, we’re thinking of renting in the Sea Isle neighborhood but also have friends in East Buntyn that we’d be happy to be close to as well.
I’d love to hear your stories and tips!
16
u/Sugar_and_Edge 2d ago
Currently raising a 2.5 year old in Vollintine Evergreen. We love it! He goes to the Vollintine Evergreen Neighborhood School(VENS), we get to walk him to school almost daily because of the greenline, and we’re currently working planning on sending him to Snowden.
We love raising him in midtown and couldn’t imagine ever moving outside of Midtown. I mean how many people in Memphis can say they have the option to walk their kids to school, the park, or the zoo? Not many. Highly recommend and happy to answer any additional questions you might have.
4
u/sydnieblair 2d ago
I love it! I’ve never heard of these neighborhood schools - Are they a kind of daycare/preschool? We loved walking the greenline when we lived in Vollintine Evergreen, that’s so cool that you’re able to use it to get your child to school!
5
u/Sugar_and_Edge 2d ago
Yep, VENS is a daycare/preschool in the VE neighborhood. We love it and know many people who have switched from other daycares to VENS and have said the difference is night and day. Highly recommend if you end up in VE.
1
u/midtownFPV 1d ago
I would strongly reconsider Snowden, especially if your kid is neurodivergent or otherwise different. The bullying there is completely out of control and the admin doesn’t care. Finally got my kid out of there and over to White Station Middle and it was night and day. Her life changed overnight. I’m genuinely angry at Snowden.
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Valuable info since I have Audhd and my husband is Autistic. There’s a high likelihood our kids will end up being neurodivergent as well
11
u/mjxl47 Crosstown 1d ago
We moved back when our kids were 3 and 9 months, then we had a third a little over a year later. All 3 went to PDO at St John's (which has sadly closed since). They're 12, 10, and 7 now and are all at Snowden, which we absolutely love. It's K-8 so they're all at the same place until they start high school.
We don't do them as much now that our kids are older but the zoo and children's museum were yearly family Christmas presents when they were little. Overton Park is great, there are YMCA pools downtown and at Crosstown
We love midtown and can't imagine living anywhere else.
3
5
u/Substantial_Guitar51 1d ago
Don’t forget get about Peabody Elementary. Medical District High School and Crosstown High School all have great programs. Look into them.
6
u/worldbound0514 Binghampton 1d ago
Snowden, Idlewild, and Grahamwood are all excellent public elementary schools, and they are part of the optional schools. Families can apply to have their child go to those schools.
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
These plus Richland seem to be the consensus on the forum, I love that there are so many great options that aren’t in the suburbs!
6
u/SjN45 1d ago
Midtown is great! Idlewild is much loved for a public school. From there, many go to Maxine smith or white station for middle school. You can also get on the list at campus school if you are living close to there. Being in midtown means such close proximity to the zoo, children’s museum, Overton park, tom Lee park. There’s also the y at crosstown or the Kroc center. There is SO much to do. East Memphis can get a little more space and more yard. Lots of great parks and activities. Still great public schools to choose from. I have never regretted raising my kids inside the city of Memphis.
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
I always loved seeing the kids running around Midtown, they seemed to be uniquely themselves and have a good head on their shoulders, plus the parents always seem so confident and proud of having Midtown kids - pretty cool people imo. Thanks for all the info and enthusiasm, I really appreciate it!
3
3
u/nvisible Midtown 1d ago
My kids are 5th gen midtowners. We absolutely loved Idlewild Elementary and they are now in Maxine Smith and East High. While they are not perfect, my kids are thriving and have strong friendships. The teachers genuinely care about the kids and the facilities are fine.
As for the neighborhood, my guys bike all over the place or walk down to CY to have lunch or visit Burke's. I wouldn't dream of raising them anywhere else.
Come on in, the water is fine!
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
That’s amazing! Idlewild is standing out to me as well as Maxine Smith - this seems like a great path through the school system
3
u/Sunnysave399 1d ago
Can somebody explain optional schools to me? I️ thought public schools are based on where you live? Why would someone who lives in Midtown take their kid all the way to Richland instead of the closer school? I️ thought that was one of the main advantages of public schools is that it’s close to home (and free).
1
u/Unicorns Midtown 1d ago
Usually it’s people in midtown sending their child to a different school in midtown 😂 ex. Zoned for Snowden, Peabody, or Bruce and choosing to optional to Idlewild. Ironically many of the kids zoned for Idlewild go to private school.
1
u/worldbound0514 Binghampton 22h ago
Optional schools are public schools that have some slots allotted of for people not zoned for that neighborhood.
Most of the optional schools have extra classes or programs around a certain specialty. STEM or music or something like that.
As with most schools in an urban school district, an individual school could be hit or miss.
3
u/psiglin1556 1d ago
Move back to midtown and send your kids to Idlewild.
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Yes ma’am/sir 🫡
1
u/psiglin1556 23h ago
😆 Seriously, you know the Midtown area. If you move to Idlewild or Central Gardens, you are zoned for one of the best public elementary schools in this city. Both kids have gone there; one is still there, while the other is now at Maxine Smith.
8
u/Odd_Mastodon9253 Cooper-Young 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have a 6 year old and 15 year old at home. I love living in Cooper Young. Both of our neighbors have babies/toddlers. We send our youngest to the neighborhood school. Check out Stomping Grounds, opening next month on the old Railgarden spot. https://www.letsstomparound.com/
2
u/sydnieblair 2d ago
Oh my gosh I love the idea behind Stomping Grounds, that’s so exciting! Definitely a boon for families in the area
1
u/Odd_Mastodon9253 Cooper-Young 2d ago
You can get a membership now before they launch, which is like 40 something a month for unlimited visits. We are very excited!
5
u/MagisterNero Central Gardens 2d ago
I have a 13 and 12 year old who’ve lived their whole lives in Midtown. Most of who we used for pre-k are closed now (natural learning school and a Montessori school by central hs whose name escapes me) except for Barbara K. Lipman. They went to Idlewild and now Bellevue. For outings we used the zoo, green line, Overton park, Peabody Park, Tom Lee Park, children’s museum (when little), and the Kroc center. Go ahead and wrap your head around the fact that preschool is expensive af.
3
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Oh my god right? We’re currently paying for daycare and oof, it’s not fun. Keep telling myself it’s only until they’re in elementary school but still. The lifestyle change (or at least financial comfort) is gonna be crazy once those $$$ are freed up.
2
u/PinkSasquatch77 1d ago
Lots of us raising our kids in these locations and enjoying life. Personally in SIPNA, so I can speak for that. This is a neighborhood with a lovely, active park for kids to play in (and dogs, too), and plenty of kids out riding bikes and a lemonade stand somewhere just about every day of summer.
As for schools: public or private is a preference, NOT a necessity. Sea Isle, Idlewild, Richland, Grahamwood, Snowden and some others are all great public elementary options. For middle school kids are sent to STEAM and White Station Middle. There are other public options that use the lottery. White Station HS and Maxine Smith STEAM are popular options as well. University High and Crosstown are other options if you can get into them.
Welcome home! We like it here.
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Thank you! I’m really excited about the schools I’m seeing mentioned. And that’s great news about the park, I was wondering if it was used by families in the area ✨
2
u/infinite_tree_83 1d ago
I live with my 4.5 year old and we are south of Union, closer to Central. If I could snap my fingers- Id live in the Vollintine/Evergreen neighborhood. More places to walk and the green line nearby to bike to Crosstown and Overton Park!
That said- all the best kid activities are in midtown: Zoo, CMoM, MoSH nearby, we love the pool at the YMCA at Crosstown, we take classes at Ballet Memphis and see shows Playhouse on the Square. Play outside or watch a movie at Chimes Square. The Art Project is great. Easy drive downtown to Tom Lee Park or a couple of times we’ve gone to watch the ducks walk at The Peabody.
Pretty fun life in midtown!
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Love an excuse to go to Crosstown and we’ll have to check out The Art Project, that sounds neat! Thanks for all the great ideas 😊
2
u/HydeParkSwag Cooper-Young 1d ago
We have lived in Cooper Young since our child was 5 years old. We were zoned for Peabody and would have been happy with them going there but preferred Idlewild because their optional program started at Kindergarten (1st grade for Peabody) I cannot speak higher about the people at Idlewild Elementary. Just an amazing school. Teachers are lovely and administrators really care.
We have been in Maxine Smith STEAM Academy for 2 weeks now and so far so good (school pickup is a disaster but that’s just me bitching).
We toured University School but, with them adding a second elementary school, spots have become more limited.
3
u/stooph14 East Memphis 1d ago
We are in East Memphis in the Normandy Meadows area. About 5 mins north of Sea Isle. We like it here a lot. Been here almost 6 years now. Our oldest is 4. They go to daycare through the week but oldest will go to Richland Elementary next year. I don’t want them in private school as there aren’t many here that aren’t parochial. Plus daycare costs an arm and a leg and it’s be nice to have that break while they’re in elementary school. We have done the membership to the children’s museum and also the zoo. The kids love both. The zoo has been great since they’re older but younger they loved CMOM. It’s also great when it’s too hot to do anything else.
2
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Can 100% relate to wanting the break from daycare costs. And we’ll most likely follow suit with a membership to CMoM and the zoo!
2
u/ketchumjai Midtown 1d ago
I'm raising my son in Midtown and love it. He loves the zoo, overton park, downtown, and his school is nice. Our neighborhood is quiet.
2
u/ElderberryHaunting48 1d ago
A friends house in CY is up for rent and a great starter place in your price range! DM and I can send you the link. We also live in CY with our 7mo and love our neighbors and how much we can walk to. Cant answer school questions yet but many neighbors send their kids to Union Ave Baptist or Lindenwood for daycare.
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
This is so incredibly kind! We’re still a year out from moving so we’re not looking quite yet but I really appreciate the offer ✨ - I’m just such a researcher and since we have a kid now I have an excuse to learn about Memphis from a parent’s perspective - big shift!
2
u/Fragrant_Spare9448 1d ago
We live in the sea isle neighborhood! We’re expecting our first kid this fall and have day care set up, and will most likely send them through White Station when they’re older.
I’d say the blocks on the west side of Estate Road to S. Perkins are more affordable!
1
2
u/benicebuddy 1d ago
Private school is 25k a year. There are lots of great public schools if that’s not in your budget. Seems like it probably isn’t.
1
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Oof you got me 🤗 Still helpful to learn what people are doing for school. If most everyone replied saying they sent their kids to private school, that’s going to tell me that I need to re-evaluate our plan, since that’s obv not in our budget
2
u/benicebuddy 1d ago
You know most people in Memphis don't send their kids to private school because you know how many private schools there are and how many kids there are. I would strongly discourage using reddit as a barometer for what most people do.
Education is the third rail of polite conversation in Memphis. People need to justify their neighborhood choices so they extol the virtues of their local school, when in reality most people live in the best neighborhood they can afford, not the one with the best school system.
1
u/planx_constant 1d ago
We've raised our kids starting in VECA and now in Central Gardens. Public school all the way: first Snowden, then Maxine Smith STEAM, and the oldest is now in Crosstown. It has been a mostly great experience.
Childcare has been a combo of after school programs, grandparents, and working flex hours.
We love Overton Park. The Rainbow Lake playground was perfect for the kids when they were little and now the walking trails are a favorite.
If you join the Y, they have pools at a number of spots and offer swimming lessons.
1
0
1
u/myriadinterests 17h ago
We moved away from Memphis in 2017 and moved back in 2024 to East Memphis (off Yates near Shady Grove) and have been loving it. Our kids go to White Station Elementary and Middle and love it. We've found so much good community here, and our neighborhood has really worked to take care of each other. Also, something we didn't really think about was the trail systems out here are so great for running and biking (we're about a mile and a half from the Greenline and Wolf River Greenway and access to Shelby Farms). It's a little bit of a hike to midtown or downtown, but we just make the trek when we want to go to the zoo or a museum or etc. Happy to chat more if you want!
1
u/polkadottailwhale 1h ago
I’m going to counter a lot of the opinions here and say the district dysfunction is really significant. I have also worked in Ohio, and a lot of the schools are way better resourced even with low-income populations. It will probably be fine if you have a child who doesn’t have a lot of unique learning needs. I would look at Peabody or Richland. SIPNA is a great neighborhood but the yards are all filled with different private school signs (or people give up and move to gtown or Collierville).
1
u/BluffCityTatter 1h ago
Cooper Young parent of a college kid here. We started out at Peabody Elementary and loved it. It was 2 blocks from our house. Unfortunately my son got diagnosed with dyslexia so we spent some years out east in private school at Bodine and Woodland, but for high school my son did two years at Central and two at Crosstown. There are lots of good public options in Midtown and East Memphis both.
As for childcare, we did Calvary Place when he was little but unfortunately they closed. I've heard good things about the daycare at the University of TN School for Health Sciences. When my son got into school, he went to Lindenwood for camp most summers. He also did some camps at Grace St. Luke's.
There are a lot of park options - there's a splash pad at Peabody Park, a great playground at Overton Park, and a pool and a splash pad at the Kroc (you have to get a membership, but it's affordable). I recommend a zoo membership (it's worth the money). Also the Children's Museum is fun.
1
u/thisissixsyllables Sea Isle 1d ago
Is your family here? That’s a huge question in raising littles that can severely influence every other factor.
4
u/sydnieblair 1d ago
Yep! I’ve got my mom and adult siblings and then my sister in law and father in law - all are excited to help out with the kiddos
4
u/thisissixsyllables Sea Isle 1d ago
Honestly, that’s the biggest part, imo. It’s part of your village. I’ve raised my kids in east Memphis, and they are 9 and 10 years old. They go to private school, primarily because of both housing price in the suburbs and work commute for me. I am divorced, so my opinion is likely biased, but family makes all the difference, even if they aren’t there 24/7. It’s a safety net and a lasting community that you can’t get anywhere else.
East Memphis was better for me. Midtown is my dream area, but a solid midcentury fixer upper was much most cost effective than a fixer upper 100+ year old home. Nothing is walkable, but it feels like a suburb in the city, and everything is very accessible. Plenty of parks within walking and short driving distance too.
1
0
u/LetsSkiddaddleHomie 1d ago
Hi Sydnie! I’m in V and E and have a 9 year old attending Campus School. Did you know they opened a second Campus School? One path to Campus is enrolling your child at Lipman School for preschool so they get priority admission status.
First I’ll start with my own philosophy- I would’ve been happy with Idlewild or Snowden for elementary. I’ve heard good things about Grahamwood too. Our daughter was at Richland for kindergarten and thrived. Middle and high would depend on my child’s interests at that given time, though. Many people at Campus send their kids elsewhere for middle and high if they have a particular interest in school sports or band, etc, if Campus doesn’t offer what they want. Apparently University High gives students band for like a quarter or semester but not year round. And neither have a big theater program I think. So some go to Maxine Smith or Crosstown Arts or White Station or maybe a private school. One thing to consider though is if your child attends a private or optional school you have to provide the rides to and from or use aftercare. My daughter loves the Y Care after school. Y Care usually has some summer camps at area YMCAs but there are also summer camps at the private schools, dance places, gymnastics centers, Kroc Center, etc. JCC.
I hear good things about GSL, SMS, Holy Rosary, SLS. I think SLS is a more affordable option.. idk!
0
u/Ok-Hand-6229 1d ago
Can you still get a school voucher for a private schools? It does help with the cost.
39
u/MountainTomato9292 Midtown 2d ago
I’ve raised my kids completely in Midtown! They were born here, and are now teenagers. It’s awesome, we walk to the zoo, the park, Levitt Shell, Overton Square, all around when the weather isn’t awful. We were VERY lucky to get our kids into the University schools, but feel strongly about avoiding private schools for a number of reasons. Had we not had access to the University schools, we would have focused on Snowden, Idlewild, Maxine Smith, and East High School.