I can tell you why we ended up making the decision to commute 1.5 hours a day for the last three years and why we won't be doing it next year.
We commute for a highly gifted program. At the time we started, my DS was a 3rd grader in a 3/4 combo class - he had done a mid year skip in 1/2 so it gave him the opportunity to work another grade level up. Little to no emphasis on grade standards and opportunities to learn something new most days. The principal at his old school did all she could for him, but they were not really set up for anything more than enrichment worksheets and an occasional enrichment activity after school. In essence there was no gifted program and we just could not see him in a regular classroom for another year.
This year while he is 5 in a 5/6 they no longer teach them all in the same classroom - they switch and stay with their grade mates (although he was advanced to the 6th grade for math). Much more emphasis on grade standards - less overall learning much new at this point. He's tired of the program and the commute. Next year, we have an agreement with the District for flexibility - he will go to our local middle school (a 5 minute walk from our house) do some online, some in class - he will have PE, Band and another elective and an enrichment class that will support his online math. His in class subjects will be a cohort of gifted kids that will take most of their classes together.
While I do not regret at all commuting for the program he is in now, I have more recently felt that what we have given up in time, etc. has not been worth what we have been getting from the program. I felt just the reverse the first few years.
