David O'Doherty-Clayton NC Homes Raleigh, NC

How Do Johnston County Schools Compare To Wake County?

Well they both have a lot going for them, first thing to notice is the size, Wake county has a population of about 900,000 while Johnston has approx 170,000 (this is from the 2010 census).
Johnston County has 22 elementary schools while Wake has 104.
Johnston County middle schools number 12 and Wake has 32 middle schools
Wake County has 25 high schools. Johnston has 8

The Johnston County Schools operate on a traditional calender where the kids are out for Summer.
Wake County operates on a mixture of traditional and year-round calenders, some elementary schools are track out and some are like Johnston County where they have Summer off. The middle schools are also a mix of traditional and year round. The Wake County high schools are all on the traditional calender.

Interestingly enough Johnston County had 6 Honor Schools of Excellence in 2010-2011. Wake had 5 Honor Schools of Excellence.
Wake had 12 Schools of Excellence, Johnston had 2, Wake had 79 Schools of Distinction and Johnston had 21.

If you are buying a house in either Wake or Johnston County and schools are important to you, you will need to do your homework (excuse the pun), find out what school your child will attend by calling the school board or go on their website. Both counties have great schools and not so great! Johnston County is pretty straight forward but Wake can be tricky. Meet the principal, tour the school, talk to parents, they will tell you what they think.
Wake County Public School System
Johnston County Schools

The Produce Box, Got to be NC Agriculture

Kelly and I have long bemoaned the fact that we live in a state that has great farms and in a county that is mostly rural and is, it seems nurturing an organic farming awakening. And yet the supermarkets are full of produce shipped in from California and Florida, Mexico and Asia.

There are many farmers markets out there, Clayton has one, North Hills has one, Raleigh has a couple, so there is the opportunity to get local produce but the big excuse …”it’s not convenient” always pops up!

So we found this great service that delivers a box of fresh local produce once a week or whenever you need it. It’s called The Produce Box and they have a cool system where they work with farmers through out the state of North Carolina and whatever is in season at the time they create a default box which would have the most popular items in season that week. There are also other items you can add yourself on their web site for you to choose from.

So our box came with Corn, Eggplant, Peaches, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Squash, Peppers (three different kinds). They offer 75 different fruits and vegetables and some unique items like Asian pears, persimmons, shitake and oyster mushrooms and get this.......Kiwi, in NC!

The folks at The Produce Box also go and meet the farmers and tour the farms where the produce comes from, every year.

Their website is theproducebox.com , their phone number is (919) 904-4722 and you can email them at info@theproducebox.com

Reins from Above is a therapeutic riding center in Kenly, North Carolina. It is a marvelous place run entirely by volunteers. They offer therapeutic riding to students with many different special needs. Autism, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, learning disabilities, brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, stroke, mental health issues and behaviour challenges.

The barn is located on Hwy 42 East in Kenly and the students come from all over, today there was a family from Fort Bragg in Fayetville who come every Saturday. There are currently about thirty students enrolled in classes. There are about fourteen horses at Reins from Above who come mainly from donations of older horses who have seen it all but aren’t ready to retire. The horses have to have a certain temperament obviously and so they don’t just take any horse that comes in.
The horses must be bomb proof, love humans, be patient and enjoy working.
Once the student has mounted there is a person on both sides at all times and a lead person taking the horse. While I was there this morning David the instructor asked if would, help so I took one side of Charity and off we went. This is one of the ways people can volunteer their time is to be a side walker. There is always stuff to do around the barn so volunteers are always welcome.
Of course making a donation is also much appreciated or sponsoring a child is another great way to help, horses eat a lot, and need heat and cooling and water and grass and they might need a vet so if you would like to help go to their website at Reins from Above and you can make a donation there.
Classes are Tuesday and Thursday 9-12 and 3.30-5.30 and on Saturdays 9-1
Stacey Ryder is the Program Director and when I first met Stacey she was working out of a trailer and to see the facility she has now it is remarkable.
Reins from Above can be reached at (919) 938-1556 or reinsfromabove@hotmail.com

What are the schools like in Clayton, North Carolina?

River Dell Elementary in Clayton, North Carolina is now an Honor School Of Excellence, one of only six in the Johnston County School System. A School of excellence is described as
**School of Excellence: Students meeting growth goals with at least 90 percent passing state tests.

This is great news for the students and staff at River Dell as they have all worked very hard to get their school recognised. My two sons Conor and Rory have been going there since kindergarten and Conor is moving to Archer Lodge Middle this Fall.

Archer Lodge Middle is itself a School of Distinction which is described as
*School of Distinction: Students meeting growth goals with between 80 and 90 percent passing state tests.

The high school Corinth Holder is brand new having just opened last year and as such only started with 9th and 10th, this Fall they will add 11th grade. This is one of two new high schools the county recently built and opened.
So it appears that Business Week Magazine was spot on when they declared the area these schools are in, notably the zip code 27527 as one of the best in the country. Coupled with the tremendous value in housing it has to be recognised that Clayton,NC and the zip code of 27527 have a lot to offer.

Other Honor Schools of Excellence were Powhatan Elementary, Riverwood Elementary, Cleveland Middle, Johnston County Middle College and Johnston County Early College.

P.S. It's time for the school supply list to come out!!!