Country homeschool: fantasy? reality?

[violamama]

I have always wanted a bit of space outside a traditional neighborhood (like 1-5 acres). Lately that desire has become even stronger because I have the idea that our homeschool will be better for it. It would certainly be easier than having to pack up school in order to eat dinner in our current townhouse. I imagine keeping a few chickens, planting all sorts of things, building a fort shoulder to shoulder with the kids, sending them outside to play...

 

Country homeschoolers:

Is it worth the additional work, driving distance & expense?

What do you like best about having a bit of acreage?

What are other downsides? 

[MeAndTheBoys]

Do your kids have neighborhood friends, or do you?

 

We live right on the edge of the country, but in a neighborhood, and I"m tempted too--BUT I don't like yard work, my kids love that there are often other kids outside to play with, and I run with my next door neighbor (and appreciate the sidewalks right outside the door).

 

So I will toy with the idea of acreage, but then I start to talk myself out of it-- curious to read.

 

B

[violamama]

We don't have friends in our vicinity. Our townhouse has 80 units and only two others have kids. 

 

The running thing is a big consideration for me, too. The current front-runner house is on a long driveway, but the main road is pretty busy and doesn't have much of a shoulder. Bicycle herds use it a lot, but I haven't tried going for a walk to test it out. It might be a deal breaker. 

[Jennifer132]

We have the same dream, and decided to make it a reality. We purchased 13 acres (we really wanted 5 max, but we found the more you buy the cheaper per acre it is) about 14 months ago. And we just broke ground on our house last week. The biggest thing for me is letting my kids go outside and play whenever they want. As it is, they get bored in our flat rectangular backyard and I don't allow them to play in front without permission. On our land, they can roam free, and I love that! We do get alot of critters there and there are trees to climb, etc. we already have someone who bales the hay for free in exchange for keeping the hay for his cattle. So we dont have as much of the upkeep issue. We do plan to get chickens and plant some fruit trees, maybe garden(but our garden here has been a dud two years in a row, so maybe not). We hope it's worth it, I guess we'll wait and see! But I think we will be pretty well suited to it. And the area is closer to our friends, who all live on that side of town.

[bettyandbob]

I live in a townhouse

 

for a few years ds had friends nearby, that was nice

dd never had friends nearby

we have a pool walking distance

we have two basketball courts walking distance

we have more than one playground walking distance (a very large one behind my house that I am not responsible for and do not need to insure)

we have miles of bike trails steps from my door

we can get to shopping centers walking if we need to (I have when snow hasn't been cleared from roads, because snow is cleared from bike trails)

I can drive quickly to every basic errand I can think of

I hate yard work

My yard is big enough and sunny enough that I was able to garden when dc were young as part of homeschool

I have a large public library accessible by car (7-10 minutes) bike (20 minutes)

I like my neighbors (we are doing thanksgiving together. We have great block parties. We have neighbors without dc who are great. We look out for eachother--check on homes when others are away, shovel walkways when someone is ill, etc)

 

I wouldn't give those things up. I think property would be nice, but I wouldn't give those things up.

[Guest]

I'm on ten acres, not connected to a community, however I haven't lived any other way since having kids.

 

Most of our land is wooded, so there isn't a whole lot of maintenance, but it would be much harder if dh did not have equipment. I have five chickens and a decent-sized garden. I love that I can send people outside to play. We have a "school room" which is certainly nice.

 

The only thing I really view as a downside of our location is that we are off a busy road with no shoulder. Walking or riding our bikes *to* anywhere is death-defying and not feasible (we can walk, jog, and bike on our property, but we can't actually travel anywhere this way). We have "neighbors," but they are not convenient and are not really friends of ours in the usual sense. They are friendly, but we just do our own things. However, this is also a benefit sometimes, because we have no neighbor conflicts. It is true my kids have not been able to play with neighboring kids, but it has also given me more control over their friendships. They can't spend much time with any kid if I am not making it happen.

 

I love living in the Sustainable direction, although I am far from self-sufficient. I love growing our own food and having fresh eggs and food. I often toy with having some additional livestock, but this might not be a good time for that commitment. The chickens are a very low commitment. Hogs and goats would be significantly more. I do wish I could get where I need to go some way besides driving, but that is the trade-off I make for acreage.

[Lucy the Valiant]

I'm a city kid married to a country boy, and we have come to a good compromise - 1 acre in a small town that is not too far from a larger city.

 

Country side: We have chickens, the kids can roam free (our 1-acre abuts a larger piece of land), we have a huge garden + bees, the kids can "make stuff" outside, etc. We do not have a tractor, nor do we really "farm" - it truly is more of just a huge garden.

 

City side: We're in a more international area and participate in a weekly homeschool co-op, we have access (though not funding atm, but still) to music lessons, sports, options for kids. Friends. Libraries. We do not have sidewalks (I miss them!), and some of the other city "amenities" I took for granted as a child (city water, trash pickup, a YMCA, mail near the front door, etc.).

[Shellydon]

Keeping animals is hard work.  You must be home twice a day for feeding and care, going on vacation is difficult.  Running to the grocery store doesn't happen, it is too far.  When you go into town, you tend to stay for most of the day since it is a long distance.  All of that said, if the only way I could send my kids outside was to live far out, I would do it.  As it is, I live 15 minute eitherway between two cities. Our backyard is one acre.  I can't imagine my kids not being able to spend most of the day outside.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Upside - lots of space to roam. Lots of animals to roam around and see. Lots of beauty.

 

Downside - the dirt. Roaming means lots of dirt. I had no concept of dirt living in the city. I had no clue how it could cover Ev.er.y.thing. My son got dirty, but now that we are surrounded by acres of dirt (and trees and water and other stuff too, but a lot of non grass covered dirt) we all bring it in the house. I could dust three times a day, but during the summer it would never be enough.

 

Upside - strong work ethic. Humble living. Lots of gratitude. Salt of the Earth authentic people. Solid tradition of rural living and conservative lifestyles.

 

Downside - the culture is different from that of the city and status is not as important. When you go into the city, it is a bit overwhelming and it requires different skill sets. This gets my son in trouble more than me just because he is young. Saying Sir and Ma'am in the city is cute, wearing mended Carharts not so much. In the city, going over to non-formal neighbors and announcing yourself as you walk in when the screen door is open is totally fine. Out here, that is totally not okay. Church out here is essential, church being essential in the city makes you a Bible thumper. Mohawk and ears pierced on a boy in the city is not that crazy just a bit rebellious. Out here people do not want their kids to talk to you.

 

Upside - slower pace of life. Appreciation of beauty in a very foundational way. Lots of raw nature.

 

Downside - my son has a very strong understanding of life and death since he has watched it. The chicken we eat for dinner he helped raise, kill, and gut. He has seen still borne calves. He has shot animals. We live in a place where the park dumpster reads "Do Not Feed Our Bear" so people will pack out their salmon guts rather than encouraging the local wildlife to wind up shot. No compost bin for us and hot fencing around our bees and chickens. Death is normal, not traumatizing.

 

Upside - my son can shoot, feild strip, and clean his rifle. He began shooting at five with a BB gun. I am not worried about him being accidentally stupid with a gun, nor am I worried about him or his friends playing with a gun. Guns will never be a toy to him. Their can still be hunting accidents, but not many boys here do the "toy gun" thing since they have real ones for hunting.

 

Downside - my son can shoot, field strip, and clean his rifle. That is REALLY hard to explain to others in a society which is gun fearful right now. Even though I understand the gun fear, it is difficult when most people do not know the difference between a .22 (my son's squirrel and goose hunting rifle) and an AR 15 (large, powerful school shooting style riffle).

 

Upside - very local food for pretty darn cheap.

 

Downside - you have to do a whole lot of work for that food and you do not get to go on extended vacations much. Farm = responsibility. You trade the money output for time output and freedom out put.

 

I wouldn't trade it for the world! I think my husband might go back to the city. My son changes depending on the week. If his friends in Big City get to go out to pizza and the movies, the city wins. We get three feet of snow and salmon fishing, farm wins.

 

ETA: we live in the middle of nowhere. "Town" is 2500 people and 45 minutes away. Big City is an hour and a half. We live in the National Forest with seven people per square mile. We are three of the people in our square mile. There are more cougars, bears, and eagles than people. Everything is self rescue, self fire, self reporting on utility bills, satellite correspondence. Since we are in a valley, land owners near-ish to us are all agricultural. So we are farmers living near farmers. Well, farmers, survivalists, and ex loggers.

[texasmama]

We live on four acres in a neighborhood with other homes on 2-5 acres in a suburb of a large metropolitan area. It is truly the best of both worlds, and we love it. About half of our land is heavily treed and we have a seasonal creek. We have planted a garden and fruit trees. I kept bees for awhile. It is great for the kids. We are 10 minutes from co op and 25 minutes from the area I grew up in, including a large shopping mall, my dad and the Humane Society we volunteer at. We are 15 minutes from several large grocery stores, CVS and Walmart.

[fruitofthewomb]

We used to live in a neighborhood on about half an acre (fairly spread out housing) close to a grocery store & fast food. We never felt comfortable letting our kids outside without us & we desired more privacy. Last year we moved to a house on 2 acres in a more rural area of our community. We have neighbors but we can't see their house & vice versa. We really love it. It's wonderful to just let the kids run wild outside! I also love the critters (mainly squirrels & birds) I spot & just walking around the yard looking at plants & trees. The land surrounding us has 2 ponds very close to our fence. We throw rocks & watch turtles. Ducks sometimes land & that's fun.

We all spend a lot more time outside now.

 

I do miss having a grocery store & fast food 5 min away. It's still not far (15-20 min) but enough that it's not convenient. Trade off is worth it though. I will never live in a neighborhood again. I love that no one driving by can see what I am doing in my yard.

 

DH wants to be even farther out though. He wants quite a bit more land. I wish we had a creek but otherwise I am content.

[happypamama]

We have almost three acres about ten miles from the nearest town. We love it and hate it.

 

We love not having neighbors right on top of us. They're across the street and down the street, but all the lots here are about three acres, so we aren't all squished together. We have plenty of room to play and run and have a swingset and a barn and a fire pit out on the back hill and a clothesline and trees to climb and a small patch of woods and all of that. It's great! We hope to have chickens and maybe goats and a big garden someday. It's quiet and dark at night, and beautiful, and clean air. We have our own septic system and well, and our water is clean (if very hard). Acreage means nobody cares if you're working on a vehicle or running woodworking equipment or whatever. Being far from things means that we naturally don't go out every day, and we really think about whether something is truly worth our time and money before we do it.

 

What we don't love: acreage means grass to mow in the summer (most of it is open). We heat with wood, so DH spends a lot of time chopping and hauling wood, even in the snow. It's hard to escape dirt. There are no sidewalks, and we have no garage (the barn only holds our vintage tractor for mowing but wouldn't work for cars, and it's not right next to the house anyway), so dirt gets tracked in easily. Septic and well means we have to pay if they go up. We pay a lot for DH to commute to his office, and he spends time in the car that he could be spending with us. (But we'd pay way more for housing on a smaller lot if we were closer to the office.). When we do go out, it is a very long day, and we do all of our errands at once. There are no quick trips to the grocery store. We skip things that would be good or fun, simply because it isn't worth the time or gas. And most of our friends are not very close.

 

It definitely has ups and downs.

[StephanieZ]

We have 2 acres in a very nice quiet development of similar lots, and they are mostly unrestricted, so we keep hens, one rooster, and a goat. :) I loooove it. I have lived in a townhouse for a few years, and we had 8 acres when the kids were babies, and, personally, the more land the better. :) 2 acres of unrestricted land was our bare minimum.

 

We're about 20 minutes (12-15 miles) from anything, including work for dh. 30 minutes to some things. It's fine. I don't mind driving, and the gas expense isn't a big deal for us. If gas budget is a big part of your budget, then do consider that, as it can add up fast if you do multiple trips to town a week, let alone a day. We probably average 15 round trips to town between the two cars, some weeks more like 20. That's a lot of gas! Friends who live similar distances to town but are on tighter budgets think carefully about stacking errands and activities on fewer days, especially when gas prices spike suddenly. I remember 6-8 years ago when gas suddenly went from 2/gallon to closer to 4 or 5, and some friends got very limited about activities away from home. If you've budgeted for $200/mo for gas and gas doubles in price, and that extra 200 is going to pinch hard, then that is something to consider. Wear and tear on vehicles adds up too. I've put 110k miles on my 3.5 year old minivan . . . That's a lot of miles!! (Obviously not solely due to going to town!)

 

It boils down to what you love. I love quiet, space, my mini-farm feeling, the fact that we can yell or play loud music at midnight and not worry about neighbors minding. We can have big parties and park a dozen cars in the yard . . . and not think twice about anyone noticing let alone minding. I have great views of farm land and distant hills. No buildings, no traffic, no busy road within toddler-wandering distance. Etc. I love it. It's worth it. That said, I am an introvert, and so is dh, and we are very happy to only have visitors who really want to come. People we love come to dinner, parties, etc, but we don't have all those other random close neighbors to bother us. :)

[HS Mom in NC]

The most common complaint I hear from country homeschoolers (and there have been old threads on this topic) is distance from a social network and medical care.  If you, your child or a dependent elderly relative comes down with a prolonged physical situation that requires a specialist and regular visits, it's going to be hard. Place of worship, age mates and friends for mom and dad can be a big challenge for many homeschoolers in the suburbs. It will be much harder in the country. It's harder for teens to have part time jobs if they're really far out of town.  If a challenging family dynamic comes up, homeschooling could become especially challenging with few other education options nearby. A country home might be harder to sell if financial problems happen. Work options might be more limited the farther from town. The physical labor gets harder as you age. 

I grew up on a 1/4 mile dirt road with 12 houses total on it.  Everyone had 2.5-6 acres.  There were a few kids our age and the neighbors were fine. We were 4 miles out of town which wasn't bad at all. I'm glad I grew up there, but my husband wouldn't do well in that situation.

[momto10blessings]

Yes!

I will never live in a neighborhood again! I honestly can not imagine raising kids in a neighborhood. Everything is 15-20 minutes from us, but it's worth it.

[EndOfOrdinary]

The farther out you get, the slimmer and slimmer public school becomes an option.  My son would have to walk four miles to get on a bus for an hour to go to school.  That school is K-12 and has a maximum of 150 kids.  Most grades are combined so that the classrooms can fill.  The number of actual offerings are very slim.  Spanish is the only foreign language and it is for all grades so they can employ the teacher.  There is no special education department, no gifted classes, and a very few sports teams.  However, classes are only 15 kids and the town funds a large scholarship for any kids who have a B average and want to go to college just so the kids can get out if they want to.

 

Everything is a toss up.

[elegantlion]

I live in a rural town, no land, just a city lot. I grew up in suburbia. Even not being out in the country, these are a few things I'd consider. 

 

Drive time - I'm 30 minutes from anything besides Walmart. Gas prices are down now, but at one point it cost $10 round trip in gas. On a small one income budget, you had to think more about gas prices. 

 

Activities - everything above grade 6 around here is tied to schools or churches except scouts. We don't do either, so activities have been nill for us. 

 

Internet - my town has high speed Internet, get further out of town and coverage can be spotty. Sorry, I'll give up a lot, but I need my Internet

 

Driving in general - Are winter weather issues a concern? 

 

Health Care - exdh had a mild heart attack at work. He was 45 minutes from our local hospital. Someone drove him in because it would have taken an ambulance longer to get there. I have family that had to be life flighted from rural locations and that bill alone was over $20,000. Stuff happens. 

 

I don't know that I could do rural outside of a town. I like certain aspects of my town, but it's a different beast than being in the suburbs or the city. 

 

Our last house was suburbs on 3 acres. It was in many ways more isolated that our current location. I loved the wildlife literally right outside our door. I loved the yard, but it was a lot of work. 

 

I wish they had swap-a-lifestyle rentals (they probably do). I think many of us could figure out if we'd like a lifestyle by trying it out for a week. Wouldn't that be fun. 

[violamama]

Loving this, thank you all. 

We're looking at rural but near the city. My career (unless I were to quit classical music) means we can't ever go truly off the map. Due to some weirdness with the Urban Growth Boundaries, the area we're considering is actually as close in driving minutes to my husband's work as our current place.

 

I've been thinking pretty much along the lines of what many of you have said. It's nice to have the ideas fleshed out and more food for thought. 

 

We may wait another 6 months or year until our budget can get us a few more of our wishlist items. One would be walk/run/bike access, another would be slightly more (preferably wooded) acreage. The current best potential place has just 2 acres (fenced, some trees, not much in terms of maintenance) and seems it will almost always require a car. 

 

[Ausmumof3]

We have 10 acres and I actually am not sure how I'd homeschool without it... Not quite but outside time is great and the access to bush land for nature study, tadpoles, butterflies, space for chickens is a huge bonus. It is harder to do social contact and I have to consolidate trips to minimise driving which makes it hard to fit in school on our errands day. If you do it it is worth getting some good audiobooks for the car.

[LMD]

Well we recently bought 20acres which we hope to live on soon, so I'll let you know if the fantasy can be real!

[The Girls' Mom]

If you do it, do it while they are young.  We moved out to the country when our girls were teens, and they want nothing to do with the great outdoors.  I raised a bunch of city-dwellers..lol.  

That said, I think it is great, especially if you do it while the kids are young, and you are looking forward to the outdoor work.  If YOU aren't really up on bugs and nature and dirt, then don't do it.  

[bettyandbob]

The idea tht it is not safe for kids to play outside in a neighborhood but it is safe on 5-20 acres is laughable and completely baseless.

 

It is a false sense of security. I don't think it's laughable.

 

When my grandparents were alive and I was growing up in the suburbs 2 hours away, my grandmother would praise the "good people" of her community constantly. Thing was, she was also telling us about the mechanic who was not repairing cars, but charging, the vandals who were attacking her pasture fences, the teens who let her cows out, etc... She wanted to believe her way of life was more perfect than the one my parents chose for our family. The truth was we were safe playing outside, had lots of nature, and had more opportunities for extras than we would have had on that farm.

 

It's just a different way to live.

 

OP, I think you need to make a list of what you will gain and what you will lose. It's great the property won't add yo your dh's commute. What about your distance from coop, piano lessons, doctors, grocery, dc friends. Animals sound like fun. They do affect the flexibility you have in doing things. Think about what you take for granted now that you might not have.

[Guest]

Loving this, thank you all.

 

We're looking at rural but near the city. My career (unless I were to quit classical music) means we can't ever go truly off the map. Due to some weirdness with the Urban Growth Boundaries, the area we're considering is actually as close in driving minutes to my husband's work as our current place.

 

I've been thinking pretty much along the lines of what many of you have said. It's nice to have the ideas fleshed out and more food for thought.

 

We may wait another 6 months or year until our budget can get us a few more of our wishlist items. One would be walk/run/bike access, another would be slightly more (preferably wooded) acreage. The current best potential place has just 2 acres (fenced, some trees, not much in terms of maintenance) and seems it will almost always require a car.

I mentioned this already, but I want to say a little more about the need for heavy equipment. Our lot is heavily wooded, and our quarter-mile driveway is flanked by trees and crosses a stream. This means that most out-of-the-ordinary weather events make heavy equipment - and substantial physical hardiness - a necessity. Tropical storms and hurricanes have felled numerous trees, oftentimes directly across our driveway. One morning, we were heading out for church, when dh had to hop out, retrieve a chainsaw, cut a path through a fallen tree, and push the logs away before we could proceed. Quite memorable!

 

During the heavy snows, such as we had a few years ago, it took three days' work with a Bobcat to clear the driveway. The snow mounds were twelve feet high. We have a wood-burning furnace to supply heat and hot water. It's great, but not for lazy folks. Dh tends the furnace three times a day and must continuously haul and split wood.

 

One last point: internet service. It is bad, bad, bad. We have no cable or fiber optic access, so we pay out the wazoo for enough data to do what we need to do. There is no chance of streaming movies or anything that feeds large amounts of data.

[Gentlemommy]

The idea tht it is not safe for kids to play outside in a neighborhood but it is safe on 5-20 acres is laughable and completely baseless.

 

It is completely paranoid actually and doesn't reflect reality

For us, it's not that I think my kids aren't safe, in fact, with all of our neighbors, I believe they should be even MORE SAFE in a neighborhood. However, people now a days don't look too kindly on children running around without a parent. It would absolutely not be acceptable by our neighbors to allow my three kids (4, almost 7 and almost 10) to walk down the sidewalk, 6 houses away, to the neighborhood park and play. I DID have a neighbor call me when he saw my oldest walking our two five pound dogs alone. Keep in mind this neighborhood consists of three dead end streets, and approximately 50 houses, most of which are families with children. *I* feel safe here. The neighbors do not feel it acceptable to have a nine year old walking two streets over, and called to let me know, and furthermore followed her home to make sure she got there ok.

There was a poll done recently where the overwhelming majority of people responding said they would call the police if they saw unattended children (ages 8-12) at a park. More than half felt that a 14 year old still needed a parent with them. So, it's not that I think someone will hurt or kidnap them, it's not that I think they will jump out in front of a car or do something stupid. My fear is having the cops called on us for allowing our kids to play unsupervised. And so, for me, it IS safer to let my kids roam on acreage.

 

We recently bought a house on two acres, that backs up to a preserve. It's in a small neighborhood, at the end of a cul de sac. From the front door, it looks like a normal, suburban house. From the back yard, it seems completely isolated. It's wooded, so we can't see any neighbors. There is a stream running through the property, we get a ton of wildlife coming up due to the preserve. We have spaces for gardens, and I'm hoping to have chickens and a bee hive. Initially we wanted 5-10 acres, but my hubby travels a ton and I'm often alone with three kids. We felt it would be better to have some neighbors in case of an emergency, be closer to the airport for him, and have social opportunities nearby for the kiddos.

The house is 5-15 minutes from grocery stores, Target, Micheals, ect., church, friends, coop, gymnastics. It's tucked away at the base of mountains, but close enough to have everything we need close by. For now, it's the best of both worlds, though eventually I'd like to have a bit more land and be a tad further out.

[madteaparty]

My theory is that after about 5 years in one place, it's all a bit of a fantasy. Let me explain: I lived in NYC many years and definitely took advantage of what was offered, but...only for about the first 4-5 years or so. After that, for us, we seemed to notice all the annoyances of the city living, not the magic, such as smelling every dinner each neighbor was cooking up, down and sideways, lugging off clothes in the snow to the laundry mat (cloth diapers, anyone?), no fresh air, no parking, on and on. Clearly this is personal as people stay and live for many years. We go visit friends and spend the night and they're still happy!

 

We moved to the country (and mind, I had always, my entire life lived in an apartment before we moved. I did not know how to drive!). Now we have no neighbors (weekenders only) and most days, if I don't leave the house, I see no man or beast save my UPS guy ;)

 

I miss my local delicious take out, and hate the fact that if I want to eat, I have to cook it. I can no longer shop in a regular grocery store, so I miss Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, but, we have an amazing year round farmer market.  I hate how much we drive for DS to play tennis, etc. But, I cannot believe I live in such a beautiful place. I saw an owl driving DD to school the other day. I feel so lucky and enchanted :) This city girl also managed to grow enough garlic to last me all winter.

 

But we're only a couple of years down. Talk to me in 5 years.

 

PS. we have woods and field and such, and ponds down the street. I have not yet done a pond study, and DS does sometimes go into the woods but not as much as you'd think. No chickens yet ;) I still work and am lazy.

ETA: DH commutes to the city. It is a horrid commute (just that it's long. Otherwise the train is perfectly civilized)--I am shocked how many people do the commute everyday. We do not do it everyday!

[MeAndTheBoys]

Really???  My kids are outside all the time in our neighborhood and no one thinks anything of it--  I think most of them are happy to see kids outside--most of the kids in the neighborhood must be glued to their xboxes and tvs because we NEVER see them.

 

Being a city girl (well, suburbia girl) myself, I'm more afraid of the snakes and critters and drowning in creeks out in the country than afraid of the neighborhood.

 

B

For us, it's not that I think my kids aren't safe, in fact, with all of our neighbors, I believe they should be even MORE SAFE in a neighborhood. However, people now a days don't look too kindly on children running around without a parent. It would absolutely not be acceptable by our neighbors to allow my three kids (4, almost 7 and almost 10) to walk down the sidewalk, 6 houses away, to the neighborhood park and play. I DID have a neighbor call me when he saw my oldest walking our two five pound dogs alone. Keep in mind this neighborhood consists of three dead end streets, and approximately 50 houses, most of which are families with children. *I* feel safe here. The neighbors do not feel it acceptable to have a nine year old walking two streets over, and called to let me know, and furthermore followed her home to make sure she got there ok.
There was a poll done recently where the overwhelming majority of people responding said they would call the police if they saw unattended children (ages 8-12) at a park. More than half felt that a 14 year old still needed a parent with them. So, it's not that I think someone will hurt or kidnap them, it's not that I think they will jump out in front of a car or do something stupid. My fear is having the cops called on us for allowing our kids to play unsupervised. And so, for me, it IS safer to let my kids roam on acreage.

We recently bought a house on two acres, that backs up to a preserve. It's in a small neighborhood, at the end of a cul de sac. From the front door, it looks like a normal, suburban house. From the back yard, it seems completely isolated. It's wooded, so we can't see any neighbors. There is a stream running through the property, we get a ton of wildlife coming up due to the preserve. We have spaces for gardens, and I'm hoping to have chickens and a bee hive. Initially we wanted 5-10 acres, but my hubby travels a ton and I'm often alone with three kids. We felt it would be better to have some neighbors in case of an emergency, be closer to the airport for him, and have social opportunities nearby for the kiddos.
The house is 5-15 minutes from grocery stores, Target, Micheals, ect., church, friends, coop, gymnastics. It's tucked away at the base of mountains, but close enough to have everything we need close by. For now, it's the best of both worlds, though eventually I'd like to have a bit more land and be a tad further out.

 

[barnwife]

We have 3 acres and a few dozen chickens. Oh, the dirt another poster mentioned. It's everywhere and constant. I mopped our entryway on Saturday. It rained yesterday. Of course the kids wanted to go splash in puddles and mud. You now can't tell I mopped. And if it isn't mud, it's dirt, sand, wood chips, etc...The kids and I have a firm no shoes/boots outside of the entryway rule (DH can't seem to remember this rule).

We garden because we like to and have space. 

We are a couple miles outside a small town. It has the basics (Wal-mart, library, grocery store, etc...), but for really good shopping I have to drive an hour. We are in the small town frequently (4-5 days a week), but rarely the larger town. Well, DH goes for work, but there is no way I am messing with naps just for shopping.

I also agree with machinery being nice. During snowstorms, I am pretty sure the only reason our road gets plowed pretty soon is that one high schooler takes the bus sometimes. Otherwise, we'd be low on the priority list and snowed in often. Removing snow from our driveway without our loader would be a pain.

As for whether or not it's safe, well, have you heard of adventure playgrounds? Much of our property resembles one. The dangers here are just different from any given neighborhood. 

[texasmama]

I mentioned this already, but I want to say a little more about the need for heavy equipment. Our lot is heavily wooded, and our quarter-mile driveway is flanked by trees and crosses a stream. This means that most out-of-the-ordinary weather events make heavy equipment - and substantial physical hardiness - a necessity. Tropical storms and hurricanes have felled numerous trees, oftentimes directly across our driveway. One morning, we were heading out for church, when dh had to hop out, retrieve a chainsaw, cut a path through a fallen tree, and push the logs away before we could proceed. Quite memorable!

 

During the heavy snows, such as we had a few years ago, it took three days' work with a Bobcat to clear the driveway. The snow mounds were twelve feet high. We have a wood-burning furnace to supply heat and hot water. It's great, but not for lazy folks. Dh tends the furnace three times a day and must continuously haul and split wood.

 

One last point: internet service. It is bad, bad, bad. We have no cable or fiber optic access, so we pay out the wazoo for enough data to do what we need to do. There is no chance of streaming movies or anything that feeds large amounts of data.

 

We are in Texas so there are no twelve foot snow drifts.  lol  We actually don't need any heavy equipment except for a riding lawn mower.  Mowing does take quite a lot of time for dh during the season when it is needed.  We are not on a wood burning furnace and don't have to split wood or haul it, either.

 

We do have slower internet service.  It is not dial-up speed, but we have satellite radio or some such, not cable.  We cannot get cable TV - it has to be satellite.  I cancelled Amazon Prime because we can't stream movies - not enough speed.  (I keep  Prime account under a friend for the two day shipping but no movies for us...)  I don't know when our small country neighborhood would ever justify a provider putting in cable.

 

We also are not incorporated in a city and thus have to contract with a company for our trash pick up.  This is about $20 a month for once a week pick up.  No recycling.  No large pick up.  Water is $45 a month separate from anything else, and if we water our garden, fruit trees or foundation in the hot, hot summer, it can easily rise to over $200 a month.  If we call 911, the sheriff comes, not the police.

 

Still wouldn't change it though.  Don't hear our neighbors.  Plenty of room for the kids to roam.  Close enough to civilization to not be a problem getting what we need.

 

[happypamama]

School options vary so much. In a recent thread, I mentioned that I'd just drop my paperwork off at the school and someone asked why I wouldn't just mail it in. The answer: because the public school compound is actually closer to my house than the post office! The school is only two miles away, close enough that we see the lights and hear the announcers during football games. The very tiny post office in the very tiny town that is actually my town is about four miles away. Now, four miles into town doesn't sound bad, and it's not, except that town boasts the following: a Mexican grocery store, three churches, a bank, a post office, a fire department, and a couple of mechanics. No grocery store, no Target, no gas station. I think there are two types of rural, and they may or may not both apply: there's rural in the sense of not having many things nearby (like shopping, schools, doctors, etc.) and rural in the sense of having a lot of land and not being in a traditional neighborhood. I'm both of those, but I have friends who have several acres but who are five minutes from town. And I could live right in my tiny town in a neighborhood but still be far from shopping, etc.

 

Medical care hasn't been a problem. Within an hour in a couple of directions, we have lots of options. Our family doc is ten miles away and near other errands. My first pediatrician (in a different location) was probably six miles through a lot of traffic so not any faster to get to than our doc now.

 

I just assume that it'll take 15-20 minutes to get anywhere, so I kind of subtract that base amount from any other distances. So, if I know it'll take 15 minutes to get to any grocery store, it's not really a big deal to go another ten to get to Aldi.

[Ottakee]

We started out with 2 acres and then bought another 3 1/2 from a neighbor and then had to move to our current place on 5 acres when a highway project took our old place.

 

My first warning is ZONING ZONING ZONING.......just because you have 1, 2, or even 5 acres does NOT mean you can have even 1 chicken or a goat, etc.......even if you are surrounded by larger farms.  You will want to know the zoning for the EXACT piece of property you are buying and make sure it will stay the same if you buy it and it isn't grandfathered in for the current owners.  There is a lot of issues in our area with that now as we live in a rural township with rural ideas but the next township over is becoming much more regulated and you can't even have 1 chicken unless you have over 5 acres of land and then only in certain areas.  This is one of my soap boxes are people are moving there thinking they can have a few animals and a farm produce stand on their 5 acres but find out neither is allowed........but we can do that in our township on under 2 acres.

 

We are sorta rural.  We are about 12 miles from a smaller city, about 10 miles from a rural town with no big box stores, and 15 miles from a bit bigger city and then 30 miles from a larger city with top notch medical care, etc.  That means that yes, I have to drive 15 minutes or more to get to just about anything (not even a stop light in our 36 square mile township) but within 45 minutes I have top notch medical care, theater, concerts, museums, and all the shopping I would ever need.

 

We love our 5 acres and have 3 horses, a dog, 3 cats, and 6 chickens.  We have to feed a lot of hay as 5 acres isn't enough in our area to pasture 3 horses full time.  We also have winter here.  We just had 30+ inches of snow last week with schools closed 1-3 days and now we have 50 and rain and tons of MUD.  Rural living is DIRTY.  Your kids will be dirty and track in lots of dirt.

 

We can walk down a side road here safely but no options for bike riding here unless we put the bikes in the car and drive to the school or other place to let them ride.  We do have several nice county and state land parks near us that offer walking trails, cross country skiing, boating/kayaking, horseback riding trails, etc. but we do have to drive a few miles to get to each of those.

[violamama]

It's not that I think my kids are totally unsafe unless locked inside in our neighborhood, it's that they don't have much to do. Our street is full of not-kids. Retirees, kidless working couples dominate. They buy a townhouse because it's easy living but they want it kept tidy. The other day my 6 yo drew a sidewalk chalk line (like a single line) along the bottom of the driveways. We have neighbors that will not appreciate that, so we then made a game of rinsing it off.

 

At my parents' property, we do send them outside to play. They are told to run around the house three times between school subjects. They build things with hand saws and nails. That's the kind of thing I want.

 

And I don't think it's laughable to consider it safer. I'm not worried about kidnapping or whatever, but being reported for wandering alone and getting hit by a car are two of my top concerns.

 

Where we are the country dangers involve... I dunno, falling out of a tree or encountering a skunk or mean dog. It's not rugged or untamed in that sense.

[Guest]

We are in Texas so there are no twelve foot snow drifts. lol We actually don't need any heavy equipment except for a riding lawn mower. Mowing does take quite a lot of time for dh during the season when it is needed. We are not on a wood burning furnace and don't have to split wood or haul it, either.

Well, that would make a difference! :) actually, the trees have been a problem more often than major snow. One day, I came home to find my driveway blocked by a 20" diameter oak tree. The heavy rain had made the ground like mush and over she went. The base of the tree is still sitting there, out of the ground and it is a massive root ball.

 

Side note re: kids playing outside unsupervised: this is frowned upon big time in my area. There was a news clip recently because some group is proposing a law making it illegal for children (I think under 12) to be walking about without an adult.

[Erin]

We live on 40 acres, 10 miles from pavement and 60 miles from a town big enough to support a (very small!) WalMart.  

 

Is it worth the additional work, driving distance & expense?

Mostly.  We probably drive more than most homeschoolers, though, as one of my kids is in PS, 25 miles away.  Consequently, she has quiz bowl practice after school, and basketball games, and play practice…as well as both of them having youth group, 4H clubs, Scouts, etc, etc.  

Fuel is a definite cost you need to consider, particularly if you're any sort of real distance from where your activities are located...

 

What do you like best about having a bit of acreage?

-We have six horses, five dogs, a handful of chickens, five cats and a few cows (though they're pastured on other ground).  I LOVE having a zoo.   :)

-My nearest neighbors are close, at only 3/4 of a mile, but the hills are just right that I can neither see nor hear them.  

-We have room for "stuff"; the boy's building/destruction projects, my husband's blacksmithing, a large garden, room for the dogs to run, etc. etc.  

-Kids' "chores" at our house are WAY beyond emptying the dishwasher or taking out the trash.

 

 

What are other downsides? 

-It's lonelier for my kids.  I remember growing up in town, I hung out with my friends most days of the week, at least in the summer.  It was an organic, unplanned thing and we had a good group.  My kids, because it's such a drive, don't get to do much of anything spontaneously...  

-I, too, have run the gamut through crappy internet.  (Though we now have unlimited data through our cell carrier at a respectable 4-6M.  We got it in June when we left satellite behind.  I still love the novelty of streaming stuff at Netflix/Amazon/etc. lol)

-Our driveway is 1/4mile long dirt road.  If it rains, snows, or anything else, it can be a challenge getting up and down it.  

-Pre-marriage, when I lived in town, I walked everywhere, or rode my bike.  We would easily be a wagon-of-books-to-the-library type of family if we lived in town.  I wish I could walk to places.  

[Ottakee]

On the driving thing, we are only 15 minutes or so from 2 different small towns/communities.  The issue comes in that my kids go to school in one direction and we go to church in the other and some other stuff is in a third direction.  Wednesday we have 4 appointments(and 2 kids to get to youth group activities) in 3 different towns all in the afternoon----so dh and I have to divide and conquer.

 

One positive about our drives, is that one of them is 55mph all the way with 1 stop sign at a turn and then nothing until I am in town so we can get in a lot more miles than city people in heavy traffic.  The other way is mostly 55 with some 45 mph but again no traffic concerns.  Our traffic "jams" come from double hay wagons, combines, blue berry pickers, etc. that take up a bit more than their share of the road and can only travel at 10-25mph

[fruitofthewomb]

The idea tht it is not safe for kids to play outside in a neighborhood but it is safe on 5-20 acres is laughable and completely baseless.

 

It is completely paranoid actually and doesn't reflect reality

In our case we had a neighbor who had a mental illness, cars drove down the street at about 40 mph, & strange dogs were always around (no leash law). So it wasn't paranoid. We don't have any of those things happening now. Just because your neighborhood is safe doesn't mean all are.

[fruitofthewomb]

I hope no one takes offense to my 'neighbor with a mental illness' statement. Not everyone who has a mental illness is a danger-I just didn't trust him. I should have left out the mental illness part. That doesn't really matter. Our back yards were side by side & no fence in between. He didn't work so he was outside a lot. I just always felt like I needed to keep an eye on my kids because my DH & I got a weird vibe from him.

[Shellydon]

If at all possible, rent a house on acreage for a year or two before deciding

[LMD]

If you do it, do it while they are young.  We moved out to the country when our girls were teens, and they want nothing to do with the great outdoors.  I raised a bunch of city-dwellers..lol.  

 

That said, I think it is great, especially if you do it while the kids are young, and you are looking forward to the outdoor work.  If YOU aren't really up on bugs and nature and dirt, then don't do it.  

 

Yes, I agree with this.  My oldest turns 10 this year and I don't want to leave it later than that.

[catz]

That's crazy. We live in a neighborhood of 800 homes. Many elementary kids ride bikes to school from a mile away or walk and our neighborhood park is full of kids.

 

We live about 10 blocks from a school.  Kids of all ages walk back and forth to school alone.  And walk dogs.  Or meet at the park.  I just don't get the kind of busy body that decides someone else's child can't do something on their own.  That is a parenting decision.  I guess it just takes one busy body.

[violamama]

We just found another candidate. Closer to 10 acres but less stuff close to it. It's about ten minutes further out (so ~35 minutes round trip) from shops. My husband's commute would be an hour total per day and there's no public transport option. He works only 4 days per week and may go to more work from home if he decides to become a partner. Lots to consider!!!

[madteaparty]

Yes, I agree with this.  My oldest turns 10 this year and I don't want to leave it later than that.

Another agreement to do while kids are young. We will consider moving back to the city when DS is a teen (keeping our farm as a weekend home).

[Ottakee]

We just found another candidate. Closer to 10 acres but less stuff close to it. It's about ten minutes further out (so ~35 minutes round trip) from shops. My husband's commute would be an hour total per day and there's no public transport option. He works only 4 days per week and may go to more work from home if he decides to become a partner. Lots to consider!!!

 

For us that would be very doable.  Dh used to have a 45 minute each way commute to work and we honestly didn't think it was that bad.  If it is only 30 minutes each way (make sure with traffic/weather, etc. that is really what it would be) and less than 20 minutes each way to town that is very doable if you want a rural lifestyle.  People in bigger cities can easily spend 20 minutes driving just a few miles and/or waiting for public transportation.

 

Check tax rates as well as those can vary a lot from community to community.........and don't assume that the current taxes on the property are what you would pay.  If the property has been owned for a long time the taxes might have been capped but will be readjusted for the new owners.

 

oh, and with rural land make sure you have a well and septic checked and make sure that there are no under ground storage tanks or dumps on the property.  Not likely but something to check.

 

We would LOVE to have 10 acres.  Really, 40 or more but 10 would be double our current 5.

 

[PeacefulChaos]

Well, we don't live 'in the country' in the way you are talking, but compared to a lot of people, we do, so I'll chime in.  :D

 

We live in a rural town - population 8,000.  We have a small university with about 5,000 - I have no idea whether our 8.000 is influenced by that or not.  I'm inclined to believe it is, because I really don't think we have that many, but whatevs.  We also have another college a couple miles south of town that's about 1000 - and a lot of people around here live out in tiny rural 'towns' that aren't really 'towns' aside from a tiny post office - everything else is in our town.  The 'towns' are really just there to encompass all the farms and acreage around.  We're about 1 hour from any cities, so there's no Target (why people love that place so much is beyond me anyway) or malls or anything like that.  We have a WalMart and a Food Lion for groceries, stuff like that.  

 

We actually live in town.  Our yard is maybe 1/4 acre? - not huge but it's mostly backyard and is still pretty big comparatively.  A lot of places here don't have yards that size.  We don't exactly live in a 'neighborhood' but we have a few neighbors.  There are some other kids, though most of them aren't around a lot or don't come outside much.  

 

Sometimes I'd love to be a little further out, too.  We've got tons of opportunity for it here, but we just haven't had the resources to do it yet, plus it is still pretty nice to be in town.  I wouldn't want a garden or anything like that, though - we tried having one once and we worked SO hard and got NOTHING.  So we gave up lol.  I just wouldn't mind a bigger space outside for the kids to explore.  Where we are I still have no problems sending them outside, and sometimes they'll be out there for hours.  

 

Idk.  My idyllic setting would be a house that was just big enough for us, on a fair amount of land but still not too incredibly far from everything.  Which I think we could get pretty easily here.  

 

Sometimes I wish for something a little closer to something - we don't have tons of opportunities here for the kids to do different extracurriculars and such - there's a community baseball league (which is well run and intense, but fun - if you like baseball lol), a community basketball league (which I have no experience with), community soccer league (poorly run because it's a baseball town), a dance studio (not awesome), and a YMCA (which we don't use - we do swimming lessons but not there.  The kids take RC lessons at the pool where DH & I work, which I'm very pleased with).  There are homeschool co-ops but we're not really interested in them.  We organized a homeschool art class every other week, we drive 30 minutes twice a month for a movie making class for fun for Link.  There are a fair number of homeschool families in our area, and while many are uber religious, I'm finding that if *I* try to be inclusive, some will come around.  Our district (where we file a NOI every year and submit test results) is easy to work with.  

 

We drove an hour and a half for all of my pregnancies and deliveries - we go to the doctor 45 minutes to an hour away.  The kids' dentist is in town but if Link ends up at the orthodontist in a couple years (which he very well may) it'll be 45 minutes away.  The eye doctor for the kids is about an hour and a half, but they don't have to go often - not even yearly.  But overall, it's all good.  I don't hate it, nor do I think it's the perfect life.  But I'm content with it.

 

So yeah, there are trade offs.  I've actually never lived in a 'city' - I've lived in towns bigger than this one, in more of a 'suburbia' setting, and in towns about this size.  I think we could make it work anywhere, honestly, unless it required a whole lot of outdoorsy stuff from me - I'm not really an outdoor girl.  ;)  DH hates the city, though, too, since he was born and raised here.  

 

The biggest lack we have here is opportunity.  For a job, there is not a ton.  I love music and was very active in band and choir in high school, and we would need to travel to the city for opportunities like that for my kids.  Our PS system isn't great so we kind of homeschool out of necessity.  For some reason, housing here is pretty high (college driving it up, maybe?  Idk).  

 

Anyway, sorry about going on about it so long.  It's funny because I was about to type up a post last night about it, but then I couldn't figure out what my point would be - just rambling.  I think that I sometimes get too hooked on the idea of 'wanting to get out of here' when in reality, when I look at it, I'm not unhappy at all.  I'm just one of those people who likes change and thinks anything new is an adventure.  :)

[Whereneverever]

We live on just under 40 acres, 3 miles from a tar road. I love it. You do need to plan things to take longer- I have a special needs kiddo and it takes 20 mins for an ambulance to get here. That can be scary in an emergency.

 

I wouldn't trade it, though. My kids spend so much time outside exploring. It's quiet. Yes, there's mud, but mud cleans up.