Last one- Homeschooling in York, PA?

[Classic Mom]

We are getting to the end of interviews- last one is in York, PA, so what can you tell me about homeschooling in York?

 

Thanks!!

Edited October 1, 2016 by Classic Mom

[luuknam]

You might want to add ", PA" to the subject header (you can by editing your first post). I totally misread it as homeschooling in New York (and if I hadn't, I'd have thought GB).

 

Also, find a local email/FB/etc list/group/etc. That's more likely to be successful than asking on an international forum.

[happypamama]

York is in my general area, but I almost never head over that way, so I can't comment on it much. The York County library system is pretty good. You might join the Harrisburg Area Homeschoolers Association -- HAHA -- group, online and on FB. There's also York Home School Association or something like that -- YHSA -- but I know nothing about how to find them. There's SHEY, Social Home Educators of York, which has a Yahoo group, but it's not super active.

[Classic Mom]

You might want to add ", PA" to the subject header (you can by editing your first post). I totally misread it as homeschooling in New York (and if I hadn't, I'd have thought GB).

 

Also, find a local email/FB/etc list/group/etc. That's more likely to be successful than asking on an international forum.

 

Thanks- I tried that, too, but not much luck yet. 

[AmandaVT]

I'm not sure if the economic situation has improved in York recently, but I have a close friend who taught in York for 10 years and she said it's a really economically depressed area with a lot of crime. She loves teaching in the poorer school districts, but she finally left York, partially because of how rough the school was. 

 

(not homeschooling related, I know - I figure if you're looking to move, it might be helpful info anyway)

[happypamama]

I don't have a great impression of York. It does seem run down, and there are definitely some sketchy areas. If you have the option, I'd live closer to Shrewsbury, Lewisberry/Etters, Hanover, or Adams County rather than right in York. Those all feel nicer to me.

[creekland]

For years hubby worked in York (engineering) while we lived in Hanover and here on our farm.  I much prefer that to living in or close to York.  There are other nicer areas outside of York too, but Hanover (and it's surrounding areas) appeal more to us.

 

York Homeschoolers (a group) regularly win the local - and sometimes state - Envirothon, so there is a group there.  I don't know anything else about them though.  We always opted to homeschool independently.  There are plenty of homeschoolers in our area (north of Hanover).

[Stratford]

York County is a great place to live.  York City is not.  The downtown area (which is fairly small) has a lot of crime.  Fortunately, the vast majority of the crime is isolated to specific areas.  (When we first moved here, I worked in the local ER.  Great way to learn all the negative stuff about your community in a very short amount of time.  That said, I've worked in York City for almost a decade and haven't had any issues.)  Parts of downtown are great and have fun stuff - a minor league baseball team, a really nice theatre with an excellent local symphony, some nice restaurants, York College, etc.   I wouldn't classify this area as economically depressed, most just average.

 

York County has lots of great areas.  If you're looking at specific areas, feel free to ask specific questions; the only school district in the county I would never buy a house in is York City (there are 15 or so districts.)  We live in the NW part of the county and do most of our homeschool stuff in the Harrisburg area.  Our coop is in Camp Hill, we've done things with HAHA.  The YHSA group is a religious coop and we have been excluded from that one, so I don't know much about them.  

 

If we had to do things over again, we wouldn't worry as much about our commutes as we did.  That was a big factor in leaving our previous home (No.VA) and we were adamantly opposed to driving long distances for work.  That said, traffic here, compared to any major metro area, is practically nonexistent.  We could live anywhere in the area and still have a reasonable commute to work.  If I had to choose again, I'd live further out in the sticks and have a little farm, but that wasn't on my radar when we moved here.  Or I'd go over the river to Lancaster County and live in Lititz, because it's just that adorable.  

 

 

 

 

 

[creekland]

York County is a great place to live.  York City is not.  The downtown area (which is fairly small) has a lot of crime.  Fortunately, the vast majority of the crime is isolated to specific areas.  (When we first moved here, I worked in the local ER.  Great way to learn all the negative stuff about your community in a very short amount of time.  That said, I've worked in York City for almost a decade and haven't had any issues.)  Parts of downtown are great and have fun stuff - a minor league baseball team, a really nice theatre with an excellent local symphony, some nice restaurants, York College, etc.   I wouldn't classify this area as economically depressed, most just average.

 

York County has lots of great areas.  If you're looking at specific areas, feel free to ask specific questions; the only school district in the county I would never buy a house in is York City (there are 15 or so districts.)  We live in the NW part of the county and do most of our homeschool stuff in the Harrisburg area.  Our coop is in Camp Hill, we've done things with HAHA.  The YHSA group is a religious coop and we have been excluded from that one, so I don't know much about them.  

 

If we had to do things over again, we wouldn't worry as much about our commutes as we did.  That was a big factor in leaving our previous home (No.VA) and we were adamantly opposed to driving long distances for work.  That said, traffic here, compared to any major metro area, is practically nonexistent.  We could live anywhere in the area and still have a reasonable commute to work.  If I had to choose again, I'd live further out in the sticks and have a little farm, but that wasn't on my radar when we moved here.  Or I'd go over the river to Lancaster County and live in Lititz, because it's just that adorable.  

 

:iagree: and well written.  Hubby never once had issues when he worked in York City either.  He only left because he started his own business here in Adams County - literally within a couple miles of the county line.  He still does work in both counties.

 

Neither York nor Adams counties are economically depressed.  They are both doing quite well and often do so even when a good bit of the rest of the country is not.  Adam's county's unemployment rate is 3.8% (according to google).  York's is 4.3%.  In PA it's 5.3%.  York City is 8.1%, so there is a significant difference.

[Classic Mom]

Thanks everyone. This is all very helpful.

[school17777]

If you have more specific questions, you may want to join "Homeschooling in York, PA" facebook page. Lots of information for the area on that page including two ladies who plan great fieldtrips which you don't have to belong to YHSA to attend. York County is very homeschool friendly and probably wherever you end up in the county, there will be other homeschoolers. There are a variety of co-ops in the area - the traditional parent teach/help/period off types to drop off ones.

 

YHSA (York Homeschool Association) plans dances for homeschoolers. The schools in PA allow homeschoolers on the sports teams. Most of the teams at my local school have at least one homeschooler on it, if not more.

 

Some of the schools in the county offer hybrid programs where you can teach some of the subjects at home (with curriculum provided by the school) and attend classes at the school for part of the day as well. Some of the private schools do this as well.