Do you ever lament the fact that where you live limits your kids opportunities?

[Rose in BC]

I have been thinking this a lot lately, possibly because my dh is unemployed and now, for the first time in our married life, we may have to move. We love where we live and would not choose to move but unemployment is high here.

 

Anyway, yesterday's post about the independent daughter flying to an event made me realize that: (a) by virtue of where I live the cost to fly anywhere is so excessive it would never happen and, (b) most of the time we don't even know about these events. I think this is exasperated by the fact that I'm a homeschool mom and the school we're connected with is so far away that I'm not sure we would even be aware of events through them.

 

All this to ask, does location limit our children's opportunities?

[delaney]

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

[Rose in BC]

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

 

This is a great response. I guess it's true, the grass is always greener . . .

Thanks for this reminder.

[lllll]

No, because we have moved so much that I've learned to enjoy where we're living at the moment and take advantage of what's around us ... it could all be totally different tomorrow. :tongue_smilie:

[joannqn]

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

 

:iagree:

 

Sometimes I love living here with all of the opportunities, but sometimes I wish we could move to a ranch somewhere.

[elegantlion]

Yes, we have limited outside opportunities where we are at currently. It drives me batty on some days. We are planning on moving in the near future and one of my first criteria is that there are MORE cultural, community, and homeschool opportunities.

 

Where we used to live we had access to many good events and museums and activities that catered to homeschoolers. I feel like we've missed out on a lot because of where we live.

Edited March 21, 2010 by elegantlion

[Mommyof4ks]

There will always be something more that we want lol. My dd and my youngest ds have things here that they love, but my middle ds is 6 and very mechanical. There are no robotics or other engineering type activities in our area, and trying to come up with things on our own is very expensive.

[hsmom]

No. I live where there is not opportunities like you would have in DC, Denver, or any big city. We live in a quiet, small town, near lost of nature, and not too many people. I think we have like 2000. The walmart is 2 hrs away and we love it like this.

 

I don't want my children to be dependent on extra stuff. I would like it occasionally, but do I ever feel I a not giving them all the opportunities because we don't have them? No. My kids get everything they need out of life. Now mind you they will not learn about traffic jams, see huge museums, go to neat concerts or plays, but we love it this way.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

We live in a large town/small city in IL and the opportunities are quite limited.

Not just with sports but in almost every area.

If we want to participate in anything major (sports, speech club, etc) we need to drive. Most of those opportunities are 1-3 hours away. The distance puts a limit on weekly pratices and last minute schedule changes.

 

I would love to move back to Colo. Springs where opportunities are endless (or limited only by desire and finances).

[6packofun]

Yes, I do. I try not to dwell on the negatives because that could be *really* easy to do, but here in the Cleveland area, there are very few homeschool groups or co-ops to take advantage of. I can't complain about field trip opportunities because there are plenty of those if we go alone, of course. But it's finances that are a bigger hindrance, IMO. No vehicle 5 days a week means staying at home way too much. This isn't what I envisioned for our homeschool. :(

[athena1277]

I feel limited by the fact that i do not have the money to do a lot of things. Yes, there are a lot of free things to do here (we are near DC), but in the year we've been here, we've done almost all of them. I would love to let dd take some art or music classes, or even participate in some of the cool classes at the local nature sites. We can only afford one not-so-expensive activity per semester. We just signed her up for T-ball because she has begged to play. The rest will have to wait til another year. :sad:

[Mrs Mungo]

There is currently a lack of some activities where we live now as opposed to where we used to live. On the other hand, we have a lot of oppurtunities here that we would miss elsewhere.

[G5052]

I live in an area with a HUGE number of homeschool classes, field trips, and even homeschool sports, and we do only a fraction of what some do. It's also one of the most affluent and expensive areas of the country though. To afford our academic priorities, we rarely go out of town, and I've always worked part-time to cover the homeschooling expenses, outside activities, and a few bills.

 

So the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

[Sweetpeach]

No question, we enjoy opportunities because at the end of a 20 minute busride, we can be downtown . . . art gallery, museums, athletic opportunity. None of those things matter as much as being together, and making family life work.

 

Some of the most successful and interesting people I know were the ones who spent their childhoods living in their imaginations and weren't spoon-fed via opportunity after opportunity.

 

Blessings to you!

Tricia

[Wheres Toto]

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

 

This is more our dilemna. We're 30 minutes from NYC, 90 minutes from Philadelphia, 4 hours from DC....plus I belong to 3 different local homeschool groups, a Mom's Club group....we have YMCA classes, homeschool gymnastics classes, art classes, music classes, etc. all within 5 minutes. It can be hard to resist the urge to do it all.

[delaney]

I am voting for the ranch~

[lauracolumbus]

No question, we enjoy opportunities because at the end of a 20 minute busride, we can be downtown . . . art gallery, museums, athletic opportunity. None of those things matter as much as being together, and making family life work.

 

Some of the most successful and interesting people I know were the ones who spent their childhoods living in their imaginations and weren't spoon-fed via opportunity after opportunity.

 

Blessings to you!

Tricia

 

I think we have the best of both worlds. We live in a somewhat small city, just outside a very large city. We have access to a variety of #1 rated amenities like zoo, library, children's science museum, but still have a small town environment. There are more things that go on in other suburbs where we live, and sometimes we drive to them, and it would be nicer to live in that part of town. But overall I think we're in a good spot.

 

Having said all of that, I do have to agree w/Tricia's post to a point. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and was often bored to tears, I turned into a book worm. I don't think this will happen to my kids b/c there is always some kid in the neighborhood to play with. It's great for the creativity to draw on the sidewalk or put on plays w/their friends, but they only rarely p/u a book on their own.

 

Laura

[FO4UR]

We just moved this year....our former town had tons of opportunities just for HSers. I have to stop myself from thinking, "If we were still in----, dc could do-----"

 

There is stuff here, but not much for HSing families...and everything costs $, of course.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I feel limited by the fact that i do not have the money to do a lot of things. Yes, there are a lot of free things to do here (we are near DC), but in the year we've been here, we've done almost all of them. I would love to let dd take some art or music classes, or even participate in some of the cool classes at the local nature sites. We can only afford one not-so-expensive activity per semester. We just signed her up for T-ball because she has begged to play. The rest will have to wait til another year. :sad:

 

I'm right there with you.

 

Money more than location limits us too. We have done all the free and affordable stuff in the area (just outside of DC). Most of our budget just goes to paying the bills in a high-cost of living area, so we can't take advantage of any of the extras that are offered in our area.

 

It's just not homeschooling opportunities. I just found out that participating in high school band costs around $500 per kid/year because of the extra's dual-income parents expect (like monogrammed polo shirts, out of town field trips), so even though my kids would be allowed to participate, we just couldn't afford to let them.

 

K

[Hockey Mom]

What a great question! And everyone's answers are all so interesting. :)

 

We live in south Florida. Believe it or not, I wish we lived closer to the 'action'. Aside from theme parks and beaches, there really isn't a lot to do. I would love to take my kids to DC one day...but it's a 10-hour drive just to get out of the state! LOL

[Laurie4b]

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

 

This was my thought as well. There is both blessing and curse in all the abundance of stuff to do.

[Jackie in NE]

I have been thinking this a lot lately, possibly because my dh is unemployed and now, for the first time in our married life, we may have to move. We love where we live and would not choose to move but unemployment is high here.

 

Anyway, yesterday's post about the independent daughter flying to an event made me realize that: (a) by virtue of where I live the cost to fly anywhere is so excessive it would never happen and, (b) most of the time we don't even know about these events. I think this is exasperated by the fact that I'm a homeschool mom and the school we're connected with is so far away that I'm not sure we would even be aware of events through them.

 

All this to ask, does location limit our children's opportunities?

 

Yes, I think our location can limit the opportunities available to our children. And as many others have said, the grass is NOT always greener somewhere else.

 

Someone mentioned that they'd like to just "buy a ranch" somewhere..... Well, be careful what you wish for. We did buy a ranch. It was our dream for many years. However, the reality was that the opportunities for the children were extremely limited. But maybe more important than that were the influences on our children. Let's just say that because of the lack of opportunity in the area, there was a very high rate of teen pregnancy, and a very high rate of underage drinking, etc. It was not the environment we wanted for our dc. It was not the environment that would prepare them well for life.

 

So that is our new criteria: "will the environment and the opportunities available to our children prepare them well for life?" And sometimes, for us at least, that means having access to people in need instead of one more activity. It means shoveling snow for the elderly lady on the corner, and visiting with her, because she is lonely. Sometimes if you do things like that, instead of one more "thing" that you have to pay for, you can save the money necessary to do the day trip to the museum in a not-so-close good-sized city. That is what we have learned, anyway.

 

Warm regards, Jackie

[kewb]

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

 

 

Same challenge here. I am a short train ride into NYC, there is tons to do in the state I live in (NJ), 4.5 hours to my sister in DC. I am often left feeling overwhelmed by my choices. Sometimes, I end up doing nothing from the paralysis of too many choices.

[Jamee]

We thought we'd be able to make it work, moving back to my hometown after a few years in San Diego. We weren't that far from stuff. It was awful! We eventually moved outside Denver and what a difference. Even though we were dirt poor at the time, there was still SO much to do, so many more opportunities to take advantage of--the parks alone were amazing and fun for the kids. Yeah, I think you can make the most of where ever you may be, but the lack of stuff to do can make a huge difference on quality of life. Right now, we're loving where we're at and all that is new and exciting to try out.

[hsbaby]

I feel very fortunate to be living where we do. We are half an hour from a major city rich in culture, art, historical sites, etc. Yet, we live in a small town with a large, active homeschooling community. We have not always lived here so I really appreciate all this area has to offer. I know that my kids would not have the same opportunities had we stayed in our former city.

[2squared]

And sometimes, for us at least, that means having access to people in need instead of one more activity. It means shoveling snow for the elderly lady on the corner, and visiting with her, because she is lonely. Sometimes if you do things like that, instead of one more "thing" that you have to pay for, you can save the money necessary to do the day trip to the museum in a not-so-close good-sized city. That is what we have learned, anyway.

 

I just talked to my dh about this very idea! We live extremely rurally, and it takes us 3 hours to get to a city with "culture." My dh is in the reserves in the city, so we have the opportunity every month to visit the city if we want. I do bemoan the lack of cultural activities and classes where we live, but I think that is short-sighted. We are gaining so much by living in the country, depending on ourselves for entertainment, and being a part of this warm, friendly community.

 

Anyway, I was telling my dh that as our kids grow up, I would like to forego some of the me-oriented experiences (sports, clubs, and the like) and make our family's focus on serving others. With five kids, we will be a force to reckon with. Can you imagine how many lawns we can rake, how many Christmas lights we can put up, how many miles of road we can walk to pick up garbage, etc. We live in a very elderly community, and I think we will have many, many opportunities for serving.

[Miss Marple]

Most definitely. But I find that it offers other opportunities that cannot be obtained elsewhere, too. I'm not sure where the trade-off is, though. And I think I feel it more now that the boys are in high school. It was easier when they were younger - easier to find enrichment activities, easier to find like-minded friends, and easier to keep the boys content.

[mcconnellboys]

I feel the lack of educational opportunities here as opposed to the next nearest city, Louisville, for example. But despite the fact that my children may miss out on some things now, I believe that they will have opportunities through college life to participate in many different types of things. And they will have opportunities as they move into the world of adult work to move to areas where they might have other opportunities, as well.

[MamaSheep]

I think location helps determine the kids of opportunities available to our kids, but really opportunities are what you make of them and I think every location has an overabundance of opportunities if you know what the area's opportunities ARE. One area may have many opportunities for historical investigations, whereas another area may have many opportunities to start something new, for example. Also, opportunities and limitations are largely in the eye of the beholder. For example, a family that lives in an area where everyone around them is pretty much the same--racially, socioeconomically, religiously, etc.--might view that as a lack of opportunity for their kids to experience diversity, whereas another family in similar circumstances might view it as an opportunity for their kids to grow up deeply immersed in the richness of their own cultural traditions and develop an appreciation for their heritage. Conversely, if the family is a minority, one family might view that as a lack of cultural opportunity for their kids, whereas another might see it as an opportunity to learn about another culture and develop an appreciation for diversity. A family who lives in a very developed urban area might choose to get involved with the many opportunities available at museums, concerts, zoos, and whatnot, or they might sit around mourning because their kids' opportunities to experience nature are limited. A family that lives in a rural area can choose to revel in the natural world around them, or to cry over the "lost" cultural opportunities.

 

I guess I just think that every location has its opportunities, and that an abundance of one kind of opportunity will necessarily limit other kinds of opportunity. The trick is to figure out what opportunities are in your area and use them.

[Cammie]

We are absolutely limited in the day to day stuff. There are no great museums or places to take the kids to. Very few homeschoolers in the country - not to mention in our city. The only benefit is when it is time for a vacation - we are not far from lots of other countries - so we do get to see a bit more of the world.

[Revwife]

We live in Fort Worth, but we're from Los Angeles and there are MANY, MANY times I wish we were back in L.A. just to have access to more stuff to do. We vacation in L.A. just about every year and it has become one big field trip:001_smile:

[Karen FL]

Rose, I concur with the poster who lamented the amount of time it takes to drive out of South FL. I do sometimes wish we had more money for travel.

 

In light of Acts 17:26, 27 though I cannot lament over no money for traveling for long. The forementioned is one of my favorite scriptures and it says, "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."

Since God has determined our when and where we should live I trust that He will help us to train our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I also trust that He will provide us the resources to train our children in the way that they should go.

 

You might be feeling a little melancholy due to your husband's situation. I have BTDT and it can color everything blue. The "just shall live by faith and not sight." I commend to you Phillipians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

 

If you're watching a lot of news turn it off sooner than later.The news stations tells us about the unemployment rate daily and that can be depressing.

 

I pray that your husband finds a new job soon. I hope you all can have some memorable and enjoyable times with dad at home. This may be a good time for your children to see how God provides for His people even when the breadwinner is not at a daily job.

[Rose in BC]

The comments on this thread have been very thought provoking. Thank you. I know no location is perfect but it did hit me (disclosure: I'm reading Malcolm Gladwell's "What the Dog Saw, The story of success") this week that our location is limiting to some experiences. But, as pointed out by several posters, we do have other experiences as a result of living where we do.

 

Lots to mull over.

[RoughCollie]

I think our new location limits our opportunities severely.

 

The people who live here disagree, but most of them have lived here all their lives. They haven't lived in Boston, for example, and so don't realize what they are missing.

 

They don't mind, but I sure do.

Edited March 22, 2010 by RoughCollie

[happygrrl]

I think location helps determine the kids of opportunities available to our kids, but really opportunities are what you make of them and I think every location has an overabundance of opportunities if you know what the area's opportunities ARE. One area may have many opportunities for historical investigations, whereas another area may have many opportunities to start something new, for example. Also, opportunities and limitations are largely in the eye of the beholder. For example, a family that lives in an area where everyone around them is pretty much the same--racially, socioeconomically, religiously, etc.--might view that as a lack of opportunity for their kids to experience diversity, whereas another family in similar circumstances might view it as an opportunity for their kids to grow up deeply immersed in the richness of their own cultural traditions and develop an appreciation for their heritage. Conversely, if the family is a minority, one family might view that as a lack of cultural opportunity for their kids, whereas another might see it as an opportunity to learn about another culture and develop an appreciation for diversity. A family who lives in a very developed urban area might choose to get involved with the many opportunities available at museums, concerts, zoos, and whatnot, or they might sit around mourning because their kids' opportunities to experience nature are limited. A family that lives in a rural area can choose to revel in the natural world around them, or to cry over the "lost" cultural opportunities.

 

I guess I just think that every location has its opportunities, and that an abundance of one kind of opportunity will necessarily limit other kinds of opportunity. The trick is to figure out what opportunities are in your area and use them.

 

Thanks, MamaSheep. I needed to hear that tonight! :)

[MamaSheep]

 

Thanks, MamaSheep. I needed to hear that tonight! :)

:grouphug:

[Hannah]

My children's opportunities and future is limited by the country we live in, let alone the area. South Africa has an extremely high crime rates, corruption is rife and health care and education are lacking. The road and other infrastructure is deteriorating fast. It's very hard to say what the country will look like in 10, 20 and 30 years. My siblings and many friends are already living all over the world.

 

Due to dh's health, we could not take the opportunity to emigrate 2 years ago and we are soon reaching an age where it will no longer be possible to do so. I focus on the positive and enjoying what we do have... dh and I both have good jobs (part-time for me), we have a great standard of living compared to what we'd have to start over with, great weather, beautiful countryside and wildlife. The children have the opportunity for horse-riding and other activities they would not have due to the cost elsewhere. And domestic help is extremely cheap!!

 

I hope that my children will one day be able to do post-graduate studies overseas. That will possibly lead to them relocating and I then hope that we will be able to afford to travel to see them.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Hannah
Typos

[Pata]

We are absolutely limited in the day to day stuff. There are no great museums or places to take the kids to. Very few homeschoolers in the country - not to mention in our city. The only benefit is when it is time for a vacation - we are not far from lots of other countries - so we do get to see a bit more of the world.

 

:iagree:, we can't do the typical ballet or music classes, but we can take some awesome overnight field trips. There are good points and bad points about everywhere you live. We try to focus on the good points and the opportunities that we do have.

[Rosie_0801]

All this to ask, does location limit our children's opportunities?

 

Yeah, but you can't do everything and location is a convenient way of cutting down the options! Making the most of your environment is Real Life and Relevant. Everything outside of our environment is the stuff of dreams. Hopefully we will get to achieve some of those dreams, but most of those things will be our kids responsibilities, not ours. We can only work with what we've got. When they are adults, they will organise their own environments to include their most important dreams. When they are off doing that, I'll be reshuffling my life to include a few of mine ;)

 

Rosie

[Margo out of lurking]

I have the opposite problem. Living 45 miles out of DC we are deluged with opportunities and I feel pressure to try and let the kids do everything. I would love a year where all they do is learn, read, relax, and enjoy nature and live without all the extra activities and electronic influences!

 

Too bad we can't trade. After living in Denver and Colorado Springs, we've lived in Stickville, VA for three years. I am SO over country life. It's nice, as long as I don't want to actually DO anything. We thought it'd be a great opportunity for our kids to experience this, but they couldn't care less--and I'm sick of driving an hour to get anywhere, especially when we have to do that several times a week. We're planning a move this summer, only closer to Roanoke, not to DC!

 

(Okay, I got a little excited. I need to remember to breathe, in and out, slowly, breathe, breathe.)

 

----------------------------------

Added:

 

>>In light of Acts 17:26, 27 though I cannot lament over no money for traveling for long. The forementioned is one of my favorite scriptures and it says, "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."

 

Karen in FL posted this. Yes, it's true, and I'm a little embarrassed by my vent. Our three years here has been a blessing in how it's drawn our family together. I've known all along that it's part of God's plan for my family. But there's that part of me that asks, Lord, haven't we had enough? Aren't we together now? :)

Edited March 22, 2010 by Kristine out of lurking

[Peela]

There are limitations everywhere and anywhere. I live in the most isolated city on the planet- lots of opportunities, but none of the wonderful lifestyle influences of living in the country, and limited opportunities in some other ways. Its not especially cheap to go visit the relatives, thats for sure .Dh and I would like to live in the country but the kids would freak. I wouldnt mind moving to the other side of Australia where I come from, but I couldn't do that to my kids- they are settled.

Limitations are ok. I often wonder how I ended up here and if I would have chosen to bring my kids up here if it hadn't just kind of happened before we felt it was too late to move anywhere else (we feel strongly about not uprooting our teenagers from their friends)..and maybe I wouldnt have...but then, maybe I would. It all depends on how you look at it.

[Sarah CB]

I have been thinking this a lot lately, possibly because my dh is unemployed and now, for the first time in our married life, we may have to move. We love where we live and would not choose to move but unemployment is high here.

 

Anyway, yesterday's post about the independent daughter flying to an event made me realize that: (a) by virtue of where I live the cost to fly anywhere is so excessive it would never happen and, (b) most of the time we don't even know about these events. I think this is exasperated by the fact that I'm a homeschool mom and the school we're connected with is so far away that I'm not sure we would even be aware of events through them.

 

All this to ask, does location limit our children's opportunities?

 

Well, this doesn't answer your question, but I wanted to let you know that the event my daughter is attending is absolutely within your grasp. It's called Encounters with Canada. I didn't find it through the school (they didn't know about it either). I was looking on the Historica site to find out more information about history fairs. I saw a link that said Encounters with Canada. I clicked it. I discovered that the program flies in kids from all over Canada to spend a week in Ottawa learning more about Canadian culture and history. Each week of the school year there is a different theme at EWC. Law and Justics (where they actually go to the Supreme Court of Canada!), Vimy Ridge, Sports and Rec, etc. Dd chose International Affairs. Kids spend 2.5 hours learning about their theme and the rest of the time exploring Ottawa and learning about Canada.

 

Did I mention that *they* fly the kids in? It's paid for. Plus, I used funds from our school of enrollment to pay for the room and board at the Terry Fox Youth Centre (that's where they live for the week - it's the only cost). Dd saved her allowance and babysitting money for months so that she'd have some spending cash while she was there. I didn't pay a cent for this. If we hadn't had enough school funding I know dd would have worked her butt off to raise the $625 needed for room and board for the week.

 

http://www.encounters-rencontres.ca/en/our_youth_program/index.html;jsessionid=EDE8A2AE8EF4049FBE6F6A64E3537134.tomcat2

 

So, if you think your kids might be interested, and if you're with the same school that I am (I think you are...) then PM me and I'll give you the name of the person at the school who will help you get signed up.

[Friederike in Persia]

We live in a small town in nothern Tajikistan and because it is one of the most conservative/Islamic places in the country there are no out of school activities for girls. That bumms!

On the other hand I look at the Russian and Farsi tutours that we can affort for our girls here (about $1 an hour) and I think:D what a good place to live.

They'll just have to do sports when they're older and back in the West.

[Rose in BC]

Well, this doesn't answer your question, but I wanted to let you know that the event my daughter is attending is absolutely within your grasp. It's called Encounters with Canada. I didn't find it through the school (they didn't know about it either). I was looking on the Historica site to find out more information about history fairs. I saw a link that said Encounters with Canada. I clicked it. I discovered that the program flies in kids from all over Canada to spend a week in Ottawa learning more about Canadian culture and history. Each week of the school year there is a different theme at EWC. Law and Justics (where they actually go to the Supreme Court of Canada!), Vimy Ridge, Sports and Rec, etc. Dd chose International Affairs. Kids spend 2.5 hours learning about their theme and the rest of the time exploring Ottawa and learning about Canada.

 

Did I mention that *they* fly the kids in? It's paid for. Plus, I used funds from our school of enrollment to pay for the room and board at the Terry Fox Youth Centre (that's where they live for the week - it's the only cost). Dd saved her allowance and babysitting money for months so that she'd have some spending cash while she was there. I didn't pay a cent for this. If we hadn't had enough school funding I know dd would have worked her butt off to raise the $625 needed for room and board for the week.

 

http://www.encounters-rencontres.ca/en/our_youth_program/index.html;jsessionid=EDE8A2AE8EF4049FBE6F6A64E3537134.tomcat2

 

So, if you think your kids might be interested, and if you're with the same school that I am (I think you are...) then PM me and I'll give you the name of the person at the school who will help you get signed up.

 

Thanks Sarah.

[Rose in BC]

Rose, I concur with the poster who lamented the amount of time it takes to drive out of South FL. I do sometimes wish we had more money for travel.

 

In light of Acts 17:26, 27 though I cannot lament over no money for traveling for long. The forementioned is one of my favorite scriptures and it says, "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."

Since God has determined our when and where we should live I trust that He will help us to train our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I also trust that He will provide us the resources to train our children in the way that they should go.

 

You might be feeling a little melancholy due to your husband's situation. I have BTDT and it can color everything blue. The "just shall live by faith and not sight." I commend to you Phillipians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

 

If you're watching a lot of news turn it off sooner than later.The news stations tells us about the unemployment rate daily and that can be depressing.

 

I pray that your husband finds a new job soon. I hope you all can have some memorable and enjoyable times with dad at home. This may be a good time for your children to see how God provides for His people even when the breadwinner is not at a daily job.

 

Thank you for the encouraging words. I really needed to hear this this morning. Some days are darker than others but my faith is strong, especially when bolstered by fellow believers and the word of God.

[laughing lioness]

Yes. We have worked hard to create opportunities for our kids here- starting co-ops, bringing TeenPact to the state, etc. But, one of the governor's concerns for our state is that young people get educated here at state schools for dirt cheap and LEAVE the state- it has been declared a "state crisis" that educated young people are leaving the state at record numbers. As our kids have gotten older, they have noticed more and more the lack of like-minded people. It is disheartening.

You might be interested in Richard Florida's books: "What is your City?" specifically, but also, "The Rise of the Creative Class."

otoh- because we are so aware of what we experience as a lack (having lived in L.A. and other metro areas) we have searched out (and found) some cool opportunities. Of course, most of them aren't "here" so our kids are venturing far from us as they get older.

And in complete agreement with Karen FL- certain seasons require disciplined TRUST that God has you (and me!) exactly where He wants us. That the opportunities, or lack thereof, are part of His design for the life of my kids and our family. Because of where we live, my kids have gotten up close and personal with racoons, beaver, foxes, deer, coyote, turkey, pheasant, hawks, eagles, amphibians of all sorts, wood chucks, otter, etc etc. They are not peer-dependent. They are secure. They love nature far more than electronic amusement.

[woolybear]

In our case, we live where there are many opportunities and many of the hsers we know take advantage of many of them. However, because of low/unemployment this year and just generally having a lower income than many of our friends we can't do as much. It is hard for dc (and me) that so and so went to_______ or is going on vacation or to camp and we can't do those things. So, in our case where we live doesn't limit us as much as money or lack of does. However, it's possible that if we lived somewhere else we might have more disposable income as the cost of living is very high here. To sum it up.....who knows!! lol.

 

Woolybear

[Jackie in NE]

Yeah, but you can't do everything and location is a convenient way of cutting down the options! Making the most of your environment is Real Life and Relevant. Everything outside of our environment is the stuff of dreams. Hopefully we will get to achieve some of those dreams, but most of those things will be our kids responsibilities, not ours. We can only work with what we've got. When they are adults, they will organise their own environments to include their most important dreams. When they are off doing that, I'll be reshuffling my life to include a few of mine ;)

 

Rosie

 

:iagree: :iagree: We can give them so much, but their dreams are theirs. And our dreams matter also.