Homeschooling: country vs city living

[lea1]

We currently live in Tulsa, OK and are contemplating moving to the country. For those of you home schooling in a country setting, what is your opinion of how well this works? I'm concerned about the availability of sports or other activities.

[fairfarmhand]

We live in the country, but we are also 20 minutes from a fairly large city and 35 minutes from our state capital. There are plenty of opportunities but sometimes you have to be willing to drive for them. I love the fact that we have major acreage, farm animals, we can do tons of stuff with our yard that your couldn't in a subdivision. Potential problems...if your kids love playing w/neighborhood kids, there may not be many. That could be a good thing though, depending on the kids. My kids just dug a 4 foot deep hole in the backyard, they have a 4 wheeler, chickens, cows and a couple dogs and cats.

[MamaT]

We live in the country and drive about 40 minutes to an hour to our children's activities, which are every day. It is definitely more inconvenient, but we love where we live. My 11yo has a fort and will disappear in the woods for hours (with his cell phone!). We have to be out a lot, but when we are home, it is SO peaceful.

[ahousefullofjs]

:bigear: We are considering a move to the country also.

[Denisemomof4]

I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

You may want to check to see what homeschool groups are available out in the country. If you have a kid involved in a sport that will be multiple days, and a distance to drive to get there, it could prove maddening.

 

While I'm in the country, I have pretty much everything local to me. Synchro swim 8 miles away. Our homeschool group, less than 5. If I had to drive distances, I'd strictly limit what we do for activities, and strictly limit how often we'd be out. Although I try to do that anyway.;)

[Carrie12345]

My gas budget stinks, but I never have to worry about meddlers when my kids play outside on weekday mornings. :D

 

Seriously, I can go through $200+/mo in gas during the nice months. We stay home a lot more in the winter.

[Parrothead]

For an only child country living is the pits. But if you have kids that are each other's best friends it would be great.

[Tracy in Ky]

We love being in the country, and we intentionally do few activities. Ds 15 plays ultimate frisbee nearly every week in town (with other homeschoolers) and he also takes piano lessons. Dd 10 takes piano lessons plus 2 4-H clubs. That is about it other than church plus a monthly homeschool group family activity. We just stay home most of the time. Home is good. :)

[LauraGB]

Seriously, I can go through $200+/mo in gas during the nice months. We stay home a lot more in the winter.

 

Ah, but city driving can eat that much up, too, if not more. I spend about that much every month just getting around my side of town and a few trips to the other side.

 

We are planning to move to a more rural area, too. Actually, I think I *need* to do it to preserve my own sanity. However, while I want the seclusion and privacy, I really need to be within 15 miles of somewhere I can buy some groceries in a pinch, and within 30 miles of a city large enough to have activities for the kids and some kind of culture, as well as a hospital (just in case something does happen; I don't want to wait more than a 30 min drive if there is some sort of emergency).

[mycalling]

We love it. Finding activities for the kids take work. We do live next to a housing development so the area's growing now, but we have our piece of heaven.

[coop]

We moved from the city to the country about 2 years ago. We absolutely love it. I admit that the driving gets a little old, but I think the $$ evens out because it is usually cheaper to live in the country. I try to redeem the time by playing The Teaching Company CDs on our longer commutes.

 

We have a large garden and chickens, we are building a cool tree house for the younger kids, we have no visible neighbors, no road noise, no cranky old men for neighbors (yes, there is a story about that one) and lots of trees to climb.

 

It's paradise in my humble opinion:)

[elise1mds]

Just sent you a message. I live in the country outside of Tulsa :)

[lea1]

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. I really appreciate it. My husband and I are a bit nervous about moving to the country, since both of us have always lived in cities or smallish towns.

 

We would be living about an hour and fifteen minutes from Tulsa, so it would be quite a hike to get back here, although there are smaller city/towns closer to where we would be living.

 

We believe it would be a fun place to grow up for the boys and a nice, safe, peaceful place to live for all of us. We could have a garden and chickens and whatever else we decided we would want (horses, cows, etc.). We would have a view of a very large lake and we would definitely be off the beaten path. There would be around 400 acres for our boys to run and play...plenty of room:).

 

I need to further investigate homeschool groups and potential activities in the surrounding smaller cities and towns. We might be able to find things like sports and music lessons closer than Tulsa.

 

Thanks again for the feedback and I would love to hear anyone else's comments.

[hillfarm]

For an only child country living is the pits. But if you have kids that are each other's best friends it would be great.

 

Sorry, but I have to totally disagree with the first statement here. In our experience, our now 11yo dd is thriving here in the country, regardless of the fact that she is an only child.

 

Although we don't do sports, they are available, based in a small town about a 20 minute drive from us. We have chosen activities through our church and a very active homeschool 4-H club instead. Dd has a few good friends with whom she chats almost daily on the phone. They often come out to our house to play. Two of them have said they would rather come here because they love the freedom of the country instead of having to be under such close watch in town. The third lives in a similar place to ours but still comes over every couple of weeks to visit.

 

IMO, some of the positives of homeschooling out here are that there are no interruptions from neighbor kids nor the temptation of watching a bus full of kids go by every day. It is very peaceful here with no traffic noise--we live at the end of a dead end road. Dd has been able to observe nature from the comfort of our own home, sighting songbirds, waterbirds, gamebirds, birds of prey, a wide variety of small woodland mammals, coyotes, bobcats, whitetailed deer, and the extremely rare black bear from our various windows. She has also had the luxury of learning how to raise sheep, llamas, horses, and chickens and catching and releasing the requisite tadpoles, frogs, lost baby birds, abandoned bunnies, squirrels and racoons. She has learned how to be at peace with herself, not always requiring external distractions for education or entertainment. She has learned the importance of making her own mind up about what is pleasing to her rather than accepting the unimportant fads which generally pass us by entirely.

 

The primary drawback, as others have mentioned, is that when you do want to do something away from home, it usually involves a longer trip. I have had to become very organized and keep detailed lists of supplies to pick up on errand days. Which are pretty exhausting since I try to get everything we need in one trip. But that is the only serious problem I can think of which relates to homeschooling.

 

I have asked dd if she is happy out here and she always says yes. She likes to run errands with me to see what is happening out in the world, but our running joke at the end of a long errand trip is that both of us will whine to the other that, "I'm just going to sit down here in the middle of this parking lot and cry if I don't get to go home soon!":D

 

I don't know that rural living is superior to urban, although they certainly are different. I suspect much of it is what you are used to and whether you enjoy those circumstances. But for the record, we love it here and I feel my only child is enjoying a wonderful childhood out here in the country.

[crimsonkelley]

I've done both and of course there are pros and cons to both.

 

When we lived in the country, it was about 20 minutes to a town that had about 7,000 people and at least an hour to a decent size city.

 

My kids were very lonely at first, because they moved from a neighborhood with other children their own age. They loved being able to build forts, run around and fish in the river behind the house, but they really wanted some other children to experience this with.

 

We had to drive an hour to the library (the one in our little town didn't carry many books suggested in TWTM). My children went to a P.E. class in town once a week with other homeschoolers - which was nice for them.

 

We live in the city now. I love being so close to everything - the library is 3 miles, church is 5 miles, swim team about 5 miles. We can go to the museum, zoo, parks, etc.... We can invite friends over to play!!

 

Of course, the trade off is my small back yard:sad:. We are in the process of building a tree house though and planting some veggies in containers.

 

Best of luck!!

[fairfarmhand]

Forgot to add...

 

We've found that living this far out means that we do spend more time at home than many others, but we have more interesting things to do here around the house...(animals, gardens, etc.)

[2squared]

We live on 5 acres in a small-town rural farming community in Minnesota. Prior to this, we lived in San Antonio.

 

The activities my kids have access to out here is vastly different than San Antonio. I have to say the quality or level of competition is very different as well. We are very OK with that compromise since for us, the value of country living is priceless.

 

Homeschooling out here is so very, very wonderful. My kids have room and time to explore nature and to develop their interests. My dd has discovered that she loves gardening and reading. My oldest ds disappears for hours in the grove exploring as only little boys can. Our family time is very protected, and we work together outside nearly every evening. We try to spend time in our little community which is only a mile away. Our community feels like an extension of our family. Life moves slowly and peacefully there too.

 

We didn't have official school today, but my kids did a lot. They caught a wild bird and chased butterflies most of the afternoon. They took care of the chickens and guineas. They climbed a new tree and discovered a bird nest with baby birds in it. They tracked a couple baby rabbits but couldn't catch them.

 

The frustration for me is that I do have to drive over an hour for any type of shopping. I can't find any maternity clothes within an hour, so I have to make a big weekend trip to a big city just for that. Particular grocery items that we like can't be found close by. We don't venture out much, but when we do, it's always at least a half day trip since travel time is so long.

[lllll]

..

[snickelfritz]

I grew up in a little town and now live in Tulsa. We do go back to visit the little town, since my parents are still there. They have 400 acres and the kids run all over the place. I would love to live more in the country, although, it would always be near Tulsa for us.

 

Pro's to country life--outside space. Lots of room to run and breathe and fish and hike and just go out in nature. It was a wonderful way to grow up. We had pretty good community sports programs and pretty easy access to piano teachers, dance lessons, etc... It is truly a slower pace of life.

 

Con's--There is definitely not as much variety in sports, music, etc... offerings. But, there are opportunities. You can usually find martial arts, piano lessons, dance, etc........at least for the younger kids. Community programs tend to dry up as the kids get older and school activities take over. 4-H and girl scouts tend to meet right after school in the cafeteria, etc... The biggest con for ME is that LIFE and the town revolves around the school. Homecoming, the big game, school pride, etc.... Being separate from that would be much harder than it is in the city. Lastly, the library was VERY small (I'm spoiled by Tulsa's library system.)

 

The only con that would truly be a deal breaker for me is the part about small town life revolving around the school system. dd already struggles with feeling different for homeschooling. And, honestly, I don't know that I would fight that battle long-term, if we lived in a small town. In the city, I can at least know that she will have lots of opportunity to spend time with other homeschoolers her own age. Join homeschool band and choir, if she wants. Join the homeschool swim team, etc...

[Laura Corin]

We love living in the country. However, we are only fifteen minutes from a university town, and fifteen minutes from another town in the other direction. The nearest small city is half an hour a way and Edinburgh is an hour by train. We only attend one (monthly) home education event, and we drive 45 minutes to get there. Other activities take place in one of the towns.

 

Regards

 

Laura

[2squared]

The only con that would truly be a deal breaker for me is the part about small town life revolving around the school system. dd already struggles with feeling different for homeschooling. And, honestly, I don't know that I would fight that battle long-term, if we lived in a small town. In the city, I can at least know that she will have lots of opportunity to spend time with other homeschoolers her own age. Join homeschool band and choir, if she wants. Join the homeschool swim team, etc...

 

This is true. Our small town does revolve around the school, and it really has to. That's where our future is IF we hope to keep anyone in our small town. It was disconcerting at first for us when we moved here last year. Now, however, we join them. Dd takes PE and music at the school and she participates in all their field trips and special events. She was in the fall music program and yesterday went to a special 1/2 day PE event with the elementary school. There are only 25 kids in 2nd grade, and they have two classrooms.

 

We also go to high school sporting events. Why not? It's fun and a part of our community. We school elsewhere but that doesn't mean we have to distance ourselves.

[Chris in VA]

For an only child country living is the pits. But if you have kids that are each other's best friends it would be great.

 

:iagree:

 

My middle child is not homeschooled, sees kids at ps every school day, and HATES living in the woods, even tho we literally live on US 1 in the middle of an active suburban area. Just not having other kids he can hang with (he's 18 and we've lived here 8 years) and not driving (himself) makes him eager to move out.

 

So, if you have kids that have low social needs, have lots of real, meaningful stuff to do (not just entertainment), and get along/play with their sibs well, AND if what you personally need in terms of interaction is available, go for it.

[LibraryLover]

We live in the country that is near a town, so nothing is very far away...except for ballet...that drive is 15+ minutes depending on traffic. We can walk to the beach, bike to the library, the large supermarket is not far away etc. I don't think I would like to live any further, as that 15- 20 minutes ballet drive makes me a little anxious. I always think we'll be late. There is a small university in our town, so there are some interesting happenings associated with that.

[Murphy101]

Everything Erica said.

 

If you move to the country, you have to be okay with driving into Tulsa for just about everything. This takes huge chunks of time doing nothing but sitting in the car. We did it for 6 years and it was fine bc we just accepted that's the way it had to be. If we'd had more land and more money to afford the commute, we probably would have purchased further into the country than moving into the city.

 

But I'm glad we did now that I have teens. I'm within a 20 minute drive of 4 colleges, just about any extracurriculiar, work opportunities, various parishes and such. So close that I can feel comfortable leaving some kids at home bc I know that I can get back home fairly quick if needed.

 

If I could find a house this size on about 5 acres within 10 miles of here in our itty budget, I'd feel I'd found the perfect union of country and city options.

 

Otherwise, I can't imagine going further than the outskirts bc it would just about entail living out of the van everyday we needed to go to Tulsa.

[woolybear]

I would say we live between those two. We have a few acres and our property backs up onto a large (600 acres) park. We are about five minutes to town. It is not a city, though. There are plenty of activities available, hs and not. So sports would not be an issue. At this point, I have to work hard to keep us not too busy with outside activities.

 

I love that my dc can be outside a lot. We have a stream. Lots of woods. I just think that's how it should be.:D My sister is always saying, "Oh too bad you don't live in the city. It would so good for hsing. There's so much to do." But I wouldn't have it any other way.

[G5052]

My kids grew apart from the neighbors down the road as they got older, and their friends are all at our homeschool co-op, church, and martial arts. Otherwise we mostly stay home, and we are fine with that. Some friends who live in the country are constantly driving to activities. I can't imagine!

[Murphy101]

homeschool co-op, church, and martial arts.

 

Otherwise we mostly stay home,

 

 

:001_huh: :auto: :lol:

[prairiegirl]

I love living in the country but it does have some drawbacks. We live 45 min. from the city. Driving to town three of four times a week for each child's activities (each child has only one activity but it still adds up) takes up a big chunk of our day.

 

Also, my kids don't have any close friendships due to the distance. I am the one who always has to take the kids into town for playdates as other parents do not like driving that distance on gravel roads. I admit this makes me a tad bit resentment. People expect me to come into town all of the time but they will not come to me because it is too far to drive. :confused:

 

Other than that, I absolutely love living in the country. I love the quiet. I love the fact that we can be as loud as we want to be outside. I love that the kids and I can wear our pyjamas outside and not worry about anyone seeing us. I also love that we never have neighbour problems cause the nearest neighbour lives 2 miles away. :001_smile:

[tricia]

We live in the country and have/are raising our 12 kids and we wouldn't change a thing. Except of course move further into the country if we could. But we don't concern ourselves with outside activities too much. Our older girls were into dance and that was in a town about 30 miles away and one of our older girls would drive them. We do voice, flute, and piano but the instructors live near by in our small town. Love it here and we don't miss the neighbor kids and their sometimes negative influences.