scubamama Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Hi ladies! There is a possibility that we might be moving to Texas in 6 months to a year - to the Houston area. I have a LOT of questions! I have never lived anywhere else but PA...my 6yob wants to know "does TX have grass?". That's a question I can answer. But my questions are more serious! :001_smile: Please help me ladies in TX! Is there a hs group that you have had a great experience with? Are hsers a rare breed like they seem to be here? Are hs co ops popular? We have used a co op and really loved it - a way to meet other hsers,etc Is it true that the humidity will melt me to soup and I'll never want to leave my a/c dwelling? That hurricanes will visit every week? Will I need to learn how to rope a steer and like country music? What scary bugs (now this is important!) and critters will I need to be on gaurd for? Does it ever get cold..as in car door is frozen shut cold? I guess I'm just a bundle of nerves since I've never lived anywhere else but small town PA...the thought of moving across the country with my honey and 3 small kids makes me both exhilerated and so exhausted that I want to lie down! Information will help me relax...so send me a reply so I can :chillpill:! Thanks in advance - Michele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Is there a hs group that you have had a great experience with? Are hsers a rare breed like they seem to be here? Are hs co ops popular? We have used a co op and really loved it - a way to meet other hsers,etc Is it true that the humidity will melt me to soup and I'll never want to leave my a/c dwelling? That hurricanes will visit every week? Will I need to learn how to rope a steer and like country music? What scary bugs (now this is important!) and critters will I need to be on gaurd for? Does it ever get cold..as in car door is frozen shut cold? Hee hee :) Homeschoolers abound. You'll have no problem finding a co-op in the Houston area. You'll love it :) It is true that it is very humid and hot. You will have a time each year that you might want to hole up. However, you'll appreciate spring and fall all the more. And actually, you probably will appreciate winter while we don't also! It almost never gets extremely cold with snow or ice. I've never even heard of a car door frozen shut...or was that hyperbole? Only thing is that Houston drivers are some of the worst in the country (I've been a lot of places and after being in Dallas 6 years, I'm not sure I could move back to Houston). For some reason, they think every freeway is the autobaun <sp> or something. But you'll get used to it. I didn't know it was so bad until I moved away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I think Houstonians are some of the friendliest people this side of the Mississippi. You might check out this yahoo group - it's chock full of fabulous ideas for and by homeschoolers (over 1000 members) in the Houston area: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/G-HAH/ Texas is very easy to homeschool. You'll never have to report anything again. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinmom Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 You'll love homeschooling in TX. Lots of support, no ridiculous oversight, you can do what you want. Many, many co-ops...you will be able to find what fits your family easily. And yes, you will have grass...though it will often be brown when you think it's supposed to be green! ;) No, you won't have hurricanes every month! :lol: You will, however, have roaches the size of TX, scorpions (but usually only when you are digging), tarantulas in the outlying areas (but they are shy, so no worries), big, black water moccasins (watch out for these!) and guys who think they are very, very special because they can simultaneously drink beer, look at their gun rack and drive with their arm around their girlfriend while careening their pickup truck down the freeway! (Notice I place them in the pest category...most Texans are more sane and are very, very nice!). :D You will also have massive heat and humidity in the summer, of the likes you've probably never seen. You will have tall, lovely pine trees. You will have lots and lots of horses to visit. You will have long, flat stretches of country that you think will never end. You'll have a state with mountains at one end, plains at the other and the coast close by. You can easily visit Mexico! You will have lots of cowboy hats and lots of TX pride. You will have great sports teams, nearly rabid fans. You will have congested highways, a spread out city that will make you beg for a GPS, you will have trips to the beach and flea markets that will make you drool. For that matter, the barbeque alone will make you drool...not to mention the Tex-Mex food, the chili, the State Fair corndogs...Yum. It will be very different, but you'll love it. I went from upstate NY to Dallas as a youngster, and it was a HUGE culture shock. However, there is lots to love about TX, and you can look at it as moving to a foriegn country. A great new experience...and I think all the "Love NY? Take I-30 East!" bumper stickers are gone now, so you should be safe! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanie Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I live an hour from Houston, and have my entire life. There are a lot of homeschool groups in the Houston area. There is also a homeschool store that is Awesome! Ok, the humidity is there, but I hardly notice b/c it's just a part of life here. Our winters are very mild, rarely having even ice on the roofs. You won't have to learn how to rope calves, but your neighbor may have one in their front yard! As for the music, well, I listen to the Houston station KSBJ which is a contemporary Christian station. It is kinda a given that most restaurants play country music in the back, but I love that part of Texas. Everything seems bigger here too---especially the bugs! The roaches are big and the mosquitos will try to carry you away. You will be possibly wearing shorts on Thanksgiving day so be prepared! Having said all that, you will meet some of the most kind and friendly people you've ever met. With all those big bugs come big hearts and big smiles! I hope you enjoy it here. Although I've never lived anywhere else, I can't imagine life being any better than here in Texas! HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubamama Posted September 4, 2008 Author Share Posted September 4, 2008 What!? You've never heard of a car door frozen shut?! Wow! I like snow and cold but I hate hot and humid...sledding and hot chocolate will be things i miss if we move. It's not uncommon for snow to drift higher than I am tall here and I have ice skated up and down the highway by my house and sledded there too! I was stuck/buried on Rt80 for 14 hours one winter. The National Guard had to dig cars out. I though i was going to die - the snow was over the top of the car roof! I have never seen a roach... I hope they aren't as friendly as the people.:tongue_smilie: Michele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinmom Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I have never seen a roach... I hope they aren't as friendly as the people.:tongue_smilie: No, but they are definitely more pushy! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticamethyst Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Basically, what everyone else said. The Yahoo group you were given is really great for information, a bit big in my opinion for support. If there is something going on in the HS comm. that is where it is posted. I have lived all over the country and wouldn't leave Houston, but the traffic is HORRIBLE!!!! Happy Moving.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 What!? You've never heard of a car door frozen shut?! Wow! I like snow and cold but I hate hot and humid...sledding and hot chocolate will be things i miss if we move. It's not uncommon for snow to drift higher than I am tall here and I have ice skated up and down the highway by my house and sledded there too! I was stuck/buried on Rt80 for 14 hours one winter. The National Guard had to dig cars out. I though i was going to die - the snow was over the top of the car roof!I have never seen a roach... I hope they aren't as friendly as the people.:tongue_smilie: Michele You've never seen a roach??? Seriously???? We do have flying roaches here. But being in TX will offset that minor flaw in the scenery. HSing is super easy here. I don't know about Houston coops, but there are good ones here in Dallas. I'll assume it's the same in Houston. You'll be so close to the beach, there's great museums in Houston, it's not too far from Austin or Dallas (relatively speaking here....it's 3 hours, but that's not bad in TX). And while you won't need the National Guard to dig you out of snow, if you do ever need them I can personally attest to the fact that there's at least one hunky soldier in the TX Nat. Guard - but he's all mine! :lol: Really, it's fabulous here. Once you get your bearings, there is so much to see and do. There is grass in TX, there's also, forests, beaches, beautiful hill country, rolling plains, cotton (out the wazoo - not a tremendous tourism draw though), the Palo Duro Canyon, the Alamo....I love TX. Oh, and fire ants. Be warned about fire ants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey in TX Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Texas really is a country in and of itself. "Six Flags" amusement park is aptly named for the six separate country flags that have flown over Texas. There are multiple climates, major airports, Tex-Mex food, shopping, sports, no state income tax, and a low cost of living. If you like live music, Austin is a great place to visit. "Keep Austin Weird" is their motto. We moved to Texas for a couple of years. We've lived in several cities in TX and will probably never leave the state. :001_smile: Welcome y'all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Hi Michele and welcome to Houston! I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to Penn before moving to South America and finally...Houston. If you have a chance to visit before picking where you'll live, I'd recommend giving yourself at least 2 days to drive around the Houston area and see which area you would feel most at home in. North and east of the city, you'll find piney forest. This is the area that will feel most familiar to a Pennsylvanian. There are lots of trees, both evergreen and deciduous and in late November we even get a brief burst of fall color. As you go west of Houston you quickly move into more open country with rolling hills (Hill Country is the area around Austin and this area looks a bit like that). It's beautiful, but personally that much open space with few trees is not my cup of tea. South of Houston you start having a seacoast feel. If you love to sail, look at Clear Lake, Kemah, etc. You'll also be close to the beaches at Galveston if you live on that side of town. The major down side to that is that you may be subject to evacuation in case of a hurricane. There are hs groups everywhere here and plenty of coops and hs classes. Hsing is not uncommon in TX at all. GHAH is a great list. I also subscribe to PALS which is for hsers north of Houston. Once you know what area you'll live in, you can join all the relevant groups. Houston is huge, it takes more than an hour to cross the metro area so you need to know more specifically where you'll be living before you join a group. Good luck with the move! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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