Wisconsin, tell me what you know, feel, and think

[Janeway]

I know nothing about Wisconsin except where it is on a map and that back in my college days, students would cross the state line to get higher point alcohol. I also know that the states... NE, SD, ND, MN, and WI used to have a reciprocity agreement for tuition at the state schools. That is all I know. I know nothing else. 

 

SO please tell me anything you think I might wish to know, especially as relates to culture, (are stay at home parents a disrespected anomaly or the norm)(is there is big home school community, or is it very limited and more with the extreme types of people) etc. 

 

And you are welcome to PM me if you prefer.

 

edited to add: Milwaukee area.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Janeway

[mommyoffive]

What city? 

[Janeway]

I updated in original post. But the Milwaukee area.

[sheryl]

DH was born and lived in Milwaukee until he went to college and married me! :)

 

PM me with specific questions and I'll ask him for you.  We did live there the first 5 years of our marriage but that was 30 + years ago so I know much has changed.  

[Selkie]

I'm much more familiar with Madison/southwest WI, but we've been to Milwaukee several times.

 

If you're a baseball fan, they have an amazing ballpark.  :thumbup1:  The zoo is nice, too.

 

Sorry, I don't know anything about the homeschooling culture there. I do know that many people have been moving out of Milwaukee in recent years, but I'm not sure of the reasons for that. I believe both Milwaukee and Chicago were in the top 5 cities for population loss in the past few years. 

[Lady Marmalade]

I live 90 minutes north of Milwaukee. Very easy state to homeschool in, and we DO have college tuition reciprocity with some states.  Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wisconsin all have a collective agreement to reduce tuition, but I don't know how much it is between states and which states work with each other best.   http://msep.mhec.org/about

 

I don't know anything about the Milwaukee area with regards to homeschool groups, but up here they are BIG.  My family is the anomaly because we are not a part of one.   :) Every conversation with random people in regards to homeschooling ends up with "are you a part of xyz homeschool group?"

 

SAH parents are not looked down upon, I would say it's more wistfully looked up at.  I always have people commenting about how they wish they could stay home.  

 

I love living in Wisconsin.  If you have specific questions I'm happy to answer what I can.  If you have a more specific area/suburb you are looking at I might have more info than others.  

Edited April 2, 2017 by Lady Marmalade

[8circles]

I assume you might be moving here?

 

I live in the Milwaukee area. There are lots of homeschool groups - mainly evangelical Xian in the 'burbs, some Catholic ones in the city proper. There was one explicitly inclusive group that I was a part of but I don't know if that one has continued or if the mom running it no longer has kids at home so it fizzled.  There are several co-ops but many of them are cliquey and you have to know the right people. There are some groups that I consider extremely conservative with strict dress codes but most people are pretty laid-back. One negative IMO is that groups change frequently and if you aren't "in the know" you might not be aware of everything that's going on - it feels really disorganized in that way - like you have to know the right people to find out about the groups.

 

The culture here really depends on which city you live in. Milwaukee leans left, the 'burbs lean right. Some lean way over & others just a tilt. Gun culture abounds. Beer/drinking culture abounds. We have really good custard. :) Lots of natural beauty, lots to do by my standards.

 

I've always been a SAHM here and in our subdivision, I'm the only one I know of. But I've never felt disrespected for it.

 

I'm happy to answer more specific questions if you have any. You can PM me if you'd like.

Edited April 2, 2017 by 8circles

[Aelwydd]

Mostly harmless.

 

And not as cool as Minnesota.

[MrsMommy]

My family is all from Wisconsin, and I lived there for a year when dh was in grad school.

 

There are positives. Lake Michigan is nice. There are sports and cultural events. Being in the midwest, it's a pretty friendly place. I knew lots of stay-at-home moms, so that wasn't a problem. I don't know about homeschooling, because my oldest was a baby/toddler when we lived there, and I was pregnant with my second (she was born in Green Bay).

 

All that said, I wouldn't want to go back there. No reason in particular, but I never really felt like we fit in. But I know lots of people that are happy there...my mom has lived in the Chicago area after moving away from suburban Milwaukee 40-ish years ago, and still considers Wisconsin home, and wants to go back!

[FaithManor]

Agreeing 100% with Aelwydd.

 

One other caution would be if you will be there long enough to have college atudents. The current governor has done a lot of defunding of the higher education system and got rid of tenure. Their state schools have lost a lot of orofessors, and there is concern about oitential huge tuition increases in the future. Due to Midwest/Great Lakes tuition exchange, Michigan had an influx of Wisconsin students this year. Ds at WMU said has a suite mate in his quad who transferred out of U of Wisconsin Mikwaukee due to concerns his program would be gutted from faculty loss.

 

So that is something to consider.

[LostSurprise]

I would say it is a bit of an exaggeration to say they've lost a lot of professors. At this time that's just not true. There is definitely a public university shake up since the conservative governor took advantage of the university system having a large surplus and raising tuition year by year despite that surplus. The conservative governor has used that advantage to renegotiate the relationship between the state and higher education institutions. However, the tuition freeze years are over and funding discussions are starting to go up again. Whether the culture will remain the same is another question. 

 

As for the Milwaukee programs possibly being eliminated, all the universities used to be tied together within the same system and part of the above negotiations separated Milwaukee and Madison. This is harder financially on Milwaukee, I think. At least I was skeptical back when I was in grad school there before everything went down and they were negotiating the first changes in the system. 

 

As for Wisconsin: 

 

*HSing is pretty easy. 

*SAHMs widely accepted. 

*Depending on where you're coming from, home prices are on the moderate to low side. 

*Beautiful country (hills, woods, dells, tons of lakes). Great for camping, winter sports, hunting, etc. 

*Very mixed politically. People are all over the map. 

*Midwestern friendliness. That's not as all-out as Southern friendliness but it does mind its own business and expects you to mind yours. 

*The main cities (Madison, Milwaukee) have very different vibes and are interesting for different reasons. Madison is more like the Twin Cities and Milwaukee is more like Chicago.

*It has a strong bar culture. Drinking is very social. If you're not a drinker (I'm not) you can feel a bit left out. 

Edited April 4, 2017 by LostSurprise