LMA Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 (edited) Could those of you who live/ have lived in Arizona tell me your stories about living in Arizona? Esp. how is the homeschooling in Arizona? I'm interested especially in the Scottsdale area. Thanks. Louise Edited May 4, 2009 by LMA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricket Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 We live on the west side of Phoenix. For homeschooling all we had to do was sign an affidavit stating our intentions to homeschool (and that we would cover subjects like social studies, math, reading, all the basics) and mail that with the kids' birth certificates to the district office. The birth certificates were returned within the week. Someone in our homeschool group mentioned that there were other requirements (such as number of hours) but I haven't looked into that yet. That was the first I had heard of it. We school through the summer. It is just so dang hot here that the kids don't go outside to play during the summer...unless we are at the pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in AZ Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 It's a fabulous place to homeschool! All you have to do is fill out the affidavit with birth certificates and you're set through high school. The Scottsdale area has a bunch of active homeschool groups. There are valley-wide groups with just about any kind of activity. AZ has lots of children's theater and the museums set up homeschool days. Plus, there are wonderful day trips, such as the Grand Canyon! I've never had a negative comment from anyone when I'm out with my kids during the day. A large homeschool community makes a friendly state for homeschoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BalanceSeeker Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Check out http://www.eastsideexplorers.org. They are a very active HS group here in Scottsdale. Lots of fun! As far as requirements, it's just an affidavit. christa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 I have more questions. How much house can you get for $300,00 or so? What are cost of living expenses like? Thanks. Louise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 You can get a lot of house for $300,000 but maybe not in Scottsdale. There are other places in metro Phoenix that are less expensive. Have you been to realtor dot com and typed in the zip code you are looking for. It will give you an idea of what you can get. Living expenses.... it depends on what you mean for living. If you need air conditioning down to 72 all summer you are going to have huge electric bills . It is just too variable to compare. Maybe if you had some specific questions, I could help answer them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 You can get a lot of house for $300,000 but maybe not in Scottsdale. There are other places in metro Phoenix that are less expensive. Have you been to realtor dot com and typed in the zip code you are looking for. It will give you an idea of what you can get. Living expenses.... it depends on what you mean for living. If you need air conditioning down to 72 all summer you are going to have huge electric bills . It is just too variable to compare. Maybe if you had some specific questions, I could help answer them. Jenne, What are property taxes for a $300,000 home? How much is an electric bill with a/c running? I'm just trying to compare with our bills here (oil/electric, property taxes). Thanks. Louise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 You might want to get as far from Phoenix as you comfortably can: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drug-kidnappings12-2009feb12,0,1264800.story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 You might want to get as far from Phoenix as you comfortably can: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drug-kidnappings12-2009feb12,0,1264800.story Now I don't want to consider moving to Arizona. :001_unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Now I don't want to consider moving to Arizona. :001_unsure: I didn't mean to scare you! :tongue_smilie: I'm a small town girl. I get a little woozy at the very thought of living in *any* larger city. If I ever need to drive in any city, I print out the "street view" maps from google and have to really psych myself up for it. Every state has it's cons, every city has it's scarier parts, and Arizona is SO beautiful. We're heading there Friday for weeklong vacation, and I'm looking forward to it. It's just so pretty out there and we are going to finally see the Grand Canyon. We'll be flying into Phoenix--and immediately driving OUT of Phoenix to Williams, then towards Kingman and eventually flying out of Vegas. We are also avoiding Vegas; we're staying in Henderson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 I didn't mean to scare you! :tongue_smilie: I'm a small town girl. I get a little woozy at the very thought of living in *any* larger city. If I ever need to drive in any city, I print out the "street view" maps from google and have to really psych myself up for it. Every state has it's cons, every city has it's scarier parts, and Arizona is SO beautiful. We're heading there Friday for weeklong vacation, and I'm looking forward to it. It's just so pretty out there and we are going to finally see the Grand Canyon. We'll be flying into Phoenix--and immediately driving OUT of Phoenix to Williams, then towards Kingman and eventually flying out of Vegas. We are also avoiding Vegas; we're staying in Henderson. Please let me know how you like your vacation. Now I have been to Vegas and I did like it very much. I did not gamble at all. I went to the Hoover Dam. I found plenty of fun things to do there and I would go back there again. I don't mind the big city. I grew up in a medium city and went to an urban high school. We go to Boston and NYC a lot. In which state do you live now? I live in MA and I'm trying to compare living in Arizona to MA and I think it is cheaper to live in Arizona. Louise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Property taxes are about 1% of house value. About air conditioning... we set the ac to 85 degrees and maintain. We paid about $280 per month year round. I think the bills in June-October were around $450 or so, but we were on year round billing so we never had to pay that much at once. I have no idea how much the bill would have been if we had set the ac to cool even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 (edited) In which state do you live now? I live in Michigan. I'm really looking forward to a week without rain! If you did move to Arizona, are you looking at a specific area for a reason? Job etc? Northern Arizona (Flagstaff area) is quite a bit cooler. It's a nice college town too with observatories and museums in the area. (Flagstaff is the location of the observatory where Pluto was discovered.) They do get nice hot summers. They also get snow; it's a popular destination for skiers. If I ever had to live in a city, it would be a city like Flagstaff. My nephew attends NAU and really likes the area. My big brother (his dad) lives in Kingman. I've been checking the forecast daily for Williams AZ (where we are spending the first four days of our vacation) and it's mid 70's all week. It'll be in the 80's this weekend but low 80's. Flagstaff's forecast is almost identical. It's the altitude. If you keep heading west though it does seem to get warmer. Kingman is upper 80's - low 90's for the same time period. Phoenix, on the other hand doesn't expect there to be a single day under 96 for 7 days in a row (3 of which are anticipated to be 100+). It's only May! Big difference when you head north a couple of hours. It might be interesting to track three or four cities for the summer if you don't plan to move right away. I'm finding it fun anyway! Edited May 5, 2009 by darlasowders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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