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TryingMyBest
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| Posted: June 25 2013 at 7:38pm | IP Logged
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As we try to simplify our lives and live with less, one of our options is to move to a condo that we own in the city. We currently live in the exurbs of a big city (on the far far edges of the suburbs). I've never liked it here and only moved here because my DH owned this house before we got married.
But it seems like most homeschooling families in the suburbs or urban areas. Do any of you live in the city?
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myheaven1967
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| Posted: June 25 2013 at 9:01pm | IP Logged
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I live in a small town/village. We know so many people in the town. The kids know all the employees at the library and the grocery store and the post office. It is very nice this way. I however, was a city kid. I grew up in Buffalo, New York. Right smack dab in the city. I played kickball in the street with all the neighborhood kids. We played hide and go seek. None of that happens here really. Not sure if those days are gone and it doesn't happen anywhere? But there is so much convenience in the city.
Enjoy the choice! 
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Jill: Wife to Kurt, mother to 1 dd and 4 ds
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guitarnan
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| Posted: June 25 2013 at 10:23pm | IP Logged
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I don't live in the city, but I live between two vibrant cities with thriving homeschool communities, Washington, DC, and Baltimore. There is so much going on here that it's hard to force myself to stay home! I think homeschooling in the city can be a wonderful experience; museums, monuments, festivals, etc. are at your front door, and you can easily drive/take public transport to parks and nature reserves.
We have homeschooled in the wilds of WV, overseas and in the DC/Baltimore metro area. There are pros and cons to each environment; our job as parents is to integrate the pros into our education plans and work to minimize the cons.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: June 26 2013 at 1:01am | IP Logged
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Yes! Us! We are in the middle of a small city. I never wanted to be an urban dweller but when the chance came up to live next to our church, we jumped on it! I love it now! We can walk almost everywhere we need to go (church, grocery store, library, dh's work etc.) and there is always a buzz of activity where we live. We can even walk onto the ferry to get right downtown Seattle if we want the big city life sans a car! While my soul sometimes longs for silence and peace... I take comfort knowing that the CFRs live in the middle of the Bronx and are able to glorify the Lord in their lives! And inside the walls of this house is my cenacle...
I have a park across the street, the Eucharistic Lord down the road and a great little Thai restaurant just two blocks away...
What more could anyone want?! 
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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3ringcircus
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| Posted: June 26 2013 at 1:02am | IP Logged
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We live in a very spread-out city in TX. There are decent yards, but not enough real play space when you consider that having a mud pit or junk pile just seems out of place when you aren't in the country (I say that having grown up on a farm). I am making the rounds of the local parks in the early AM, and just took advantage of an amazing public pool that has a splash area and cheap admission. We also have family memberships to the local zoo and children's museum, and try to get to random cultural events when we can. Also, we don't hit the local libraries as often as we could, but it's nice that there are several branches within easy driving distance and each one has it's own different atmosphere. It's nice that lots of options are available by car within 10-20 min, but in reality, each outing is usually most of the morning, and that makes staying on track w/ studies a little tricky. I'm really hoping the Family Time Fitness helps us burn some energy while we're home.
Our house is spacious, which is practically a necessity with 3 active little boys and 100+ weather for 3 mo. of the year. If I had to set up house in a smaller place, I'd do my darndest to get the sleeping areas as compact as possible just to free up space for playing and being creative.
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Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
Started HS in Fall'12
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SallyT
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| Posted: June 26 2013 at 7:19am | IP Logged
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SusanJ, who hasn't posted here in a while, has been an urban homeschooler (and a passionate and articulate proponent of the joys of urban living). Seems to me that there was at least one long thread on this very topic some years ago -- I'll try in a minute to find it.
Meanwhile, we live in the downtown area of a small town, so I don't know what you'd call us! It's not exactly "urban" in the sense of big-city urban, but it's not suburban, either. We're across the street from a community college, around the corner from a soup kitchen where my teenaged son volunteers, and within walking distance of many things we like to do (not, alas, our church or the grocery store). On the other hand, this isn't a super high-density area, and we do have a pretty spacious house and yard.
My favorite place that we've ever lived, however, was an upstairs flat in the very center of Cambridge, UK -- we weren't homeschoolers then, but we did live quite happily there with two, then three, children, and no end of things to do right at our fingertips. That rich environment at least as much an education as what the kids did at school, which was part of the impetus to get rid of that middleman . . .
Sally
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SallyT
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| Posted: June 26 2013 at 7:43am | IP Logged
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Here are some good threads discussing urban life and homeschooling (sometimes among other things):
Live in Town or the Country?
Urban Moms
Willfully Urban
If You Could Pick Where You Lived
More Specific Small Homes Questions (includes a link to an original small-homes thread)
OK, I've probably gone overboard here, but it's fun to revisit some of these conversations.
eta: as I revisit some of them at length myself, I see that some discussions became somewhat contentious, which is not what I wanted to highlight. They are interesting and rich, however.
Sally
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: June 26 2013 at 8:50am | IP Logged
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We live in the city. Not smack dab downtown, but not in the suburbs. Unfortunately the infrastructure makes it pretty spread out, but we do have good busing so my elder kids are able to hop on the bus and hit the library, rec center, etc. I am from a small town, and much prefer city dwelling with kids. They have so many more opportunities, sports, arts, etc than I did in the small town.
We are fortunate to have a fairly active homeschool community, so there is lots to do. Unfortunately, most are secular, but still. Lots of opportunity.
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Mom to 4,
1 graduated June 2012
1 in Catholic school
2 homeschooled(one considering art school!)
ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Rebeccca
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| Posted: June 26 2013 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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AMDG
Well, I would love to live in the country again. It is where I feel most comfortable. However, I really do like our lives (well, my own disorganization issues aside) and am happy in our urban setting.
-- We love being able to commit to daily mass and adoration.
-- We love being able to school out at the coffee shops (OFTEN! Now, as a matter of fact!).
-- We Love, Love, Love that Dad is home within 20 minutes of getting off work as opposed to some of our friends whose Dads get home up to an hour or more after work!
-- We love having interesting and varied activities near us. We do truly enjoy live music, (east coast) swing dancing, team sports, museums, lessons, et c.
-- We love that we can do some of these activities and b/c they are close we still are home and enjoying each other in the evenings.
I really would like to live in the country again but I would have a lot to miss.
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: June 26 2013 at 9:49am | IP Logged
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We live right downtown in a large Canadian city. I hated the idea of city living at first- I had never lived in a city. But now that all of my kids are actively involved in professional dance programs, orchestras, and now I have two taking courses at the University, I love it! The older ones bus to everything and the things I do drive to are close. We are close to many churches for feast days etc. and our life is very streamlined.
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Kristie in Canada
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A Walk in the Woods
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Trill
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| Posted: July 02 2013 at 5:15pm | IP Logged
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We have a fairly urban lifestyle in our inner suburb. We walk to the grocery store and park, take the bus to the library, and bike (before I got too pregnant) to the church for non-Mass events. I love that we can normalize bus/bike/walk, and my kids far prefer those options to the car. I don't even mind the whining: "why do we need to dri-ive?" Someday I hope that my kids (5 and 2.5) will be able to get to where they need to go without me, but for now there's nowhere they need to be.
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Kyra
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| Posted: Sept 11 2013 at 7:40pm | IP Logged
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I live sort of in the middle of Toronto, which is pretty big, and I love it. We're fairly new homeschoolers (my oldest is five), and I love that there are several homeschooling groups a short transit ride away, two or three farmer's markets within walking distance, many many libraries and ethnic neighbourhoods and museums...
We currently have a membership to the Royal Ontario Museum and try to go monthly, and a veteran homeschooling Mom says that there are free tickets and workshops at the downtown Opera house. There's so much on offer that it's an embarassment of riches, and I look forward to taking advantage of it as my kids get older. Five, three and eighteen months are a bit too young for the opera. :)
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Any urban homeschoolers here?
