When I was a teenager, my first encounter with a homeschooling family was a family from my parish. The mom, Joan, was the Director of Religious Education, a wirey woman with a severe face who seemed strict and serious. Later, when we worked together, I discovered she was a hippy in her younger days and a roaring good time at parish functions. She and her farmer husband had adopted a few children, some with disabilities, and homeschooled them all on their sprawling farm. When I felt called to homeschool, I thought a lot about her and her resources. Sure, farming is exhausting work. I know this firsthand as someone raised on 33 acres covered in fruit trees and who found farming very hard. But I could easily picture homeschooling on a farm. There are many natural opportunities to teach kids about farming fruit and vegetables, caring for animals, and farm equipment. The possibilities seemed endless to learn about weather patterns, irrigation, insects, water conservation, and sustainable farming. I could easily imagine the many benefits.
The image of home education on a farm seemed idyllic. Just look at Instagram; you can easily find families living this out. But God knows what He does, and I met and fell madly in love with a city boy. We quickly realized that we would be raising our brood in the city, the 5th largest in the country, to be exact. So, my vision of homeschooling changed and adapted. If you are a homeschooling parent, you know that change and adapting is just part of the journey. So, I began researching and was astounded by the fantastic opportunities for homeschooling families. I am sharing my five favorite things about homeschooling in a major city.
Endless Culture
Are we doing a unit study on the Chinese New Year? No problem! You have a few options for Chinese Festivals near you! Want to teach your child about a specific culture and its customs? Have I got a museum for you! We have taken our kids to many festivals and events, museum exhibits, and activities. Big city life naturally lends itself to diversity; we get to share that with our kids regularly. Learning alongside our kids and trying yummy new foods is a fantastic opportunity.
Free Events
Once a month, our beautiful botanical gardens have a Community Day, a free day for anyone who reserves their tickets in advance. Live music events, farmers markets, and children's events are all free to the public regularly! We saw the Phoenix Ballet perform The Nutcracker at no cost to us. The theatre and Opera offer free events for kids to watch performances at no cost. You can google something every day and find a free event near you. I take advantage of this regularly!
The Library
Our library is fantastic. The library system is vast; we can find any book on any topic and check it out (except for my son’s made-up books, i.e., Spiderman Fighting Super Rabbit Boy). If our specific branch does not have the book we are looking for, they can request a copy from one of the MANY other libraries in our area. They also offer story time, STEM workshops for kids, and reading programs like reading to a dog, all for free. I have fallen deeply in love with our library and take the kids once a week. One of the many librarians, Sylvia, is our sweet friend and always knows what we are looking for or what new book might interest us.
Museums/Attractions
As I mentioned, I grew up on a farm, and whenever we had a field trip, it usually required a 2-hour bus trip to museums or exhibits. Here, we have an impressive Children's Museum, an incredible aquarium, an interactive Science Museum, and many more attractions within 30 minutes. My only issue with field trips is narrowing down where I want to go.
Endless Extracurricular Options
The only extracurricular options I had as a kid were sports and dance. I did both, but I did not love any of them. Living in a large city provides many individualized options for your child if they are not inclined to play sports. Chess, art and cooking classes, horticulture workshops, and equestrianism are all available. Likewise, rock climbing, hiking, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, hockey, and many other opportunities to explore different interests are available. Some are expensive, but because living in a larger city provides a lot of choices, you can find any of these, and many more, at any price point.
If you find yourself homeschooling without an option to homestead, I encourage you to research and see how compatible home education and city living can be.
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Let’s chat!
If you homeschool in a big city, what do you like the most about it?
What are some challenges?
What I like the most is the museums. I like that the CMOP changes certain exhibits so every year there's something new for us to explore as well as the classics, like the climbing structure and the pool noodle jungle.
Do you think it's funny that one of our kids loves "Escape to the country" as much as you do? Maybe he will buy some land and build us a retirement house? Who knows.