Possibly moving to Richmond, Indiana this summer

[lorelei]

Pros, cons? Anything super cool in the area? We have 3 kids, 7yrs, 5 yrs, and 8 months. Dh is in grad school, I'm a sahm.

I think we'll be homeschooling, In. looks so far to be very supportive of hs.

Is the area fairly liberal, conservative?

Thanks!!!

[courtenay_e]

Richmond in which state...there is a Richmond, Michigan. Is that where you 're talking about?

[courtenay_e]

Ooops, just saw the "In." in there.

[lorelei]

SO no MDC mamas around Richmond, Indiana? Bummer.

[gmvh]

That's kind of surprising as there's a Quaker college/university there and most folks I know that have been students there are super crunchy... I'm sorry I'm not more help. I've been there once to visit teachers as part of an environmental ed program I ran. I live in the Chicago-region of the state now.

Homeschooling - we're not but my neighbors are unschoolers - 9th-ish grade, 12th-ish grade, and one in college. They've done their entire educations at home and their father, who is home with them, has always indicated the requirements have been easy to work with.

Good luck!

[khaoskat]

Richmond is a very small town, with very little to do. If you want to go ice skating, it over an hour drive to do so (either Oxford, Oh; Kettering, Oh; or Indianapolis, In.).

There is one small shopping mall, but I am not sure how much if anything is left there.

[amandaleigh37]

I live in New Castle, which is about 40 min. from Richmond. I'm not familiar enough with the town to give much insight, even though I used to work there This general area though is pretty conservative.

[Logansmommy06]

I live in Richmond and this town has NOTHING to offer. Nothing for children, nothing fun for families to do. You have to travel to do anything fun. I wouldn't say its a SMALL town, its the biggest of all the towns in this area. Jobs here are VERY hard to come by right now. We have had MANY factories and stores close over the past few weeks. I would suggest NOT moving here. Not a great place...

[sweetstephanie]

We live in Washington County, Indiana. I know nothing about Richmond, I had to look it up on the map. Our area of the state is doing pretty good considering the state of the economy. I also homeschool and the requirements are very easy to meet. Indiana is actually one of the most homeschool friendly states in the US which is a HUGE plus if you are thinking of homeschooling. The state in general has lots of great educational opportunities and recreational opportunities. Much of the state is an agricultural area so in many of the towns you will have to drive to reach stores, restaurants, stuff like that. Our nearest Wal-Mart is a 30 minute drive.

[lorelei]

What are the vax requirements for enrolling your kids in public schools in Indiana? In Florida, you can get a waiver- does In offer something like that?

We're planning to move there and just go to school, it seems like a pretty cheap place, housing wise, anyhow. I think most places suck for jobs right now, so we're not counting on having to get one soon.

[zinemama]

I went to Earlham (the Quaker college mentioned upthread). Back then, there was a a pretty big town/gown split (real or perceived). Earlham is an intellectual, liberal hub. There are lectures, concerts, speakers, plays, etc going on all the time, all open to the community. So you would have ample opportunity for that sort of thing. Richmond is like a big small town with not a lot going on.

However. If you are going for grad school (Earlham School of Religion?) then I would imagine that you will get plugged in to a whole community of grad school families, who will probably be like-minded. The EC campus is nice and green. Not too far away is the Conner Prairie living museum (a farm you can visit).

Not exciting, but I wouldn't consider it the worst place in the world to spend a few years.

[lorelei]

Originally Posted by zinemama

I went to Earlham (the Quaker college mentioned upthread). Back then, there was a a pretty big town/gown split (real or perceived). Earlham is an intellectual, liberal hub. There are lectures, concerts, speakers, plays, etc going on all the time, all open to the community. So you would have ample opportunity for that sort of thing. Richmond is like a big small town with not a lot going on.

That sounds good to me! We're pretty happy with each other, ie my spouse is my best friend and vice versa. We have a couple other good friends, but over all, we're pretty laid back and content to have each other and our kids for company. It would be nice to have some cultural stuff around to take this kids, to, but honestly we're looking for a cheap, quiet place to live so dh can focus on his writing, and finishing school.

Originally Posted by zinemama

However. If you are going for grad school (Earlham School of Religion?) then I would imagine that you will get plugged in to a whole community of grad school families, who will probably be like-minded. The EC campus is nice and green. Not too far away is the Conner Prairie living museum (a farm you can visit).

We really like history, dh is history major, and historic buildings- so Richmond speaks to us from the aspect of still keeping a lot of that mostly unmolested. I'm not used to big cities, don't care too much for them. I'd rather be an hour away so we can go on a day trip if we like, but don't have to deal with the traffic, noise, rush, chaos on a regular basis.

Originally Posted by zinemama

Not exciting, but I wouldn't consider it the worst place in the world to spend a few years.

Basically, if it's got reasonable cost of living, a decent grocery and library in town, a park, and fairly walkable, then it sounds great to me. We're not too demanding. We have a ton of stuff to do here in Fl locally, but a lot of it is either fairly expensive, or it's just too darn hot to be outside doing it 9 months out of the year. I, and two of our three kids are very fair skinned, prone to sunburns and heat exhaustion. So it would be really nice to get a break from all the heat, humidity, and skin cancer down here. lol

Although I do realize we'll be trading it for icy steps, shoveling snow, etc.

[zinemama]

There is a library in town, but you can also use the EC library, which is famous in academic circles. It has a selection of children's books as well as everything else you could possibly want (or they can get it for you through ILL). I put in my work-study hours there, and really, it's fabulous.

[lorelei]

Thanks, ZineMama!
I love libraries- so that sounds awesome. Have since I was too little to read. lol

Are there any festivals or anything worthwhile in the area?

[zinemama]

Every year Earlham has a May Day celebration - kind of an Old English thing with maypole and morris dancing and merriment. This is known as Little May Day. Every fourth year the school puts on Big May Day which is like a giant version of Little May Day. Every person on campus gets a role and a costume (I was a wench). There are games, performances, music going on all day. It is a blast.

[Michael75065]

Originally Posted by Logansmommy06 

I live in Richmond and this town has NOTHING to offer. Nothing for children, nothing fun for families to do. You have to travel to do anything fun. I wouldn't say its a SMALL town, its the biggest of all the towns in this area. Jobs here are VERY hard to come by right now. We have had MANY factories and stores close over the past few weeks. I would suggest NOT moving here. Not a great place...

Your right town is gown o well

Michael East sider

[erigeron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinemama 

Every year Earlham has a May Day celebration - kind of an Old English thing with maypole and morris dancing and merriment. This is known as Little May Day. Every fourth year the school puts on Big May Day which is like a giant version of Little May Day. Every person on campus gets a role and a costume (I was a wench). There are games, performances, music going on all day. It is a blast.

I went there as well and this tradition seems to have bit the dust, I think probably when they switched over from trimesters to semesters. Now May Day is in the middle of or immediately before exams.

I wonder if the OP ever ended up moving to Richmond? I know this is an old thread. I've noticed that small towns with little colleges don't tend to have that "college town" vibe--to have that, you really need to have a big enough college that a large % of people in town are involved with it.