[skyl4rk]

You can find many nice neighborhoods within about a 15 minute commute time to BH, so I would focus on a short commute time. When you get here you can start looking and pick the neighborhood that fits you.

[MarvinStrong313]

Originally Posted by alw1964

Thank you for the info. I know I can't totally avoid lake effect, I just don't want to live right on it but who knows maybe we will end up on the lake shore and just hunker down for the winter.

I did see both Paw Paw and Mattwan listed on the Great Schools website with fairly decent ratings. The next thing I need to check out is a good area for a gay family to live. We can handle conservative, just not hostile.

As for the urban areas, we live in one now. I've always joked I feel safer with guys carrying guns than being in the country with cows. It's just in what you're used to. But that being said we're looking to move somewhere with a little less excitement. I live in a good neighborhood with great neighbors and we've worked hard to keep it that way. But we still have our occassional drug dealer working on the street and I'm sick of chasing them down and sick of having to work so hard at it. We have plenty of great towns around us and if I can find a job in the area we'll stay and move to one of those but the prospects are pretty slim, so if we move out of state we want to find something a little quieter than where we are now.

The school district we live in now has over 30,000 students and the dysfunction at the district level is mind boggling. I realize you can have that in a smaller district too but I'm ready to try smaller.

What city do you live in now?

[alw1964]

Originally Posted by MarvinStrong313

What city do you live in now?

Rochester, NY

[alw1964]

Well,

We are driving to MI tomorrow for my interview on Thursday. I had a phone interview a couple of weeks ago that went very well, hence the visit on Thursday. My family is coming with me so they can check out the area while I'm at my interview.

The answers I got here were very helpful and like I said gave me a good jumping off point. I have found some home schooling groups in the area which is a load off our minds. And if we decide keep my son in school it looks like Saint Joseph would work for us. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Unfortunately we have to turn right around and go home on Friday, otherwise we would plan on staying the weekend to check things outfurther.

I'll let you know how it goes, one way or another.

I have the kids all revved up. They know it's not a definite but I have to get everyone prepared just in case.

Fingers Crossed!

[skyl4rk]

good luck!

[Adrian71]

I grew up in SW Michigan and spent a few years in Niles, but I never got up much to BH/SJ. I did want to add, though, that the World Academy of Irish Dance has a location in South Bend, which would be about 40 or so miles from you.

WAID

You'd actually be slightly closer to South Bend/Mishawaka than you would to Kalamazoo/Portage, but either place will give you pretty much all the amenities you could need, as long as you don't mind the commute (which really isn't that bad -- mostly light traffic on rural roads).

Good luck on your trip!

[Tara0815]

Good luck =)

[alw1964]

Originally Posted by Adrian71

I grew up in SW Michigan and spent a few years in Niles, but I never got up much to BH/SJ. I did want to add, though, that the World Academy of Irish Dance has a location in South Bend, which would be about 40 or so miles from you.

WAID

You'd actually be slightly closer to South Bend/Mishawaka than you would to Kalamazoo/Portage, but either place will give you pretty much all the amenities you could need, as long as you don't mind the commute (which really isn't that bad -- mostly light traffic on rural roads).

Good luck on your trip!

Thank you. I've been meaning to look into South Bend for Dance Options. That wouldn't be a bad drive at all.

I will definitely check out the website for WAID!

Our thoughts would be to try to settle in the St. Joseph area and if we had to drive a couple of times a week to get to dance, it wouldn't be a big deal.

[Teska616]

I've lived in the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor area my whole life, and I have to say, it's a great area to be in. The beaches are great, but if they aren't your thing there's tons of other stuff too, the Benton Harbor arts district is particularly awesome.
I'm not sure how advanced your daughter is with her Celtic dancing, but definitely look into the Citadel. I was a ballet dancer for 15 years myself, although I went to Dance Arts in Stevensville, and I know they don't offer Celtic dancing.
Benton Harbor itself can be a little bit of an iffy area, depending on what part you're in, but it's getting way better in recent years, and it can only get better from here. Also the PGA tournament in two weeks is really going to help the economy.
Benton Harbor is also home to the OutCenter (you can google their website), which is one of only 5 official LGBT community centers in the state of Michigan. They're mostly youth oriented (they have a youth group for ages 14-20 that meets once a week), but they have tons of other great resources and support groups too. They recently sponsored a production of Spring Awakening at the Beckwith Theatre in Dowagiac that was PHENOMENAL. I'm sure if you called them they'd be more than happy to recommend a friendly neighborhood, although most of the area is pretty laid-back, especially in-town.
Michigan is definitely a homeschool-friendly state, I was homeschooled up until high school, and then I went to Saint Joseph HS. There are lots of homeschool groups in the area, my family didn't use any of them, we just kind of did our own thing, but I've had friends who were involved in them. I would recommend the Saint Joseph school district over Benton Harbor, but with the School of Choice program, no matter what district you live in you can choose which school you go to. There's also the Lakeshore school district, and they're also pretty good, though not as arts-focused as Saint Joseph is. Saint Joseph is also undergoing massive amounts of remodeling right now, and there are lots of technology advancements planned with that.
As far as colleges go, we've got Lake Michigan College, which is a community college out in the country but technically in Benton Harbor, it's only about a 15-20 minute drive from anywhere in the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor area. We've also got Southwest Michigan College, another community college in Dowagiac, about a 45 minute drive. Then there's Western Michigan College, which is a full-blown four year school in Kalamazoo, only about an hour away and commutable if you don't mind the snow and still really want to stay at home.
That's about all I can think of right now, hope this helps
Let me know if you have any questions! I'd be happy to help!

[alw1964]

We had a wonderful visit. Love that sun sets an hour later than here. Had heard that but had never experienced it.

Got to Silver Beach briefly, ate at Silver Beach Pizza. A couple of people had recommended it and they had great Gluten Free options for my son. Drove down 94 as far South as Stevensville.

My family took a tour of the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph area.

We should know what's going on fairly soon.

Thank you again for all of your suggestions and comments.