Family with kids moving to Columbia (St. Louis, Clinton: for sale, real estate, rent)

[lak&jak]

Hello. Our family is moving to Columbia this November or December. My husband and I are originally from Missouri, but not the Columbia area. We have been living in Colorado for the past 11 years. My husband just got a job at the University of Missouri. We will probably rent for a while to get a feel of the town. We would love any thoughts about neighborhoods or area that are kid friendly. Our kids are 3, 5, 7 and 9. We currently homeschool, but plan to place the kids in public school eventully. Information about the high schools would be great. Are there many homeschoolers in the area? Are there any homeschool support groups? We'd love to end up in a friendly neighborhood where people actually know each other, perhaps in walking distance to grocery stores or a restaurant, maybe an older neighborhood with big trees. Are there residential areas close to shops? But living on one income means buying a house that is not too expensive, for maybe 175,000 or less. Also, any information about fun activities or places for kids that we 'must' see right away would be much appreciated. Moving can be challenging so thank you in advance so much for your help.

[kareybear]

Well I have to tell you that Columbia is not a small town also I heard the school system is great there because it is a college town and school is very important for the community so that means they got money(fundings). My uncle that lives in Clinton Missouri tried to get me to move Columbia while my husband worked a 1 1/2 away because of my kids. Because of the school system and thinking I didn't want to live in a small town. You can always live the outskirt of Columbia if you want the smaller town feel. Here check out the newspaper Columbia Missourian and ColumbiaTribune.com | The Columbia Daily Tribune - Columbia, MO. As far for activities for your kids to do their all kinds of sports such swim team,soccor,basketball, baseball etc....available,libraries,parks and heard there is a zoo close by. I am not sure exactly what your looking for. You need to check some old post in here as far as to where to live and not to live supposly. I don't know. I drove through the town and head north to Macon. Yes there is a group called Parents as Teacher for home schooling. I would also talked to the library to see about homeschooling groups. You can check out //columbiamo.craigslist.org to looked up groups and other stuff and also check out Meetup: World's largest community of local Meetups, clubs and groups! for groups in your area as well. Good Luck on your search.

[Northwoods Voyager]

May I suggest that you check out: REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale for additional information? Approx. 155 homes for sale w/in the $150K to $175K price range for 3 BR, and 2 BA homes. Also check out on this Forum, info concerning Columbia, MO
Go to center of this page, and click on Search. Type in 'areas to avoid Columbia' leave the box threads, checked and click on go. Scroll down the page and you will see some interesting and helpful threads/posts.

Columbia is an excellent city. Good luck in your search.

[motraveler]

Columbia is a great place to raise a family. While I think the public schools here are overall fantastic, I know several people that homeschool their children and meet with a large network of other homeschoolers. Columbia has all kinds of family based activities such as the Heritage Festival, Art Festival, Art in the Park, and every Thursday evenings in June and September is the Twilight Festival downtown. The library also has all kinds of children activities. There are several nice city parks. There is no zoo close by. The closet zoo is in St. Louis, which is a great day trip destination. Columbia Parks & Recreation puts out a booklet advertising all kinds of upcoming events. You can contact the Chamber of Commerce for more specific info. that you might have. I guess I'm partial to Columbia, because this is where we raised our children.

[jrhartwick]

I'm a realtor here in Columbia and we moved here from Flagstaff back in 1995. My husband and I have three children ages 2, 5 and 7. On your housing budget, you may want to consider the area near Fairview Road which would be in Fairview Elem. School or near Russel. These neighborhoods are more established, within walking distance to parks, stores and is also biking distance to campus.

There are numerous parks and activities for the kids. The library has an excellent outreach program with activities for the whole family. The Parks and Recreation Dept have an Activity and Recreation Center (ARC) that has an indoor swimming pool, gym, walking track, basketball courts. There is also a Farmers Market, Festivals and Events.

You may also want to check on the local MOMS Club group. It is a support group for Stay at Home Moms. There is a South Side club (south of I70) and North Side (north of I70) Great resource and friendship! They have playgroups, activites etc. You can get a contact phone number by googling moms club or contact me! I'm a member of the north club and I know that in both there are SEVERAL members who are also from Colorado! I've been a member of the club since 2000 when my oldest daughter was born.

Welcome to Columbia (soon!)

I have a wealth of information on raising a family in Columnia so feel free to contact me if you have any other questions! I'm also a REALTOR here in Columbia!

[GregTSpielberg]

Hi.
My name is Greg Spielberg; I'm a grad student at Mizzou's journalism school and actually just moved here from Vail, Colorado. I am writing about homeschooling in the area and would love to talk to you about your decision to switch from homeschooling to public schooling. Please contact me at GregTSpielberg@gmail.com or 207-522-6715. I look forward to hearing from you.
Greg