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Old 12-10-2018, 08:50 PM
 
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Looking for a nice, small Montana town with a great, small elementary school and highschool. A one room schoolhouse would be nice, also.
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Old 12-11-2018, 05:49 PM
 
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Supposed to be very good schools in Manhattan MT. Florence? Choteau?


Still considering Big Timber? If not, what needs to be different?


Whitefish too big, too fancy / fussy or possible? Schools supposed to be pretty good.


What about Meeteetse WY? K-12 altogether, I am led to believe. Cody airport might work for most of year. Billings or Casper (or Riverton?) in winter. Absolutely massive funding per pupil fwiw. Supposed to have very low student to teacher ratio. Might try to contact recent teacher in that district on WY forum (georgiainwyo) if you wanted more info.

Last edited by NW Crow; 12-11-2018 at 06:32 PM..
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Old 12-11-2018, 07:32 PM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
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There are several small country schools around. The only 1 room k-8 I know of right off the bat is Malmborg. It's on the Bozeman Pass.

You need to give us an area, Montana is huge. Lots of different climates, land, people, Montana doesn't fit neatly into a pigeonhole. A good school in a nice small town just eliminates the half-dozen larger towns, and leaves a lot of choices scattered across an area larger than new England.

Have you visited here? Summer? Winter? East of the divide? West of the divide? Southwest? Northern Tier? Eastern plains or the western timberlands? How about the Judith Basin? There's an embarrassment of choices.

We're wiling to help, but we need more to go on.......
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Old 12-12-2018, 05:23 PM
 
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NW Crow, thanks for this info. Yes, I'm still looking for a small town and great school etc.

I like Big Timber, but would like at least 40 acres, a fixer-upper is ok, for no more than about $1M. I think I may be priced out of this area altogether.

I understand what you mean about Whitefish. We are country people, hunting, working outside, doing physical labor, etc. So Bozeman or Whitefish may not be a good fit.

We need to live no more than an hour's drive to an airport and grocery store. I can't find the acreage in Idaho. I look in Wyoming, also.

I'm drawn back to Montana small town culture, though.
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Old 12-12-2018, 07:53 PM
 
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Choteau is 50 miles from Great Falls. Elementary school and high school each have a bit over 100 students. One school rating site has the elementary school as good (7 of 10) and the high school as great (9). Pretty traditional MT town. Some newcomers. I'd think you could get a 40 acre parcel and probably for less than near the big cities or resorts. Ag is still common. 1700 people in town. 6k in county. You can probably get a lot of the basics locally.


Have you looked at Columbus? Similar size as Big Timber but probably less fancy ranches. Probably cheaper land. Very good marks for the schools. 300 in elementary, 200 in high school. About 35 miles to Billings.


Reed Point is small. Under 40 in elementary. Around 25 in high school. Don't have ratings. Is what they make of it.


Bridger? 100 in elementary, 60 in high school. Rate "good". About 45 miles to Billings.


Twin Bridges schools have excellent rating. 100 in elementary, 100 in high school. 40 miles to Butte.


Other possibilities: Philipsburg, Cascade. Ennis has very good schools. 200 in elementary, 100 in high school. 55 to Bozeman. Townsend.


Did I miss a candidate? Maybe. But these are most of your best options, probably.

Last edited by NW Crow; 12-12-2018 at 08:34 PM..
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Old 12-12-2018, 10:06 PM
 
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Check out Pine Creek Elementary in Paradise Valley for the flavor I think you're looking for...it is in Livingston area. http://www.pinecreekschool.org/

The counties with low populations have 4-6 very small rural schools, usually just an elementary. Like the one in Alder, Madison County or the 4 or 5 rural elementaries in Beaverhead County, like Reichle & Grant.

Google the County Superintendent of Schools office for each county that appeals to you. That person serves as the Superintendent for all the small rural schools in that county & there should be a list of the small schools.

Many of these are located out in the larger ranch country, so a 40 acre parcel or any may not be available.
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Old 12-12-2018, 10:07 PM
 
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MTSilvertip, I've been looking for a minimum of about 40 acres, fixer-upper ok, priced around $1M, in a small town, with country people.

We were raised this way, with hunting, guns, conservative values, acreage, privacy, small town community feel, where everyone knows one another, bleachers filled at highschool sporting events, genuine care for and involvement in the schools/community.

I'm flexible with the weather/climate differences that divide the state. No flat, barren, farmland. Would like acreage with some trees, rolling hills, or mountains.

The western half of Montana is priced lower than Bozeman, Livingston, or Big Timber. Does this price difference reflect the school and community quality? What might I be paying for in these more expensive areas? Is something lacking where prices are lower?

The plan was to retire on our current acreage, in our once small PNW town. Too many people, too many drugs now. One of my daughter's schoolmates, from the best family, became a heroin addict. Other teenagers from equally good homes became meth addicts. Our small, rural, blue-collar town is now a bedroom community for a large, nearby city. Our town is no longer small nor rural, and is filled with housing developments, pretentious white-collared workers in huge luxury mansions built on once beautiful farmland. I don't recognize my town or its people anymore. The parking lot at the Christian school my daughter attended is filled with cadillac suvs and range rovers. Parents hurry past me in their fancy clothes and expensive workout outfits. It's now more of a private school catering to the affluent, rather than the tiny country Christian school it used to be. In contrast, our public schools are poorly funded and overcrowded, with students sitting on the floors. So now I homeschool.
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Old 12-12-2018, 10:09 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MtMother View Post
Looking for a nice, small Montana town with a great, small elementary school and highschool. A one room schoolhouse would be nice, also.
I am also looking for the same except it doesn't have to have schools a general store would be nice though.
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Old 12-13-2018, 01:16 AM
 
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Thanks NW Crow, great info. Are you familiar with the sense of community in those areas?

In my replies I described where I currently live and what I'm looking for specifically.

I'd like to stay far away from the bigger towns I read have known drug problems in MT, not even for grocery shopping, dr. apts, etc. I don't want to share their roads. While I was driving my car was struck by a young woman coming down from meth.

My husband wants to be very near elk hunting areas, he also wants to see some trees, rolling hills, or mountains where we live.
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Old 12-13-2018, 11:50 AM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MtMother View Post
MTSilvertip, I've been looking for a minimum of about 40 acres, fixer-upper ok, priced around $1M, in a small town, with country people.

We were raised this way, with hunting, guns, conservative values, acreage, privacy, small town community feel, where everyone knows one another, bleachers filled at highschool sporting events, genuine care for and involvement in the schools/community.

I'm flexible with the weather/climate differences that divide the state. No flat, barren, farmland. Would like acreage with some trees, rolling hills, or mountains.

The western half of Montana is priced lower than Bozeman, Livingston, or Big Timber. Does this price difference reflect the school and community quality? What might I be paying for in these more expensive areas? Is something lacking where prices are lower?

The plan was to retire on our current acreage, in our once small PNW town. Too many people, too many drugs now. One of my daughter's schoolmates, from the best family, became a heroin addict. Other teenagers from equally good homes became meth addicts. Our small, rural, blue-collar town is now a bedroom community for a large, nearby city. Our town is no longer small nor rural, and is filled with housing developments, pretentious white-collared workers in huge luxury mansions built on once beautiful farmland. I don't recognize my town or its people anymore. The parking lot at the Christian school my daughter attended is filled with cadillac suvs and range rovers. Parents hurry past me in their fancy clothes and expensive workout outfits. It's now more of a private school catering to the affluent, rather than the tiny country Christian school it used to be. In contrast, our public schools are poorly funded and overcrowded, with students sitting on the floors. So now I homeschool.
Lots of places with land for a lot less than $1M once you get away from the areas the movie stars and rich and shameless haunt.
Strike Big Sky, the Boulder Valley south of Big Timber, much of the Paradise Valley south of Livingston and most everything around Bozeman off your list.

If you want elk hunting and a small town with mountain views, less than an hour from an airport, I'd say Townsend or Winston.

Clyde Park and Wilsall also have decent schools, and a fair amount of land for sale, and are about an hour from Bozeman if you take the Bridger road.

Personally, I like Roundup or Lavina. Good Schools, lots of land available in the Bull Mountains, excellent hunting, only about an hour from Billings but a completely different world.

Columbus and Reed Point have good schools and are decent places to live, but finding water for the house can be tough.
Fishtail and Absaroka to the south closer to the Beartooth are more expensive, but really nice areas.

You may want to look at places like Hobson and Stanford too in the Judith. Not far from Great Falls, you can see 5 different mountain ranges from the valley floor, excellent hunting, and decent schools.

If you're looking for a good Christian School, Manhattan. You could go to Springhill or Amsterdam and still be within easy reach of Manhattan Christian, and you're 20-30 miles from Bozeman, about 40 miles from Butte so you have options for airports. You can see the Gallatin Range, Bridgers, Spanish Peaks and Tobacco Roots from there too.

Just stay away from that development north of Three Forks, something Pines. Solid rock, not good neighbors and lots of Rattlesnakes, roads are quagmires when it gets rain, but the land is cheap. Three Forks is nice, Willow Creek is better, but not a real fan of the Wheatland Acres Development there. (water is kind of iffy).

A million dollar budget gives you a lot of options, so my advise would be to spend some time exploring the state and looking at real estate guides to find that dream home.
Away from the main towns, the main drug is snuice or beer. it's a different culture from the PNW here so don't let the naysayers spook you. Drugs can be anywhere and hit any family, but most of the small towns here are still communities where the families look out for each other. Makes it tough for drugs in town to be a secret so it's not a safe place for the pushers.
Most of the meth here is manufactured for export since there's a lot of area and few cops to watch it. It's here, but not at the same levels you see in more populated areas because it stands out more.

Good Luck!
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