Blue collar job in Brewster, NY -- affordable places to live with good schools? (Poughkeepsie: apartment)

[laidofftoolong]

My husband is a welder who has been laid off since January and there have been no jobs in our area.

If he is willing to go out to Brewster, NY, he will likely be offered a job. The job would pay $24 per hour, but since there are no medical benefits, we would lose a lot of pay in getting our own health insurance (a must for us, our little boy has life-threatening allergies). So I am figuring that he is grossing more like $18 per hour after medical.

I am self-employed licensed professional, and I can take my business anywhere in NY. However, my cash flow is inconsistent. Maybe I'll pick up a lot of work moving out there, but it's not certain. Leaving self-employment is not an option right now. Even if I were willing to give up self-employment after a decade of hard work, employers demand 60-70 hour weeks in my field, and I just am not willing (maybe not even physically able) to do that. Caring for our son is too important to me.

So we have to live somewhere as if only my husband's income was there. This will probably be this way until our 10 year old son is a little older, because he is not very independent, and I am really the only parent able to assist him with his education and generally manage our home life.

We like to have a grocery store/shopping center within 20 minutes, but we like rural living a lot. We currently own a home, and the thought of living in a rental unit is not really desireable. In fact, I think that I would prefer a trailer on a plot of land to living in an apartment. We love Lake Taghkanic State Park, and love farms, natural living, fishing, camping, all of that.

But driving anywhere more than an hour each way would really push it for my husband. He's used to 20 minute commutes.

I am not a social climber, and have no interest in cliques. My husband looks like a redneck, with tattoos, jeans with the keys hanging off, etc.. However, I am a very highly educated professional. So I'd not be happy with a bunch of moonshiners saying "Ain't" all of the time, but neither of us would be happy with a bunch of foie gras eaters either.

My husband likes to work out at a gym. Access to an inexpensive family fitness center would be necessary.

Our little boy is a VERY talented dancer (being invited to intensives after only his 2nd year) and we want him to be able to continue that at a good dance school. A school district where the parents are very uneducated or narrow minded would not work, as their attitude flows through to their children. I have found that the less education of the people in the community, the more likely my son will be called derogatory names.

We are willing to consider any place in the Brewster area, even out of the state.

Any help would be appreciated.

[ckhthankgod]

Maybe Danbury, CT or places like Beacon, the Poughkeepsie area, the Newburgh area and maybe parts of Peekskill.

[7 Wishes]

laidofftoolong, please see my response to this on your cross-posting in the CT forum. I didn't realize you also posted here, though that response probably belongs here more. I don't want to put it in twice, sorry.