Looking for Homeschool/Big Family Friendly Towns, Please Help! (Santa Rosa: how much, big home)

[HomeMama]

Hi, I am a homeschool mom with 6 wonderful children. We are looking to relocate and I would like some help from locals. Below is some of our needs for a place.

Homeschool friendly
big family friendly
Organic farmers markets close by
Would like a couple acres of land or at least a big enough yard to grow an organic garden.

Here are the areas I am interested in:

Santa Rosa
Sonoma
Granite Bay
Davis
Roseville
Fair Oaks
Loomis
Rocklin
Diamond Springs
Placerville
Auburn
Grass Valley

Or any other suggestions would be great! Thanks!

[Jimbo15]

How much are you looking to spend?

[HomeMama]

We are looking to spend low 200's at first, but this may change to high 400's in the next few months if my husband gets a job we are hoping for. So if I could just get a range of ideas that would be so helpful. Thanks.

[PurpleLove08]

If you hadn't mentioned a job, I would have mentioned AR. [Not saying there aren't jobs here but you seem to be saying your husband is counting on a particular one]
We tend to have farmers markets, plenty of land to farm on and since the Duggars are from here...you wouldn't get a bunch of stares for being a big family and home schooling your children.

Good luck with finding a lot of land for the prices you mentioned.

[NorCalMan]

Originally Posted by HomeMama

Hi, I am a homeschool mom with 6 wonderful children. We are looking to relocate and I would like some help from locals. Below is some of our needs for a place.

Homeschool friendly
big family friendly
Organic farmers markets close by
Would like a couple acres of land or at least a big enough yard to grow an organic garden.

Here are the areas I am interested in:

Santa Rosa
Sonoma
Granite Bay
Davis
Roseville
Fair Oaks
Loomis
Rocklin
Diamond Springs
Placerville
Auburn
Grass Valley

Or any other suggestions would be great! Thanks!

Wow, what a huge geographical area.

I can't speak for Santa Rosa or Sonoma, well, actually I can...there is no where in California that you are going to find a couple of acres with a house large enough to accommodate 8 people. Especially in the area's you have listed. Maybe in the desert or in Modoc county, but it just doesn't exist. In the area's you've listed you will even be hard pressed to find a large enough home in the low $200's without land. Furthermore, Rocklin, Fair Oaks, and Roseville simply don't have open land like that, and any acerage with a house in Grass Valley, Auburn, Placerville, Loomis, and Granite Bay is going to be substantially more than $200K.

You should do a search on realtor.com and put in all your requirements for a house to see what you get. I just did a search for Fair Oaks (the cheapest place to live in on your list) and there is nothing with more than 1/2 acre for under $250K

As for farmers markets, they're all over the place. They're not all organic, but they're farmers markets nonetheless. Here's a website you should check out to find the closest one: Welcome — California Federation of Certified Farmers' Markets. We usually go to the one in Citrus Heights on Saturday's.

I think for what you want, $300K-$400K is going to be what you'll need.

We homeschool our daughter through Visions in Education and they operate in Sacto county and all the counties that touch Sacto county (Placer, El Dorado, Yuba, San Joaquin,etc). She loves it.

[cag25]

I'll second Visions in Education charter school for homeschooling.

It sounds like you'll have to set some priorities---do you really want a lot of land or would a half acre or so do?

BTW, we're buying in Fair Oaks-- a half acre for under $250k, so it is possible. But if you can get into the $400k range, you'll have many more options.

[MamaToThree]

Ohhh...I don't want to hijack this thread, so I am going to start a new thread about Visions in Education.

p.s. What you describe sounds like Grass Valley (for land and natural living environment). Davis if you want a postage stamp and a window organic farm.

[HomeMama]

Hi, Thanks to all that responded! I have been looking at Grass Valley, but I am not sure if I will like the cold in winter and the summers seem to be reported in the 70's to 80's in summer online. Can anyone tell me what the weather is really like in Grass Valley?

[NorCalMan]

Originally Posted by HomeMama

Hi, Thanks to all that responded! I have been looking at Grass Valley, but I am not sure if I will like the cold in winter and the summers seem to be reported in the 70's to 80's in summer online. Can anyone tell me what the weather is really like in Grass Valley?

http://www.city-data.com/forum/sacra...alifornia.html

If you think that GV is cold in the winter then you need to move to Yuma, Arizona. It maybe gets down to the lower 20's during the winters, very rarely does it get lower than that, but it always warms up and is often times warmer than the Sacto area because it's above the fog. Summers are warmer than 70's and 80's, more like 90's and 100's. Look at the thread above for more info.

[ColfaxTeri]

Originally Posted by HomeMama

Hi, Thanks to all that responded! I have been looking at Grass Valley, but I am not sure if I will like the cold in winter and the summers seem to be reported in the 70's to 80's in summer online. Can anyone tell me what the weather is really like in Grass Valley?

Grass Valley, Colfax, Alta all have big home school communities and support. Grass Valley would be the spot for the most availability of organic food, and support for organic gardeners. Briarpatch Co-op, Pleasant Valley garden supply and the farmers market at the fairgrounds are just a few examples. You would have to be quick and lucky to find acerage with a liveable house in the 200K range, you might find an "in town" home with large yard, but it will be a big fixer, I would suggest Rough & Ready area also, a short drive to Grass Valley.
If you can go up in to 300-350K you could probably find something suitable (will probably still need some work)
Winters will get some snow, usually doesn't stick around long, some days I find it is warmer than when I travel down the hill into the fog.
It sounds like a lot will depend on where your husband finds work, I wouldn't want to commute to Sac from Grass Valley.
Good luck in your search.