Thankful Thursday: Blessings of Rural Homeschooling {5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop}

There are lovely benefits to homeschooling in the city. You have access to culture and resources at your fingertips. So much of our nation's history resides in large cities. Museums, zoos, aquariums, parks, historical structures, large co-ops, sports leagues, large libraries, and so much more. These are all things that rural homeschoolers (especially extremely rural) typically do not have access too. It can be frustrating at times being isolated in the country when you are homeschooling, but there are also some incredible blessings. Today, I'd like to mention some of the Blessings of Rural Homeschooling as part of Thankful Thursday of the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop.

I have put together a list of my five key blessings of rural homeschooling and at the end, I've included quotes from other rural homeschoolers about what they are thankful for as rural homeschoolers!

Blessing #1: Small Town Life

One of the greatest blessings of living in the country, is small town life. Here in our town, everyone pretty much knows everyone else. Most of the businesses know we homeschool and they always ask how the boys are doing. It's very easy to set up field trips to visit local businesses like the newspaper, post office, restaurants, fire station, police station, etc. Sometimes homeschoolers in larger cities have to jump through more hoops. No one bats an eye at my boys being out and about with me, or playing in our yard. Time seems to move slower and people have relationships with each other! You are greeted by name and people genuinely want to know about how you are doing.

I love being able to homeschool in our town where this is the case!

Blessing #2: The Library

Because we live in the country, we rely heavily on our local library. Unlike some small towns, we have an excellent library. It is new (as of 2012) and has an excellent large selection of books--BECAUSE we are small town. The librarians want to make sure they offer what could be found in larger cities. There is also a bookmobile which takes books to the even more rural homeschoolers in the county. The library is a major blessing for some rural homeschoolers because they don't have a reliable internet at home. The library enables them to still have access.

Our librarians are also SOOO supportive of homeschooling. They allow homeschoolers to use their meeting rooms, host story times during homeschooling times, and are quick to offer to order any books that we may need. As a rural homeschooler, this is such a blessing! Did I mention we also have ZERO FINES OR LIMITS? Yes, you read that right. We do not pay any overdue fines and there are no limits to how many books we check out. Incredibly blessed indeed. I have visited a library in a town nearby. They are not as personable. They have strict fines for everything from overdue books, to finding a squashed bug on a cover (not kidding! I was fined $5 because they had to clean the cover of bug guts. Even though there were no bug guts on it when I turned it in. Apparently it smashed a bug when it landed in the book drop.), to having shorter checkout times. 

I am immensely grateful for my local library--especially now that we are putting together a new county co-op and they have volunteered their building and resources to make it happen--at no cost.

Blessing #3: Nature and Science in our Backyard

Let's face it. This is probably one of the BIGGEST blessings that rural homeschoolers have. The ability to do nature study at any time anywhere. I live on a farm. We have pastures, creeks, rivers, ponds, trees, flowers...no matter what kind of nature study you'd like to do, we can do it because we have the location to do it! We can study wildflowers. We can study trees. We can study grasses. We can study moss. We can study water creatures. We can study farm animals. We can study gardening. We can study soils. We can study rocks. We can study the stars. We can study...well, basically just about anything up close and personal. Well, except the ocean. Or tropics. Or polar regions. Or desserts. But just about everything else. This expands our science studies astronomically because we can go outside and LIVE our lessons. And let's not forget having the SPACE to do larger science experiments. Need to light a rocket project? no problem! Need to make a firework? Easy peasy. Need to measure to scale distances of the planets? I've got a 10 acre field for that. This is why nature study is a HUGE part of our homeschooling experience!

Blessing #4: Real Life Work Experience 

Unlike many who live in the city, there are MANY opportunities for our children to pick up work experience from the time they are young. Our farm life provides lessons in animal husbandry and hands on experiences with raising cattle. The boys put in time weaning the calves, repairing fences, setting gates, mucking out the cow shed, participating in hay season, participating in prepping the firewood, cleaning out streams/creeks/ditches, mowing grass, and more! This prepares them for their time working real jobs later. They will already have learned the value of hard work. They will already know the value of effort and trial/error. They also will already have experience in things that will better prepare them for jobs at the local feed store some day. The urban homeschoolers just don't have as many chances to do this in their area. I feel that sometimes that rural homeschoolers have an earlier sense of responsibility because of the way they grew up on farms or the opportunities they were given at an earlier age. Even the small town support of things like 4H and county fairs plays a part! So many rural homeschoolers are able to participate in fairs and 4H and it gives them great opportunities! There are many urban homeschoolers who would LOVE to be able to participate but they don't have the space to raise animals or 4H just isn't a thing where they live.

Blessing #5: Increased Value of the Simple Things

I have found that rural homeschoolers tend to value simple things that many urban homeschoolers take for granted. For instance, the internet. There are many homeschoolers in the country who do NOT have access to a reliable internet. This is something that urban homeschoolers probably don't even think of. But rural homeschoolers have troubles getting a fast internet, and without it, think of all the things you CAN'T do. Many rural homeschoolers can't use online classes because they can't rely on their internet. Many rural homeschoolers can't use things like Netflix or other streaming because of the same reason. Digital things take FOREVER to download. Many have to go to the library to be able to use the internet. Thus, a fast reliable internet is a simple thing we value. But on the other hand, we value NOT having a reliable internet or phone service because it means our children CAN'T be in front of a screen! 

Another thing we value is other homeschoolers. Because we live in the rural area, there are not as many homeschoolers nearby. There aren't as many co-op opportunities because we just frankly live too far away. Thus when we DO have the chance to be with other homeschoolers, we treasure it! 

Access to extra-curricular activities is a simple thing really...but few rural homeschoolers have the opportunity to do them. Things like gymnastics, martial arts, karate, music lessons, sports, etc. Urban homeschoolers can readily find these things if they want them. We can't. Thus when you do find something like that, you are very grateful for the opportunity. 

A library is another simple thing that is highly valued. As I said above, I have the benefit of an excellent library--but too many rural homeschoolers do NOT. Or they are just too far from one. So when they have access to a library, they are very very thankful for it. 

Now, don't get me wrong. These are things that I know many urban homeschoolers are thankful for too. But sometimes you can forget that there are many homeschoolers who don't have these things. On the flip side, rural homeschoolers can forget the value they have in the things we take for granted (the things that I have listed above for example!). So it definitely goes both ways!

Here are some of the blessings that other rural homeschoolers are thankful for...

Tagan~"I love that my children get to experience where their food comes from. They help in the barn and in the garden and understand that God created this awesome system. Food doesn’t come from the store!The lack of fast technology is also a blessing. With no cable, cell phone service or fast internet we spend time playing and imagining. Not in front of a screen!"

Misty~ "We run a farm, and I would have to say that all the nature and growing crops gives huge opportunities for biology, genetics, and chemistry studies. Look at these pumpkins my oldest son grew."

The Brewer Family~ "We love being able to be home and care for our rabbits and poultry. My son shows rabbits in ARBA and 4H. He will start in January the path to becoming an ARBA rabbit judge which will take 3 years!"

Renée~ "The nature that is readily available in our part of the county is amazing. We can sit in our yard and have an entire science lesson without books if we desire. We also have a large garden which is beneficial not only for the food but the lessons to go along with it. Not only in science but having a garden provides writing, reading, and history lessons."

Sarah~ "We read and play and learn outside. Right on our property. So much to learn without ever leaving the house, though we do lots of that too. Learning to be responsible for our animals and learning all about them is her favorite probably."

photo credit from Shana McCrady

Jamie~ "Nature studies are just a step away from the doorstep.It's convenient for running outside to grab a living or nonliving specimen for a lesson or experiment."

Amy~ "Being in nature. And last year--seeing a total eclipse of the sun from our own front yard in W. Kentucky! The ability to grow and thrive without a constant onslaught of over-stimulation. The ability to completely unplug from technology and experience your surroundings with your own five senses, unmediated."

Debbie~ "We don’t live on a farm but small town of 2000 people. There’s so many places to go to for outings. Lots of pumpkin farms in the fall. Greenhouses for the rest of the year. Lots of friends with horses. Then we still have the convenience of being close to bigger towns for libraries and museums and festivals."

Kristy~  "All the beauty that Kentucky has to offer. We take advantage of all our parks and natural beauty. We have Natural Bridge and Cumberland Falls close by. The fall is the perfect opportunity to go to all the farms and pumpkin patches."

T. Renee~ "I love so many things about living and homeschooling in rural Kentucky. I love the quietness that exists here, even in the middle of the day. I love that we can take a break and go outside and just breathe for a while. I love being able to make a quick trip to town in the middle of the day and nobody blinks an eye about the children being with me because in a small town, everyone knows everyone. I love the fact that there is literally always a learning adventure just around the corner. Whether it's a creek to hunt crayfish in, a cow at the neighboring farm giving birth, or the amazing view of the night sky to spot constellations in. There is nowhere on Earth I would rather raise and homeschool my children."

Jessica~ "The ability to write an entire science curriculum (biology and botany) based on our own farm and garden...and then writing a cooking class curriculum learning canning, freezing and dinner making using the food that we grow (be in plant or animal).. and being able to do nature walks without having to drive anywhere. There is the added bonus that are farm/garden chores get done WHILE we are holding class. So, while we are taking inventory and noting growth measurements and other changes, we are also able to feed and care for the animals...or the garden for that matter."

Morgan~ "What better place to teach ecology and biology than in your own backyard?"

Courtney~ "Ability to appreciate God's creation. Foster self reliance and patience. Smaller communities usually mean more personal interaction. And although this is a bit of a generalization , I feel people are less rushed and more friendly . (City girl now living in the country!)"

Tiffany~ "Free range recess. Every day there's a bit of science/nature."

Jennifer~ "This morning the kids were fed an ready an hr earlier than usual, so they went outside on our 25 acres, played "farm" while I finished some things inside. I then went outside and we began our school day on the golf cart finding as many different flowers as we could. We incorporated the "lesson" with God creating the plants and trees. Now we have a beautiful wildflower bouquet to enjoy in our kitchen."

As you can see, while we may not have ready access to as many cultural resources and activities as urban homeschoolers do, rural homeschoolers have some very large blessings that make our experience unique and amazing.

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I am happy to share that this week is a great week! It's the annual Back to School blog hop! This year, the theme is 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement and I'm itching to share my posts with you! I have a very busy week, so if they don't show up in the morning, make sure you check back for them later in the day! And as always, you can follow me over on Facebook and never miss new post! You can find a complete list of my posts this week on my introductory post for the blog hop!
Want to visit some other bloggers participating this week?

Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Patti @ Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Wendy @ Life at Rossmont
Yvie @ Gypsy Road

Do you have something that shares a peek into your own homeschooling adventure? Link up for us to see!

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