how big is your house? how large is your family?

Last spring then I went through a lot of issues with my son and his school.  To make a long story short, the district is not meeting his needs (he's autistic) and we want to move by the end of the summer.  We're in a horrible place financially because I lost my job under bad terms (so no positive reference).  The district we want to live in has specialists and I know it would be so much better for my little one.  The problem is that the houses we can afford are so small.  I grew up in a 3,000 sqft house with only five people so I'm use to space.  Our house now is about 1100 (400 of which is a nasty basement) with six people and I feel like a sardine!  I'd like to have one or two more children down the road.  My mom keeps discouraging us and saying we shouldn't look at X house because it's too expensive.  The problem being that the nice areas/ good schools have expensive houses with high property taxes.  We've always found a way to pay our bills and I am sure we'd continue to.... 

 

 

What we do is homeschool. We can then live wherever we want without worrying about the schools. We live in a safe neighborhood, but I wouldn't send my kids to these schools. Our neighborhood is mostly elderly. We have a large house that was overbuilt for the area so we got a killer deal on it. To me, the layout of the house is more important than the sq Ft. I like more living areas and less bedrooms. I would homeschool if we had an autistic child because you can decide how much socialization to introduce them to per week. There are lots of support groups and the kids are usually more accepting of someone who may act a little different. Just a thought.

My house is currently home to myself and three kids. It's 1400 sq. feet. I make it work, because I don't have a choice.

I also kind of come from the school of thought where I refuse to be a slave to my house, both financially and cleaning-wise. I wouldn't want a HUGe house, but yeah, I'd love to move to a better district and more space. Even a little better and little more. I say weigh the pros and cons and really think it over to make sure it's in your price range. School isn't everything, as kids will eventually not be in it.

Have you ever looked into state programs where a one on one aide can work with your son both during school and after, at home? There are state programs that provide this, though I'm not sure where you live. Just a thought for you. GL!

I did think about home schooling him (I am/was a teacher), but it wouldn't be a good fit for my other children.  He's pretty functional in terms of his needs (my issue was more academic).  I do have a couple friends that do h/s where I live, but they are doing it for religious reasons.  The two houses I want are 2100 and 2400 sqft.  I don't think that's especially large for a family of six.  Good point about the layout.  Our kitchen is 8'x9' and open on an entire wall.  Most apartments have larger kitchens.  With six people to feed, having a functional kitchen is so important.  Our bathroom is also especially small.  So far it's worked, but it's so gross hunching over the toilet to give a bath.  

 

 

We have a 1200 sq foot home with 800 sq ft basement that we're working on finishing so the kids can have a nice toy room and a big family room.  We also have an attic area that's not finished yet but is on our "to do" list for making another bedroom up there.  Right now we have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  With all floors finished it'll be about 2500 sq ft.  It'll be nice to have that 4th bedroom someday.  I'm thinking if we have #5 (and 6?!), that's when we'll really start to work on the other bedroom.  Space-wise I feel like we're fine (it'll be better when the basement is finished and organized - I hate living in the middle of remodeling with small children) although to some it might not seem like enough room.  I think we could live here fine with 2 more kids as well (2 kids to each bedroom).  We just make it work and have no plans on moving.  I guess some more room would be nice but the higher house payments wouldn't be, lol.

There are 6 of us and our house is 1500 sqft.  When we bought it we had less kids.  We can't really afford to move right now as the economy has tanked our family business, but I would love, love, LOVE to have just one more room for a playroom/homework room for the boys.  I want a large desk to do projects and stuff on for them. The layout of my current house just does not work for us with 4 boys, 3 of which will be in school next year.

 The 4 of us are living in appartment of 613 sqft. My girls share room which is 129 sqft and it is slightly bigger then our bedroom. 

Saxophonic:

but I would love, love, LOVE to have just one more room

Me too, no matter how small.

 We're in a 1600 sqft house with 5 (almost 6) of us. All three bedrooms are TINY (there's no master) with even TINIER closets and we have only one bathroom, however we do have two living areas. I would love to move, but it's not an option for us at this point.

 I am not sure how big our house is sq ft wise, it used to be a garage.  It is a two bedroom, one bathroom house.  There are 5(6 in October) of us in the house.  All three girls are in one room with a bunkbed.  Baby will be in our room then a hallway until it is bigger and depending on the gender may or may not move in with sisters once it reaches 2 yrs.

 

I would like a bigger house, but it just isn't possible right now.