Hi there!  My family is temporarily relocating to your fair city from San Jose, CA in May.  I have 3 daughters, ages 8, 5, and 3, and we're looking for a community to belong to during our stay.  I homeschooled my eldest for Kinder and then sent her to public and then private school.  She has always longed to be homeschooled again and we decided to give it another go for our move.  I pulled the girls from their school this month and we're adjusting to the transition of selling the house, preparing to move, and schooling at home.  It hasn't been easy!

I'm looking forward to meeting people in and around our area for park days and field trips.  We will be living near Sandia National Labs and my husband says there is a great park right across the street from where we are.  Our company put us in corporate housing near the Lab, but that means we're in a tiny 2BR apartment.  I have a feeling we'll be doing most of our school days at the library to keep from getting cabin fever!  And I hear it's much colder in New Mexico than where we are during the winter.  Is it hot by May?

My 8 year-old swims competitively and the little ones take lessons so most of our time in San Jose is spent poolside.  With the flexibility of homeschooling, we're also looking for dance and gymnastics classes to keep my little ones busy.  We're really looking forward to our Albuquerque adventure over the next year or so!

Hopefully we'll meet some of you when we move out!
Lori
Mom to...
Riley - 8
Tatum - 5
Abby - 3

P.S. Any Charlotte Mason, Ambleside Online folks out there?

Hi Lori - I have three daughters your girls' ages and we live not far from the base/labs.  By May it will be very nice here. There are TONS of resources for homeschoolers here, including all the activities you mentioned for homeschoolers and schooled kids.  Abq is really a homeschool friendly town with lots going on once you get hooked into it all.  My challenge now is NOT going out all the time and staying home more.  We also have lots of folks who do, to one extent or another, CM type schooling.  We look forward to meeting you!

Hi Lori~

I'm originally from CA (born and raised in San Diego) and now live in Abq.  It's very much colder, but by May it's wonderful weather.  I have all girls as well, same ages for the most part.  7 1/2 year old twins, a 5 1/2 year old and a sooon-to-be 3 year old.  We use My Father's World but I add picture study and poetry study (My Father's World is Charlotte Mason based in itself, I just add a few extras).  Enjoy your last few months in CA~and I hope the move goes well.  We look forward to meeting you over the summer!  :)

Whether or not it is hot by May depends on what a given person considers hot.  Lots of people move here from Phoenix, and to them it is never hot in Albuquerque.
Monthly average and extreme temps in town.
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/87123
Monthly temps in the East Mountains
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/87008

-doug

Hi, There is the family school, a charter APS, home school. What I understand about it is that kiddos go in the morning (not sure if parents go too) then have the afternoons off. I spoke w/ a teacher who worked there who said it was the best job she ever had, that it was very intense but both teachers and children got so much more out of the time.
As for swimming, Albuquerque Academy is known for its swim teams. They start classes w/ little kids and have an amazing pool. Dance classes there arer many options, Flaminco at the Flaminco Institute, African I think the school is called Oak Street, Ballet school. My 3.5 yr old son has taken classes at Keshet Dance School. They are located near downtown and were awarded the coming up taller prize by the White House.
As for places to buy a house, I love our hood! It is technically called Parkland hills, but is also known as Fringe Crest. Close to Nob Hill, Coop, Parks, Farmers Market, and very family friendly. Best of Luck.
danielle

Thanks for all your helpful input and advice!  Looking forward to meeting many of you in our new home!!

Lori

Can't believe May is almost here!  Can anyone send me info on park days and activities going on right now?  We'll be in ABQ in 2 weeks!!

Thanks,
Lori

You can always find up to date park day info in the scrolling news at the top of the page.  Right now we are still meeting at 1pm at Loma Del Norte Park every Thursday.  Loma Del Norte is just West of Wyoming and South of Paseo Del Norte.  Sometime in May we'll move the time to 10am.

Thanks, Dannie!