Would you move your family?

This isn’t something anyone else can answer, and I know this. However, it’s weighing heavily on me and I’d love some outside advice.

My husband is military. He likes where we are stationed and feels that there is long term potential here. AKA: when he retires in 5 years, he can stay on as a civilian employee. It’s a safe choice for him. I totally get that.

Another perk: we already own a home. It’s a decent home than we bought brand new. It’s not my “dream” home, but it’s nice with room to grow. We hardly have a back yard, and I hate that for the kids.

The downside: the town we live in isn’t so great. It’s secluded and far away from a lot of amenities that I’d like for my children. We don’t have things like parks, good schools (I have to homeschool, and getting to appointments is a long drive. I’ve seen so many fatal accidents on the highways where we live that I hate driving so far constantly. Crime rate is also very high. We’ve had neighbors get broken into and wiped out. We recently had a neighbor go on a shooting spree down our road which turned into 20 police officers on our road locking him down. I know this can happen anywhere, but yikes..my kids happened to not be outside that day!!

If we stayed here, college options are also very sparse. I’ve had a hard time continuing my education due to lack of options. For my career, it’s been a dead end. (Because we live 2-3 hours away from any school that offers higher degrees), and a city where I could work.

If we move, my husband could potentially get to a base he doesn’t like or could deploy again (he doesn’t here). We are having a hard time finding a common ground. Where it is good for him, it’s not so good for our family. I’ve made it work for over five years here, but I’m still struggling. I can mentally make it work if it’s for the best of my family, but deep down I’m having a hard time imagining my kids growing up where we are now. It’s not what I had imagined for them.

What do you do in a situation like this?