This isn’t just for your kids, it’s for you as well. When you start homeschooling you both need to find your people. When things get rough, and they will, you will need people to spur you on and encourage you. Here is the way to finding your homeschool tribe.
Twelve years ago, I found myself home everyday with a fifteen month old and infant twins. As an extravert, I needed to find some people and fast. There was an amazing twins group on the area and I showed up to all the events and pretty soon, I had a core group of friends to laugh, cry and everything in between with. But, as our kids all became school age, I started to have less in common with these amazing women. My life began to revolve around homeschooling and theirs with the public school.
Thus, I set out to find my homeschool tribe. We joined an incredible homeschool co-op. There was a little coffee room you could go to when your kids were in class and you weren’t volunteering. This was my time to recharge each week. I sat with other homeschool moms, some veterans, some newbies and all in between. They encouraged and equipped me on this journey. We reached a point where this co-op wasn’t the best fit for girls with special needs, and took a year off.
That was a really hard year for me and my other kids. Fortunately, I had already started creating my homeschool tribe and still had contacts and kept in touch. We also met another amazing homeschool family, with ages similar to our kids, and they were an absolute God send. We always joked that we had become so close we didn’t even care if the house was clean, before the other one came over.
The following year we joined Classical Conversations and have an incredible tribe there. Me and my kids all found their people and our lives are better for it. I don’t know if we would still be homeschooling or not, if these people hadn’t poured into us. Homeschooling can be an exciting time to watch your children grow, but it can also be lonely.
Some tips to find your tribe.
Find a local co-op and have your kids take a couple classes.
Join local facebook homeschool groups
Go on local field trips with other homeschoolers
Go to the park on school days, and you will generally find homeschoolers
Google homeschool in your area. There are many support groups popping up
It can be scary to join a new group, but do it scared anyway! It will pay huge dividends over the years. Finding your homeschool tribe will have an important effect on your homeschool perservering.
