I need a little help (again) my friends. For those of you who are homeschoolers (Catholic or not) could you give advice on the following:
*does your area have a homeschool group
*what are the dynamics (ie: do you usually do entire group things, are there mostly cliques within the group and those cliques get together, everyone hates each other, etc.)
*how often do you get together as an entire group (field trips, play dates, etc)
*what do you love about the group
*what would you change about the group
*if you don't have a group, what would you like to see in one (pretend you were starting your own).
Thanks dearies, I appreciate any comments (please, please, please leave a comment :))
If you'd prefer to email it to me (perhaps you don't want others in your group seeing your feelings) the address is blogspotregina@charter.net.
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I want to know what people think too!!
Well, I homeschooled for quite a while and we were part of a couple different styles of groups. My first group experience was a weekly jam fest while the kids played at the park. We also planned a few field trips a year during the good weather. It was very low key and no stress.I actually liked it. Then we joined a larger group when that was disbanded and we did a once a week class. We gathered at a local church that let us use their facility and broke up into age groups... p-k, 1-3, 5-6, jr. high. We each volunteered to teach or co-teach a class. We did a unit study type class, like middle ages, civil war, Christmas around the world, etc. I think the kids enjoyed this, but it was more stressful and time consuming. Eventually, we dropped out and I didn't do any more group things, but occasionally met with some moms for a jam fest and let the kids play. Also, on 1 Saturday a month, some homeschool dads led a p.e. type activity at the park. I liked that too. so I guess I recommend keeping it simple.
Oh, I forgot, Eric was home schooled for high school and we went through a public charter school with either a weekly or monthly check in. Our choice. They also offered classes in higher math and lab science and had certified teachers. It was very easy for me as a parent and Eric liked his check in teacher.
Do you want to know my answers?!?!? ;)
I'm dying to hear the feedback you get! And here I am going to be away from computers starting tomorrow...
Yes, we have a local group. The "co-op" meets once a month (Sept-April)for 3 hours. The kids are split into groups and then have 45 minutes each of choir, art, and gym. We have a monthly Mom's meeting, where we support each other and eat cookies. We have one mandatory yearly Mom's meeting where we decide what the kids should do that year for the "classes". We eat cake at that meeting. I know the other families get together outside of "co-op" and we aren't included. But, it is a small town, they have known each other for generations, they all farm, and are not Catholic. So, I don't really care that we aren't invited to help muck out the horse stalls. I have joined a new group, which is CATHOLIC, and they have almost daily events that you can pick and choose from. It's farther from our home, but Jamie (makemeasaint) is in it so I think we'll have a great time!
We do have a group [changega.org], it's large, not too large - but we're very spread out logistically.
With that said - hs families are some of the busiest families i know!
we all will schedule fl trips if and when we want to - it's not terribly organized at present.
we do some feast day events - Val, all saints, etc... at a hs-friendly parish hall.
We have MNO once a month
We meet at the park on Fridays
We have an annual Thanksgiving potluck with ALL the families
We have beach days in the summer at the local lakes
We put on conferences w/all the big curic providers
Sorry if this is too broad. it's suday mornin' :O)
hope this helps somewhat!
Years ago, I belonged to an organized homeschool group that was "Christian". I think they had a goal of starting a Christian school and I'm pretty sure I was the ONLY Catholic. My impression was that they liked to impress each other with how many activities they could pay for their kids to get into and how holy they all were. I came back to my hometown just as a new homeschool group was getting started and we call ourselves the JMJ homeschool group. We are VERY loosely based and we have a spring picnic, occasional field trips, fall party, and various small group activities (once a year or so mom's only group). It's pretty great because a lot of us are related to each other in some way or know each other from a long time ago. New people to the group are always welcome and we get about 1 or 2 new families a year. Because we are all so busy with our own, big families, this seems to work well for all of us. We all wish we had more activities but nobody has time to organize that sort of stuff. We have email notices all the time of current events relating to our group or the Church in general.
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