Homeschool Groups

I apologize for the temporary hiatus over the last couple of weeks.  We have been winding down another year of homeschool, but this year has ended in a far more exciting way than any other.  This was the first year that our family joined our local homeschool group, and they concluded with a graduation and Fine Arts Fair.  My children have learned to play the violin with two of their friends, so the four of them did a performance together.

Before this school year, I never felt a need to join a homeschool group.  My children were still quite young, and our involvement with church provided them with all the friendship interaction they needed.  They saw their friends twice a week at church, and there were usually at least two play dates a month along with a birthday party or two.

Our circumstances began to change, however, with some of their friends moving out of state and an enormous transition in our church that reduced the number of families who had children to three.  It was an emotionally difficult time, but they were grateful to have their closest friends (who also homeschool) still part of their lives.  My children were getting older, and I began to see a need in them to have a few more friends.  My son seemed to have a need for boys who wanted to run and compete with him, who would challenge him physically with all the energy he had in his growing body.  My daughter seemed to have a need for girls who were the same age as her as she approached her teen years.  My daughter's body was beginning to change, and I could tell that she thought differently about things than she had before because she was beginning to transition away from being a little girl.

I sought out my local homeschool group and asked if we could participate in their first P.E. gathering as a trial visit.  Everything changed that day.  Not only did my kids get to play soccer for the first time, but the other kids eagerly befriended my own within minutes of our arrival.  This entire school year was one of great anticipation of Thursdays, the day they would go to P.E. to play sports and see their new friends.  We also participated in most of their field trips throughout the year.  We invited some of the families to our home for play dates, and my children were invited to their homes for play dates.

A couple of months ago, my son said, "This has been the best year of my life!"  Those words were music to my ears, considering what a difficult year they had the previous year.

I believe that as homeschooling parents, we need to listen to the promptings God speaks to our hearts.  We need to be in tune with the needs of our children.  We need to use wisdom in our decisions from year to year and from month to month.  Our children are constantly growing and changing.  It's important that we never allow ourselves to become so busy with the logistics of homeschooling that we fail to take notice of what is going on in their hearts.

If you homeschool and are not currently a member of a local homeschool group, I would encourage you to look for one and see if this is the right time for you to join.  You might be surprised to know that not only will your children benefit from this, but so will you.  It has been an enormous encouragement to me to be able to talk through struggles in homeschooling with other people who understand, and to have a place to meet new friends for me, too.