Starting a Homeschool Group
In Alabama, homeschool is whispered about like the names of diseases were in your grandmother’s generation. People are afraid that they may catch it (or maybe get caught). At least, that is the way it feels most days.
Even with the inclination to hide, I am determined to draw out homeschoolers and form a real community of support, opportunities, and shared resources. Some of my ideas are tried and tested methods for forming groups. Some of them are wishful thinking. All of them will probably have to be twisted and tweaked to get the results I’m after.
1. Have a play day once a month at a near by park. I can schedule the time for my own children and then if other families don’t make it I won’t be so disappointed. I will post the times on forums, chat rooms, and yahoo groups.
2. Find a building that can be rented by or maybe given to the group for activities. While using homes is great, some people are comfortable in that situation. A neutral location would be best.
3. Meet with other parents who want to start a community. Form a “club” or organization. Put together bylaws and formulate a plan. Elect or appoint officers. This gets you just a few filed papers away from being a 501-c corporation.
4. Open a checking account to hold funds for group activities (like rental costs). This may require that you actually incorporate your group, but that is not usually that expensive.
5. Don’t wait for other people to join in before making a go of it. Just start doing things, inviting people, and making contacts. The rest will happen – EVENTUALLY. Whatever else happens, never give up and never surrender.
I may not have found success yet in forming a homeschool group in my area. Even failure can’t stop me. I’ll try something new, something different, and maybe even something completely unexpected to get me to where I want to be.
What are the best suggestions you have for getting homeschoolers together?
I don’t think there is a great way of getting homeschoolers together. Every family has a different schedule and different things they have to do so usually it is hard to pick a time when everyone can just be there. I think the best thing to do is just set a date to meet and people will either show up or not and don’t take it personally if they aren’t able to show up. I know we would like to get together more, but a lot of the time, our schedule causes problems.
Comment by Lori — July 21, 2007 @ 8:52 pm
I have been part of two groups. One of which I started. It was just an association of families in our church that homeschooled and the church let us use a room for free once a month.
The group I am part of now has been meeting throughout the summer, every Friday, at the same park. We actually had business cards made up, and have had opportunity to hand them out to people who happened by. In the past, the treasurer of the group had an account in her name. This year, we found a bank that let us use the group’s name without our being 501c, or incorporated.
I would hop on the phone and find a willing church, or property owner’s association and bank.
Find out what the needs and wants are of homeschoolers in your area, and minister to that.
Comment by Christy — July 24, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
My best tip(esp. for small, rural groups would be to just host a home
school meeting in your home. I have done this for years and had between 4 to 12 ladies in attendance each month.
I have a question of the month that we all take turns answering and to close off the evening, there is a show and tell time - bring any new curriuculum, book, HS tip, etc to share with others.
It works in a rural area.
Then we do extras as members wish - field trips, park days, home school swim and more. I even look after the Scholastic book orders.
Comment by Terry — July 25, 2007 @ 8:46 am
I think it is a great idea for a while to just get together and make friends. My kids take a taekwondo class for homeschoolers and this spring we did a mini curriculum fair each lesson. We’d each bring in something that we really liked or a mom would mention something she was considering and someone would bring in a copy to look over.
If your group expands beyond park days, I think you should be clear about what the group’s current mission is. I think that folks get bent out of shape if they expect a lot of group learning opportunities (field trips, group classes, spelling bee, etc) and see only play dates. On the other hand, some families may feel less welcome because they are only interested in fellowship with other homeschoolers and feel pressured to participate (or organize) in group outings. So either be really clear about what the group is doing or be willing to accept that different families will have different levels of participation.
I would also be clear about religious expectations. If the group is a fellowship group for lots of homeschoolers regardless of education philosophy or religion, then don’t let one viewpoint crowd others out. If it is really a support group for a particular style of homeschooling or homeschooling within a faith structure, then be clear about that too.
Comment by Sebastian (a lady) — July 25, 2007 @ 1:08 pm