Farm Life | Summer 2008
Help is close for homeschooled families.
By Cindy Bablitz
Finding support groups can be one of the most helpful steps along a beginning homeschool family's journey. Because of the rapid proliferation of homeschooling in North America, there is no shortage of formal and informal support. Online communities often become as meaningful and supportive as do live, face-to-face communities in your immediate area.
Following is a list of suggestions on how to begin finding and tapping into network of homeschooling support groups that meet your needs.
- Do a lot of homework to clarify for yourself the style of homeschooling you and your children will prefer. Then begin asking yourself what kind of support you think you need. Are you looking for organized field trips? Informal play or purely social gatherings? Information about sporting, musical, science, drama or other classes in your region? Mentorships for your children? Moral support for yourself?
- Ask your local school board, or your regional homeschool board or authority for a list of support groups in your area.
- Spend time at your local library during the day, when most school-aged children are in school: this is where you'll meet other homeschooling families. You can also ask your librarian if homeschool groups meet regularly at your library and, if not, consider leading this initiative yourself.
- Google! For example, a quick Google search, "homeschool support groups in Alberta", turns up about 18,000 links. There's probably a match in there somewhere for what you're looking for!
- Yahoo! Yahoo Groups have become a virtual meeting ground for persons of like-minded interests of every ilk. There are several excellent Yahoo discussion groups for homeschoolers in Canada that are as regional as "homeschoolers with children under six who live within three blocks of here" or groups on a national scale such as a support list for Canadian home-based learners with almost 1000 members and Unschooling Canada, a support list specific to those "committed to unschooling and natural learning" with almost 600 members.
