If this is a topic you are reading up on you have most likely already made the huge decision to homeschool your children. Or maybe you have moved to a new area and have been looking for a homeschool support group but have not been able to find one despite asking everyone you talk to.
One of the greatest ways to find people to start a homeschool group with is online. There are so many forums, message boards and other ways to contact other homeschoolers. Most likely there are many in your are that are wishing that there was a group but maybe they don’t know how to start one on their own or they just don’t have time to head it up. Either way you are sure to find willing participants.
We will revisit the online aspect of coming up with homeschoolers for your group. Another way to go is to talk to you state board of education and ask if there is one association in the state that you can contact. Most states do have a homeschool association and they generally will have information on your area. You can choose to be affiliated with this “mother group” or you can just do your own thing.
Online you can join homeschool bulletin boards and forums that you just do a search for in your search window. You can put feelers out for what people know. You can go to sites like Yahoo! and see if they have an online homeschool for your state and possibly narrow your search to a region or city. If there is not one for your area why not start one. You can then email those that you know and tell them to let any homeschoolers they know of about what you are doing.
It will not take long before you have people showing interest. Now comes the part of finding out what you and others want out of the group. Are the parents just wanting homeschool park days or do they want homeschool curriculum co-ops or people to trade lesson plans with? Do they want to stick together based on their method of homeschooling or the curriculum that they have chosen? Do they want to have field trips and other extra curricular activities for the homeschool group?
Once these factors have been decided on you will want to find out who is willing to contribute what to the group? You can’t possibly do it all, especially if you have more than a handful of people. It is great for kids of all ages to be exposed to the leadership and teaching styles of others. It is also great for kids to know that there are other kids doing the same education methods as they are and to feel some sort of fellowship in that. All supplemental events and experiences that a support group can offer the students is of great value. This just makes for well rounded students and parents that are relieved to get to talk with those with similar struggles and find support within the group.
