East bay homeschoolers, where are you!? (x-posted in Waldorf)

[maranapanda]

I keep reading that they are 'everywhere', but I can't seem to find them.  We just moved to the El Sobrante area  (we're just north of  Kennedy Grove, and Orinda) from Phoenix.   I have  3 kids aged 2, 5, and 7.5.  I'd love to find some sort of group for park days.

much love,

Amanda

[goldingoddess]

Hi Amanda,

Check out meet-up.com, you'll find a few different active groups.

[maranapanda]

Thanks for the advice.  I've "rsvp'd" to a few events and park days coming up.  I still haven't found anything about Waldorf homeschool, but this is a great start.  Honestly we are only Waldorf influenced, we are truly eclectic in homeschool style, so it's not a big deal.

blessings

Amanda

[Mamma Mia]

We're in the East Bay too, and unschooling.  My daughter is almost 10, maybe we can get this bumped and get some older kids out for a park day too?

[Pookietooth]

There is the San Francisco Bay Area Unschool Yahoo group (SFBUN), also Homegrown Kids. We are in Richmond.

Edited by Pookietooth - 10/1/12 at 4:24pm

[Mamma Mia]

Every time we have shown up for SFBUN park days, it's almost entirely children 6 and under and my daughter plays by herself and then we leave :( 

I'm also having a hard time connecting with any other families because it seems like only white middle class families home/unschool. Like, I know it's hard to have a parent out of work, but are there really ZERO working class homeschool/unschool families in the Bay Area?  It sucks that the community we are forced to hook up with to see other people during the day looks nothing like our actual community.

[Pookietooth]

.

Sometimes there are lots of tweens at the BUN park days and sometimes there are none; sometimes where there are lots of other tween boys, they ignore my 9 year old, since he is new and rather soft spoken or introverted. If you are on the email list, you can post a note saying you will be there and ask whether there are any girls your dd's age who will be coming. I think the HomeGrown Kids park days are similar but haven't been to more than one.

As far as the issue of most homeschoolers being fairly well off, I know what you mean and it's hard. We aren't really working class but my husband is the son of a plumber and tends to be on the low end of the high-tech pay scale which with one income is still pretty limited.

There is a mom in the SFBUN, Cristal Banagan, who has started her own group, called the Daring Kids Club, that may meet your needs. 

Here is the link:

http://www.bigtent.com/groups/epicdkc

She has also started a consulting company:

http://epicali.weebly.com/

She lives in Richmond.

[rightkindofme]

I hang out with Da Vinci Explorers, we are mostly located near San Leandro/Hayward-ish but we go north and south from there. I'm in Fremont and there are a few others this far south so we aren't as convenient for you. You can find us on meetup.

It is a very white group. I wouldn't call everyone middle class. We have several families who are barely squeaking by. We have some unschoolers and some who are hardcore on curriculum. We are very flexible. We are starting to get a bunch more kids in the 8-12 range to go with the large population of under 5 year olds.