Are You a Member of a HS Group?

[FridaK]

So we desperately ned to met like minded folk and make friends. DD is 3 and all her friends are going into preschool. We will have even less *playdate* than we do now (about 1-2 a week)


So My question(s) to you is....

Are you a member of a HS organization/group?
What age was your kid(s) when you joined?
Have you found it helpful in making friendships for the parents?
Do you pay a fee? (how much?)
Do you go to monthly meetings?
Do you particiapte in lots of *fieldtrips*?

I think my question is... What has been your experience Pros and Cons?

FWIW
The org I'm think of joining is a fair drive from me but it is eclectic and seems to embrace all HS (as opposed to just christian or just Unschool etc).

[Wilhemina]

Yes, we are in a hs group and have been since dd was 3 (almost 4). It took me 2 classes to decide that the preschool I carefully selected was not what was promised. At the time, I felt like I needed something for dd since all her friends were in preschool and the play group we had been a part of had disbanded. A friend encouraged me to come check out her hs group that although Christian, (no faith statement required) was very open and welcoming. It was exactly what we needed!

My friend has since moved, but we are very active members of our group. There are no dues.
The field trips are not required so we can select what seems interesting (most things do!)
We have monthly meetings at the park while the kids play - very casual

I do have some adult friends from the group, but I feel like I have to maintain some distance since almost everyone else is a conservative Christian and I am definately in the Liberal Christian camp! DD though has a "best friend" from this group with whom she plays @ 2 times a week.

[Hey Mama!]

Not yet. We will be attending the military homeschooling group not back to school picnic later this month. I'm hoping that it will be a good fit for us.

[Brenoi]

Are you a member of a HS organization/group? YES


What age was your kid(s) when you joined? 8 and 6 ( We had been in ps and left)

Have you found it helpful in making friendships for the parents?

It is absolutely as valuable for me as it is for the kids. We have made great friendships and I have learned a lot from the sr. members.

Do you pay a fee? (how much?) No.

Do you go to monthly meetings? Not really - we have so much going on that there is not any support time per se. We have different co-ops, activities, and field trips. You can choose to go on and be as involved as one wishes.

Do you particiapte in lots of *fieldtrips*? We do about half of all that is offered - maybe less. That would be the one con. You can get too involved. One of the many reasons we left ps was because we were loosing family time and if you are not careful you can here too. I was not looking to replace ps with classes run by other people.

The pro's have been friendships, activities that I might not plan or that work better as a group than an individual, support, information. The only con I can think of is possible overinvolvement.

[blueholly]

I joined to get help from other parents who have already travelled long down the hs path and my dd is 3.5 and we've been going regularly for the past year. My dd likes older children as opposed to kids her own age and these kids in this group are very concientious of her and play well most of the time.

It has taken me awhile to gel with some of the other moms - I don't know if they have all been together for awhile or it's the age difference in our kids. We seemed to bond when all of us had passings of significant loved ones in our lives this past year. I do get a lot from their experience - one has already researched the vaccination issue for college and her kids aren't even 10 yet.

We don't pay any fee and we meet every Friday for social time, usually at the park, but we're getting a bit more creative now. We've been trading Fridays at each other's pools, one has organized a dog herding demo at her house, another a mini-golf outing at a shaded location, etc. Sometimes if one of us is doing something pretty interesting, we may post it on our email list as a field trip offering - such as we went on an impromptu blackberry picking a few weeks ago.

Con: it took me awhile to get into the group. They weren't clique-ish, but I am shy and found trying to find common denominators besides hs were difficult in our limited time together. Plus, I was and am often chasing my daughter around the park or keeping an eye on her that prevents me from holding a very intelligent conversation!

Pro: I have benefitted greatly from their experience with curriculums, the law, etc. It doesn't seem so daunting as it did before I started and got to know them. When I have a question, I usually email it to the group. Somebody has often experienced it.

Hope that helps.

[laurata]

Are you a member of a HS organization/group? Yes, we are.
What age was your kid(s) when you joined? We started looking for a group around 3 1/2 or 4, when more and more of our playgroup friends started preschool.
Have you found it helpful in making friendships for the parents?Absolutely! TBH, I am kind of shy, and have a hard time making friends. So most of my friends wer originally acquantainces from our AP playgroup and homeschool group.
Do you pay a fee? (how much?) We pay about $15 a year. Those "membership fees" cover costs for printing newsletters and mailing them out, as well as misc other fees (for example, a hall that we use for our annual Talent Show)
Do you go to monthly meetings? We go to a Park Day every Friday. Once a month there is a "Ed Talk" meeting, but I rarely make it to that as it's a parents only night, and dh's schedule is not optimal for me to make it.
Do you particiapte in lots of *fieldtrips*? Not really. Occasionally, but our groups doesn't seem too keen on organizing fieldtrips. Besides which, the are really too much for me a lot of the time. But I am sure as my kids get older, we'll do more group field trips. (That's not to say we don't do ANY now, just not a lot. Maybe 3 or 4 a year?)

[FridaK]

These are great replies.

Thank you.

keep them coming.

[UnschoolnMa]

Are you a member of a HS organization/group? Yes

What age was your kid(s) when you joined? I just started the group this year, so my kids were 12 and 10 at the time.

Have you found it helpful in making friendships for the parents? Sort of, too early to tell

Do you pay a fee? (how much?) No, but we will try to get the group rate on field trips

Do you go to monthly meetings? We try to meet at least once a month

Do you particiapte in lots of *fieldtrips*? We are working on it!

I moved here in Feb and started an unschoolers group. It's starting to grow little by little. We have 6 families now! Kristi

[2tadpoles]

[QUOTE=FridaK]So My question(s) to you is....

Are you a member of a HS organization/group?

Yepper.

What age was your kid(s) when you joined?

9 and 6 (we started hsing prior to that, but there were no secular groups where we lived before and I won't be made to pose as Christian)

Have you found it helpful in making friendships for the parents?

Somewhat. I have made good friends, but not close friends. We live all over a widespread area, so getting together takes planning.

Do you pay a fee?

No.

Do you go to monthly meetings?

Not quite monthly. Semi-annually is more like it.

Do you particiapte in lots of *fieldtrips*?

Not "lots." Some. We do more unstructured social time than field trips.

I think my question is... What has been your experience Pros and Cons?

Pros: Being around people who understand homeschooling. Help with legalities if needed. Hearing of opportunities and freebies through word of mouth. Group discounts on museums and other field trips.

Cons: I can't think of any that you mightn't encounter with any group of people. Well, we do drive an awful lot. I suppose that's a con. Sometimes it's hard to decide which field trips to participate in; we don't have enough money to do 'em all.

[Blissful Bee]

[
Are you a member of a HS organization/group? Yes
What age was your kid(s) when you joined? 6,4,infant
Have you found it helpful in making friendships for the parents? Absolutely!! we were in a different more loosley structured group before and that was nice, but now I am in a small group where I feel really comfortable with the other monthers and their children. I have been able to learn a lot from them and my kids love having close friends who are living similar lives.
Do you pay a fee? (how much?) No
Do you go to monthly meetings? Yes, we currently have monthly meetings, this helps us to plan field trips and such. This will decrease in the future though, once our calendar is set for a few months.
Do you particiapte in lots of *fieldtrips*? Yes we do. We live outside of DC so the opportunities are really unlimited. We get the group rate at most places and are given an age appropriate docent on a lot of our museum trips. We also attend a LOT of performances that we pay less than half for tickets to.

I think my question is... What has been your experience Pros and Cons?


Pros: Friendship, exposure to different styles, discounts and great opportunities to go and do things, and my kids feeling like they are growing with others who share a lot of basic experiences.

Cons: Feeling obligated to participate in things (this is not a true thing, but rather a personal problem I have!!). Basically just the regular things that come with being in a group. I will say that the other group I was in, I did not enjoy. There were behavioral issues with some kids and little to no communication in the group as to how to handle it. Sort of a "Lord of the Flies" thing.....


Hope this helps. I would shop around and see what you find, meet some people and if you cant find a group that is a good fit, start one!!!

[zonapellucida]

I have been researching

The group is not close but then nothing is where I live--Poinciana, FL. I am reletivley new to homeschooling. I have been researching and have JUST decided to pull my girls form school at 6 and 7. I think it will be worth at least belonging to the FPEA and a local group for the interaction. Becasue their school is so far from home they weren't able to do many activites because of TTIME. Now that they will be home I am hoping they will have more activites beyond just ballet.

[stafl]

Are you a member of a HS organization/group?
yes, eclectic homeschool group

What age was your kid(s) when you joined?
DD1 was almost 2

Have you found it helpful in making friendships for the parents?
yes, invaluable. Though I'm so bad about not making it to the meetings. I wish I were closer friends, I really look up to a few of them and value their experience and advice on all areas of parenting and not just homeschooling. It's like a local mini-mdc in real life!

Do you pay a fee? (how much?)
no

Do you go to monthly meetings?
meetings are twice a month, I make it to one maybe every other month, sometimes more often, usually less often than that.

Do you particiapte in lots of *fieldtrips*?
sometimes, depends on what age group it's for and if we can get up and ready in time to make it there.

I think my question is... What has been your experience Pros and Cons?
I can't say anything negative about it at all. I really love the other parents and their children are simply wonderful and I'm so glad my DD has friends who won't be sent off to public school.

[guest^]

WE joined when dd was about to enter Kinder. She was longing for friends/social community. I was looking for a way out of public/parochial schools-while still meeting her needs!!

WE do pay a fee($15) that covers Newsletters and the time of the info/prayer chain person.

After 2 yrs, I can honestly say that YES! I have made dear friends. I ma a new Catholic convert, and it has been a difficult journey to make friends in a tight-knit HSing group. I have fertility issues and am surrounded by LARGE families. At first, I felt judged, now, I feel that if I invite a child over to play, the mother will welcome it!! aand dd loves to visit these "large" families...she learns soooo much aboiut sharing,generosity,and sacrifice!! And that I am probably the strictest mom when it comes to TV!!!!!

No monthly meetings,except a couple that dd is involved in....and I have formed*friendships* with these Moms!!!

We take the field trips and activities as they fit our family.

HTH!!!

mp