How to Find Homeschool Community without Homeschoolers
When you make the decision to homeschool, one of the first questions you ask is, “how do I find homeschool community?” You are entering a stage that is off the beaten path, you don’t know many, if any, homeschoolers, but you know that this is the right choice for you and your family. It was the question that I asked myself about a decade ago – where do I find a homeschool co-op? Where are the homeschoolers? And, you know what? I couldn’t find any. Was I doomed already? Was I going to mess up my kids?
Find Homesch0ol Community – co-ops
Before I got started with homeschooling, I did an enormous amount of research. I am a researcher by nature, and the more information that I could get my hands on the better. The topic that came up most often was how I needed to find homeschool community because of the dreaded socialization. And almost always the option being explored was a co-op. However, as I looked around in my community, I did not find any other homeschoolers.
It is actually kind of funny because there was a thriving co-op in my town, but I had no idea they were there until my oldest was in high school. At that point, we were no longer in need of that type of homeschool community.
If you are able to plug into a co-op, and it works for your family, then that is absolutely amazing. I know so many wonderful groups exist in the state of Maine, and they are such a service to the community. But, what do you do if you can’t find a group that works for you and your family? The first option is to create a homeschool community yourself. But, what if that isn’t what you want to do?
Can you go it alone?
My worry was that if I did not find a homeschool community, my kids would have no friends. I wanted my kids to have friends, and I wanted them to have great learning experiences, but we couldn’t find that homeschool community. It took be a little while to realize that just because we couldn’t specifically find homeschool community did not mean we couldn’t find ANY community.
Do you feel that way? Do you look around and see that there isn’t a homeschool community in your area? What are your other options?
Homeschoolers can find community ANYWHERE
The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that you can really find homeschool community anywhere. It does not have to be a homeschool specific group. It took me a while to understand that. For some reason, I had gotten it into my head that I had to have a separate homeschool community in order to homeschool well. But, one of the benefits of home education is the ability to live life, and learn through experiences. That means that anyone can be your community.
It can be your church, it can be people you see at the library, or coffee shop. It doesn’t have to be homeschool specific. Once I started to understand that, I was able to make different choices for my family, and more importantly let go of the guilt I was harboring for not being involved with a homeschool co-op.
We started to plugin to our church community. We looked for friends while doing youth sports through the local Boys & Girls Club. And all of a sudden, we had found community! It wasn’t what I had envisioned, but surprisingly it has worked out really well for us.
What does our Community look like?
Community is all about living life together, supporting one-another. Having the ability to do that with people who are not homeschoolers is still a wonderful way to live. Giving myself permission to look outside of “homeschool specific” communities made a big difference. It made me step back and observe life overall. Who are the people that I want to live life with? How can we do that?
Now, while we know a lot of other homeschoolers, my kids’ friends are mainly public schooled. We have participated in public school activities and classes, and we have really done a deep dive in the resources our local community, as a whole, has to offer.
Do I feel like my kids are missing out? Absolutely not. When my kids want to do a specific activity, we look for that activity regardless of whether or not it is specifically for homeschoolers.
Getting Perspective
While I believe that if you can find homeschool community to plugin to, that is great, but, if you are struggling to find that community, I want you to know there are other options. Looking at what your town offers is a great place to start. Look for the rec programs, the dance classes, the theater and music options. Go to your local library and ask what they have available – they may do after school book clubs or LEGO clubs that include any school-aged kids.
What I want you to understand most is that there are options outside of homeschool co-ops. Reframing your idea of community can be a helpful tool to make you feel better about the path that you are on. And if you really want a homeschool centered community, but cannot find one – you can create one yourself! There may be other homeschoolers in your area who are looking for the same type of community you are. If that is the case, someone only needs to get the ball rolling. Either of those options are a wonderful way to find homeschool community in Maine.