starting new group: help! Church said okay!

[ktgrok]

I can't find my previous thread, and so am starting a new one. I'm looking to start a new Catholic homeschool group at my parish, with a park playdate at 10am, picnic lunch or snack, then daily mass at 12:15 at my parish, which is just down the street from the park. I emailed my parish to ask if they would be willing to announce it in the bulletin and this is what I got back:

 

Thank you for your email regarding a Homeschool Support Group.  We like the idea of a homeschool group sponsored by the parish for the purpose of fostering relationships between the families and better unite the religious education programming we offer.  What would be your expectations?  How would we get this off the ground?  Usually we give all groups a name, we would need contact information, periodical bulletin announcements, a vision or purpose statement for our files.  

 

We are limited with space so meeting on campus would be challenging.

 

Interested in hearing more…looking forward to hearing from you.

 

So, now I need a name, mission statement, etc etc!!!! ACK!

 

Anyone want to help me brainstorm?

[MerryAtHope]

Is it a support group or are you hoping to do a co-op?

 

If it's a support group, our group's mission is to provide support, encouragement, and prayer for homeschool families--maybe something like that would work for your group?

 

The name could be simple: Homeschool Support Group.

Or place-oriented: church name or city name or region name Homeschool Group

 

Sometimes people like acronyms or something that can be shortened, so you could think about variations and how they fit with a name you might choose--Home Educators or Catholic Home Educators or Christian Home Educators (depending on how specific you want the membership to be).

 

Hopefully that gets your juices flowing a bit. Are there other groups in your city or area? You may want to make your name and/or mission different depending on what else is out there.

 

[fairfarmhand]

One thing I appreciate about our "baptist" support group is that they include something along these lines in their materials:

 

"You do not have to be Christian to belong to this group. However, you do need to be aware that these doctrinal things (quick bullet point synopsis of the pertinent points) are the foundation of our group and you and your children will be exposed to this. If you cannot accept that, we understand and hope you can find a better fit with another group."

 

In other words, they welcome others, but notify you of what is the basis for the group up front.

 

I don't know if you want your group to function like that or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there. If it works well, you may have other non-Catholic families interested in joining and you may want to think ahead to that time. If you don't want non-Catholics in the group, you should probably say so to begin with.

[ErinE]

First, kudos to you for starting a group like this!

 

Second, when someone asks, what are your expectations, I read it as, "Do you want money?" Unless you are seeking financial support, I would make it clear that it is strictly a support group, devoted to community outreach in the Catholic homeschooling community.

 

I think what MerryAtHope said is perfect for a mission statement. Your name could be [REGION] Homechooling Association (or Support Group), including the term Catholic if you want to. In one area we lived in, the homeschooling association was comprised of mostly Christians, but did a wonderful job of reminding everyone in the group that we were all gathered together to support each other in homeschooling.

[barnwife]

I have no ideas, but I am jealous. There isn't interest in this in my area. Well, there is one about half an hour away. But if you aren't really Catholic, you won't click. (That is, if you aren't a Tridentine Mass attender only, it's not the right group for you.)

Good luck!

[ktgrok]

Thanks for all the things to think about!

 

Definitely want just a social support group, not a co-op. 

 

Probably Catholic families, just because there are already large, well done secular and Christian groups. I don't want to step on their toes, and really just want to meet this particular need, if that makes sense? I'd certainly not have a problem with non Catholics attending, but I doubt they would. There are plenty of other options for park days, etc. But it makes sense to put in the vision statement that the goal is to promote or support our Catholic faith or something, so people are aware of it. Probably put Catholic in the name as well, or use a Saint's name. Or I could use the parish name. 

 

 

 

[ktgrok]

Annunciation Home Educators  or Annunciation Homeschooler or Annunciation Homeschool something would use our parish name, and be simple. If I use a St. Name that might get confusing, although it's an option. It would just have to be a saint that doesn't have a local parish named after it. 

 

Holy Family Homeschoolers? Or does that sound weird, like we are calling the member families holy? I think maybe that is a bit weird sounding. 

 

I'll keep thinking. Maybe ask if they want the parish name on it or not, they may have a feeling one way or the other. 

 

Vision statement: Annunciation Home Educators is designed to support homeschool families through social events, attendance at Mass, and the celebration of the liturgical year. 

[Faithr]

First thing I'd do is pick a patron saint and name the group after the saint.  Our support group is Our Lady of Guadalupe.  

 

Our group tends to hold picnics or we get a room at a local library for once a month stuff.  So in September we always have a Mary's Birthday cupcake rosary picnic.  The kids bring cupcakes and make a rosary on the picnic table and then lead us all in a rosary.  Then they play and the mom's gab.That sort of thing.  

 

If you are doing this weekly, are you in an area where you can count on a picnic at the park every week?

 

One nice thing you can do at the parish to build good will is have the kids do nice things for the regular mass goers.  For instance one year for St. Nick's the kids gave candy to the adults!  Boy was everybody totally charmed by that one!

 

They can make thanksgiving cards, valentines day cards, etc.

 

Anyway, I think just keeping it a playdate plus mass sounds lovely.

 

 

[Kalypso]

I belong to a Catholic homeschool group not affiliated with a particular parish called the Holy Family Home Educators.  You could just call it Parish Name Homeschoolers as you suggested. I like the saint name idea, too.

[ktgrok]

I emailed her back, and suggested we could use the Parish name, or a saint name, or Holy Family, does the church have a preference, given that some who attend other parishes may attend as well? I explained further what the group would be for, and gave a version of a mission statement, with the note that I am open to suggestions and hope we can work things out together. Also, FYI, it is one of the Sisters I'm dealing with. I'm emailing with a Nun, lol. (ok, not a Nun, a Sister, but still, it gives me a bit of a giggle.)

[carriede]

I don't get the line about the RE programs. As I understand from your description, the only part the church plays is y'all attending Mass there, yes? What does that have to do with RE? Is the 12:15 Mass a regularly scheduled Mass, or would it be special for your group?

 

You're just going to Mass, so all the "arrangements with the parish office" seem way too involved.

 

Are you just wanting to submit an ad/announcement for the bulletin? Or are you looking for this to be a church ministry? Those are completely different things to me.

[Faithr]

Actually sometimes daily masses are said in a chapel rather than the actual church but if the parish knows a bigger group is coming they'll move it into the church.  My parish does that anyway.  Also, they might want to know how many hosts to have available.  If the church usually only gets 25 people for 12:15 mass but suddenly that grows into 50, the church would probably like to know.  Not that they couldn't deal with it otherwise but it would be considerate to notify them.  And you never know if the relationship will grow into something more.  Right now it is just going to mass there but what if in a year or two they say that the group can use their RE classrooms or their parish hall for events?  Planting seeds now might harvest something great later!

 

But I didn't quite get the RE thing either.  For a long time in my diocese, when they talked about homeschooling they only saw it in terms of families who wanted to prepare their kids for sacraments at home.  So maybe the RE office is a bit confused????

[MysteryJen]

I am pretty jaded in dealing with RE. Do they want to support homeschoolers in preparing for Sacraments at home or are they looking to bring homeschoolers in line with their classroom requirements? That probably needs to be spelled out, in writing.

[ktgrok]

I explained that it would be for social meet ups and celebrating the liturgical year, but that we would be open to communicating with and coordinating with the Faith Formation team in whatever way ended up being appropriate. Vague, but hopefully I'll get more feed back on what she is thinking.