State of Homeschooling in WNY

[knitgrl]

This is my third year homeschooling. I live in a rural area, and don't have a lot of contact with other homeschoolers in the area, partly due to the long afternoon naptimes we have in this house. I have been looking into homeschooling conferences in the area, and there is not much. I have been to LEAH's conference for the past three years, and last year it was way scaled back. It looks like it will be at the same scaled back venue this year. And the Catholic homeschooling conference is not being held this year at all. Is homeschooling shrinking in this area of the world? Just curious.

[luuknam]

I dunno. We seem to have a fair number of homeschoolers and homeschool classes etc. Not sure how it compares with other places of similar size though, or with years past. I've never been to a conference.

[OneStepAtATime]

I think a lot of conferences are shrinking or going away because so much material is available online specifically for homeschoolers plus there are lots of online options for getting to know other homeschoolers better and there are even educational seminars for homeschoolers that are available online. Just not as many people feel the need to go to conferences anymore. Plus with homeschooling being more widespread in general it's more likely to find veterans willing to share resources and knowledge locally. Conferences can be expensive.

[MedicMom]

I live in the Fingerlakes region. Homeschooling has changed drastically and I don't think LEAH or the conferences have the same appeal. When I was young and homeschooled, everyone(except my family) seemed to be a part of a local LEAH group. We went to the conference once, in the mid-90s, and even then it annoyed my mother that it was more of a parenting conference than homeschooling. I think over the years that emphasis has really hurt the organization. I also think the rise in Classical

Conversations, which is huge around here, has added to the decline in LEAH popularity.

 

I am going to be homeschooling my second grader this fall, so I am really starting to look what is available locally. Aside from CC, there isn't much.

[knitgrl]

I think a lot of conferences are shrinking or going away because so much material is available online specifically for homeschoolers plus there are lots of online options for getting to know other homeschoolers better and there are even educational seminars for homeschoolers that are available online. Just not as many people feel the need to go to conferences anymore. Plus with homeschooling being more widespread in general it's more likely to find veterans willing to share resources and knowledge locally. Conferences can be expensive.

 

That makes sense. It's nice to know it's not just our area. I've only been on this forum for about a year now, and it is a God-send. I have learned so much. It's too bad about conferences shrinking. The paradox of the Internet is that you can find almost anything you could possibly want, but it is easy to hang out in little circles of like-minded people. Conferences can be a good way of being exposed to things one might otherwise not run into.

 

[OneStepAtATime]

That makes sense. It's nice to know it's not just our area. I've only been on this forum for about a year now, and it is a God-send. I have learned so much. It's too bad about conferences shrinking. The paradox of the Internet is that you can find almost anything you could possibly want, but it is easy to hang out in little circles of like-minded people. Conferences can be a good way of being exposed to things one might otherwise not run into.

 

Agreed.  :)

[luuknam]

That makes sense. It's nice to know it's not just our area. I've only been on this forum for about a year now, and it is a God-send. I have learned so much. It's too bad about conferences shrinking. The paradox of the Internet is that you can find almost anything you could possibly want, but it is easy to hang out in little circles of like-minded people. Conferences can be a good way of being exposed to things one might otherwise not run into.

 

Honestly, it'd be nice if I could find a circle of like-minded people locally. But, between homeschool swim&gym at the Y, homeschool science classes at the science museum and Tifft, homeschool guitar at UU, some random homeschoolers I've encountered at non-homeschool events, and the field trip group I was in last year (mostly fell apart when leader put her kid in private school or something), I haven't found my clique really (finding my clique has never been my forte). BUT, on the bright side, I don't live in an echo chamber.

 

ETA: I'm not doing all of these homeschool things at once, lol.

Edited January 29, 2017 by luuknam

[knitgrl]

Honestly, it'd be nice if I could find a circle of like-minded people locally. But, between homeschool swim&gym at the Y, homeschool science classes at the science museum and Tifft, homeschool guitar at UU, some random homeschoolers I've encountered at non-homeschool events, and the field trip group I was in last year (mostly fell apart when leader put her kid in private school or something), I haven't found my clique really (finding my clique has never been my forte). BUT, on the bright side, I don't live in an echo chamber.

 

ETA: I'm not doing all of these homeschool things at once, lol.

I can so sympathize with you. We are a Catholic family who homeschools for academic reasons. We know several other homeschool families in the area who are lovely people, but homeschool for religious reasons and hold views on different issues which makes me feel awkward at times. So we don't fit in with the religious homeschoolers and we don't fit in with secular homeschoolers.

 

Also, I am a typical introvert and have a hard time doing small talk. So as not to be completely isolated, I hang out on this forum; and I subscribe to a bunch of different blogs. It seems that among the blogs, there are a handful of circles where they all know each other. And even among those circles, there's only one set that I think I would mesh with in real life.

[mschickie]

I can say in the Rochester area homeschooling in general is on the rise but some of the groups are on the decline.  Classical Conversations has been growing in the area as well as drop off homeschool groups where the parent does not need to teach but can literally just drop off the kids.  Our LEAH chapter has stayed steady in membership and our co-op has grown over the past few years but at the same time I know many LEAH chapters that have closed.

 

As far as the conferences, I know the LEAH state wide conference ended because of declining numbers.  So many folks just get everything on line and are not interested in attending the sessions (or the ones that were being offered were not relevant to the new generations coming up).  Last year we actually went out to the The Great Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati which was amazing.  I thought it was huge (especially compared to the NYS LEAH ones in recent years) but folks there were also talking about declining numbers in attendance.

 

 

 

I know in our area Classical Conversations is on the rise as well as the drop off programs where parents can drop their kids off for the day and do not need to participate in teaching classes and such.  Our LEAH chapter has stayed steady and our co-op numbers have risen over the past couple of years but in those years I have also seen other chapters close down.