S/O reinventing - will you stay involved w/hs'ing?

[Carrie12345]

I probably will... but maybe not to the extent I thought I might before I became part of a team that formed a co-op!

 

And maybe it'll be the last thing I want to do after a second decade of homeschooling!

[G5052]

I always thought I would, but it's not looking like that will happen long-term. Seasons of life!

[elegantlion]

Like some of you, ten years ago I thought I might stay involved. Ds' education was so tailored to him and our tight budget that most of our experience seems irrelevant to anyone else, except to encourage others that you can homeschool well on a tight budget. I only know a couple of local homeschoolers, but no real ties to any groups in our area. 

 

I'll probably stay involved somewhat with higher education. I plan on grad school and will consider adjuncting after I get my master's. I am worried about the future of liberal arts education in my area. This board has helped make me feel strongly in a liberal arts education. In fact, I'm working on a proposal to take to our chair to help recruiting for majors in our department. We'll see if he thinks it could be helpful. 

 

Ds and I are going to both take Chinese next semester, so we will have one final class together before I graduate. 

[EMS83]

Nah.  I may continue to homeschool myself, but that's about it.  And I second the Grandma school.  Maybe; it'd depend on many factors.  My "retirement" dream involves a hobby farm.

[Jenny in Florida]

I would have liked to do so. It would have been my first choice for a post-HS career relaunch. My loose plan for a long time had been to get my teaching certification so that I could do evaluations for homeschoolers. However, that plan had to be abandoned when I a) was impatient to start making money as soon as possible and b) couldn't get access to my official transcripts because of the situation with my old student loans.

 

So, as I have done in most of my working life, I continue to gravitate towards jobs that are "education adjacent," which not infrequently puts me in contact with homeschoolers, but it is not my primary focus.

[lavender's green]

I used to idly think I could write curricula or mentor someday. Now it's very clear to me that not only is the market saturated, but also that the tide is changing wrt what current homeschoolers actually want. Which I don't mind as long as the kids are getting a good education and experience, and not making the rest of us look bad.

 

I'll homeschool for as long as it makes sense for us, but I think I'll eventually leave the homeschool scene. Maybe I'll come back as a grandma, but that's decades away.

[Valley Girl]

In a word...no.

 

When my youngest graduates, I will have given a decade of my life to something I never really wanted to do in the first place. My career options have withered during this time because I could not do it all, so I will need to figure out how to make up for that. It will have been worth it if the kids (SN and all) are doing well, and I will be available to support if things get bumpy in college, but, no, I will be finished.

 

ETA: Of course, I was also once adamant that I would never teach, so I guess I should cross my fingers when I say "No, I will be finished."

Edited October 13, 2017 by Reluctant Homeschooler

[desertstrawberry5]

I have 16 more years to go.  I'm already not involved in the community-such as it is- and I can't imagine spearheading anything, ever again. I am planning to go back to work in a few years, but in social services of some kind. Not in any form of education. 

[Audrey]

Except for my participation here, I won't be involved in homeschooling anymore.  Even then, I'm not sure how much value I would have to offer in the way of curriculum discussion once a few years have passed.  The curriculum scene has grown so much from when I started homeschooling -- which is a great thing! But, I never did keep up with what was new and effective once my own kid was past those ages.  I don't want to be that kind of person who keeps recommending 20 year old curriculum that isn't in print anymore, KWIM?  "Oh, that's just Audrey touting that old Oak Meadow grade 4 from 2001. Just ignore her.  She doesn't even know how out of touch she is."   :laugh: 

[Closeacademy]

Just a few more years left for me and I'm looking forward to focusing on myself and my hubby who is close to retirement. I plan on spending a few years working on the family history then it's all about my projects. 

[marbel]

I don't have a homeschool community to stay involved with.  HS is not popular here; by high school most kids go to B&M school or cyber charter. The few young moms I know are not interested in my leftover curriculum nor any commentary from me.  I have drifted away from all my HS mom friends.  I'm not qualified to be a homeschool evaluator (need to hold a PA teaching cert) and don't want, and am not qualified, to tutor.    

 

Gosh that sounds so pathetic and whiny. I don't mean it that way.  It's just the way it is here. 

[Mom22ns]

I was never really involved with the local homeschooling community. I thought about trying to teach, mentor, consult, or something when my youngest graduated, but after putting out a few feelers, I've moved on. Instead I went back to school and plan to teach at the college level. I'd love to homeschool grandkids someday, but dd & her significant other plan to send their kids to ps. Ds has no significant other at this point. I sent my kids to public school too... I never planned to homeschool, so I realize it could still happen, but odds are I'm done.

[Ellie]

I haven't actually homeschooled in over 20 years, and yet, here I am. :hat:

 

It might have helped that I was the owner/administrator of a private school satellite program (PSP; it's a California thing, similar to an umbrella school in other states) when I graduated my second child, so I was still deeply involved with hsing.

 

So I'm a member on several forums (an admin on a couple), and I'm on the board of directors for Texas Home Educators. I think I'm just always going to be a homeschooler.

[Annie G]

Youngest kid is 23 and I'm still kind of involved in the homeschooling community. I teach high school math to some homeschoolers and I tutor a few others. I also help prep kids for our local spelling bee and usually act as a judge for the bee.   When dh retires and we can move closer to the grandkids I'd love to help dd with that on a semi-regular basis.  

[Soror]

I'm so not sure at this point I'm not sure when I'll be finished b/c I'm not sure all of mine will be hs'd all the way through(which is terrifying and exciting). Whenever I do finish I think I'll be so far burned out I won't care to do much of anything. I also think I'll be out of date, as it is I find that I don't relate to a lot of new hs'ers. Around here the biggest market of new hs'ers are ones looking for someone/something to do the schooling for them- they want curriculum from the state(that they don't have to pay for or pick out) and some fully online school or they want uber religious material. Unlike a PP if someone is even aware of CC they don't want anything to do with it. As it is I don't have much to offer, I can give people a rundown of the law and record keeping and that is it.

 

I do enjoy working with kids but maybe I'll be tired of that by the time I'm done hs'ing too. I've toyed with the idea of going back to do something in early education. I love the idea of something like a Forest School or Montessori based, something besides the traditional pre-school offered here but right now my life is full with actually schooling my own kids and volunteering.

 

 

At this momemnt between volunteer work with Scouts and hs'ing group(I started a new one this year) I'm thinking some time just to cook and clean around my own house sounds pretty good. I hope that I'm involved with my grandchildren but I can't foresee schooling them. 

 

[MeaganS]

I'm not involved now. Besides here and one weekly playdate my kids drag me to (and I count as socialization for dh), I have nothing to do with any other home schoolers. I'm not a nurture by nature and have no interest in teaching other children. And I have little in common with the other homeschoolers I've met. I've been homeschooling for 5 years and if we go all the way I have 16 left to go. That will be plenty for me.

[Lady Florida.]

Except for my participation here, I won't be involved in homeschooling anymore.

 

 

Same with me. Even here, where I once spent time on the education boards now I only frequent the chat board and a few social groups.

[TravelingChris]

Not involved at all with any sort of teaching due to my health problems getting worse.  Maybe I will be one of the lucky ones who goes into remission when put on a biologic though my rheumatologist told me that it probably won't help my upper spine/neck area at all.  I really had hoped I could do a lot of things when I retired- master gardening program, CASA/CAJA (it is called CAJA here) volunteering (which is advocating for a child in the family courts system and dear to my heart as ,my journey with kids in our married life started with foster parenting), Volunteer tutoring, etc, wonderful almost free adult education programs (which even my youngest and oldest had done with me too), disability advocacy, etc.  Nothing really focused on homeschool education except the disability advocacy would be part of it since I want to advocate for disabled/special needs for all.  

 

I haven't been to most education boards on here except college one in months.  I don't especially feel a need to advocate for homeschooling though we still live the same lifelong learning lifespan as do all three of our kids.  I advocate for that regardless of where your primary homeschooling occurs.  I last was active in homeschooling now three years ago but I am very happy to outreach to homeschoolers in the different organizations we belong to like the Astronomy group, birding groups, etc, etc.  

 

Unlike Lady Florida, Tibbie, Faithmanor, etc. I didn't tend to meet homeschoolers who did not educate or belong to very strict religious exclusionary groups or ones anti Special needs.   Moving around, I came across some strange or unpleasant groups but I stayed away.  Just this week I congratulated a Baptist minister for his 30 year anniversary of founding his church.  The homeschool group they had there was so welcoming- CAtholics, Orthodox, Single moms, dads who homeschooled, - I told him what a blessing his co-op was.  (I am not a Baptist and have encountered some Baptists who don't even believe I am a Christian since I was baptized as a baby instead of immersed as an Adult and not only that but then don't want to have anything to do with me.)    I probably don't meet them today either since they tend to not come to activities I meet people at- my church, astronomy days, Art lectures, history lectures, etc, etc.  

[Amy in NH]

Gonna stick around as a resource person, guidance counselor, co-op teacher, tutor, writer, or mentor?

 

I am not. The Tibbie of ten or even five years ago would be astounded by that, but I'm pretty much over the hs'ing community, present company excepted. I'm not even sure I still think hs'ing should be as free-for-all legal as it is in my low regulation state and others, but since I can argue both sides until the cows come home, I have grown tired of thinking about it. Not just tired, but exhausted.

 

I'm not going to follow national public education news anymore, either, except for the purpose of selecting political candidates.

 

The only title still possibly on the table would be Homeschool Grandma; I'd do it if a grandchild needed me. But unlike when I was younger and fondly imagined Grandma School, now I hope their parents will be able to figure it out.

 

What about you?

 

No.  I think homeschooling should be left to the homeschoolers.  Materials change.  Social groups change.  Even methods of homeschooling have changed a lot in the last 20 years.  The homeschoolers of the future don't need me to tell them "how it used to be done".  Which is why I am resentful of ex-homeschoolers in my state telling us all how it should be. 

 

I will retire from homeschool advocacy when I'm finished homeschooling.  I hope others will step up to take my place.

[fairfarmhand]

Probably. They will be a market for me. 

 

I am not interested in staying around in an unpaid role. 

 

Me too.

 

I've thought about writing books and doing some online teaching for parents who are interested in that kind of thing,

[CAJinBE]

The other homeschool families in our area are a big part of our social group. Even though my daughters have stopped attending co-op because their course work demands too much time now, I am still teaching this year. I'm doing a physics class for elementary and middle school. It's a fun, creative outlet for me and a way to keep in touch with our friends. The co-op isn't very large so I only have 17 kids to teach, some of whom I've known for years now. Everyone loves science classes. When my girls are done with high school, maybe I'll look for some paid work in STEM teaching or tutoring. 

[KungFuPanda]

I think I'll be out except for the weird crossover with my dance classes. I get a lot of homeschooled moms AND kids in my classes, but my theory is that bellydance and homeschooling are both a bit quirky and fringe and attract the same personalities so long as your population is the secular/academic variety of homeschoolers. My youngest is Junior, so I just have to live through one more year and tick off all those high school requirements. I'll have 17 years in when this kid graduates and I'm over it.

 

Homeschoolers around here have changed a bit. They're much less DIY and more "Where do we sign up for the classes?" The personality types that STARTED those classes over a decade ago are much less prevalent. Back then, we started classes as a nice extra, not something we HAD to have to educate our kids. It's like some people decide to homeschool without learning the first thing about choosing or implementing a class at home because they believe they can find every class out in the wild. That's not even LEGAL here. We're required to be our child's primary TEACHER; not just his academic facilitator/chauffeur. It stresses me out a bit that people don't even know the laws for their state or that tutoring can supplement, but not replace a parent teaching their child. Yes, this happens with the teens as they enter CC, but not with second graders.

[skimomma]

Nope.  I have 3.5 more years and I will "retire" from homeschooling and work full time.  We are not now, nor have ever been, part of a local homeschool community.  We didn't fit in.  I will need to work full time to make up for the years I was only part time.   I teach at a university so I will still be teaching, just not at home.  I enjoy working with college students but do not enjoy kids other than my own.

 

I will probably hang out here for as long as I am useful because the advice I have gotten here, especially for the high school years, has kept me sane.  I would like to pay that back.  

[Dmmetler]

I'm in transition as DD does more and more outsourced,and am starting to tutor more. I have to say, if I were to judge based on just my tutoring kids this year, I'd rather work with the PS kids, who usually just need someone to translate their schoolwork into language they understand and explain it to them, and who have parents who tend to just want improvement. And who are willing to pay my hourly rate without flinching, because they know private coaching usually costs more than that. HS parents seem to believe that they have completely outsourced a subject or two by paying for an hour a week tutoring session (often split between math and reading) and complain that I cost too much.

 

I do wonder what it would take to tutor at the CC-I've ended up doing it some just by being on campus when DD is in class,and I'm loving those adults.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BarbecueMom]

Nope. I have 3.5 more years and I will "retire" from homeschooling and work full time. We are not now, nor have ever been, part of a local homeschool community. We didn't fit in. I will need to work full time to make up for the years I was only part time. I teach at a university so I will still be teaching, just not at home. I enjoy working with college students but do not enjoy kids other than my own.

 

I will probably hang out here for as long as I am useful because the advice I have gotten here, especially for the high school years, has kept me sane. I would like to pay that back.

Maybe I should start a spin-off of this spin-off, but I'd like to hear from veterans who never fit in or clicked with other homeschoolers how they managed socially. Especially secular families, who don't have a built in "church family".

 

This is a struggle I did not anticipate. We're quirky and weird, but apparently not the right kind of quirky and weird? I'm not really running into judgment issues, more like having nothing in common to talk about except kids (and I really don't want to talk ABOUT them, you know?).

[Lisa R.]

I am passionate about education because it is what brought both my parents out of poverty, my mother especially. Her grandparents (my great-grandparents) were tenet farmers, and her grandmother had a second grade education. Her mother (my grandmother) finished high school at night classes (no ged pass/fail test back then) and was the only child of nine children to finish high school. However, she was a single parent during and after the Depression so life hard and employment options were few for a single woman with chronic migraines. Both my parents were the first (and only) college graduates in their families. 

 

I continue to be passionate about classical education, but I am no longer passionate about homeschooling. I homeschooled for 15 years and it was honestly a few years too long. I grew weary of the mediocre standards and some very odd social environments. My two oldest are homeschool graduates and have both graduated from college now. I'd recommend homeschooling only to a dedicated parent and only for elementary school. I'm not sure I'd recommend it after that.

 

My two younger children attended a classical university model school where I now work part time. I get to talk about classical education, and it is a great fit for me. The part time job is just what I needed after being at home for a few too many years. It's brought balance into my life, and I'm grateful.

[Vida Winter]

Not me...when I'm done with hs I'll be done.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Sorry for not getting back to this sooner...

 

I am SO glad I started this conversation. I was really feeling like an oddball for losing my passion? I guess? But the vast majority have expressed so many shades of what I'm thinking that I realize I am SO not alone. And it's fine.

 

I appreciate the reasons given for staying involved, including simply paying it forward. And helping with special needs advocacy and other niche areas for hs'ers is definitely something I forgot to consider. I really appreciate that some of you are planning to stick around for those genuine needs. Those sectors are only going to grow, I think, and your experience and knowledge will be invaluable.

 

Otherwise, for the most part - what some are saying about realizing that we're becoming outdated (and no longer being super-duper offended by that) - yeah. I'm glad our noses aren't out of joint anymore, and we're just thinking of travelin' on...definitely, Audrey sums this up with the spectre of our sixty-something selves trying to sell people on Oak Meadow c.2004.  :lol: 

 

:grouphug:  Thanks, all. I'm glad that so many of you will be around for awhile yet; I have 5.5 years to go! Unless I find that magical ps option for the youngest boy. Could happen...if we move or if hell freezes over...

[KungFuPanda]

Also, I have good homeschooling friends, and I anticipate keeping in touch with them even once ds moves on.

 

I made some amazing, lifelong, yogurt-commercial friendships through homeschooling. I'll happily leave the lifestyle but keep the people since our relationships have evolved past being together for kid events. These women, though, have all left or will soon leave homeschooling. I don't really know the younger moms. They rely on each other, not those fogies with the big, scary teenagers.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I made some amazing, lifelong, yogurt-commercial friendships through homeschooling. I'll happily leave the lifestyle but keep the people since our relationships have evolved past being together for kid events. These women, though, have all left or will soon leave homeschooling. I don't really know the younger moms. They rely on each other, not those fogies with the big, scary teenagers.

 

:laugh: Yogurt commercial friendships.

 

Me, too. And same here, the relationships have moved from having hs'ing in common to planning the commune for our future little old cat lady selves, so I'm grateful for whatever brought us together!

[LMD]

I don't know at all. I still have a long way to go and I can easily see burning out and wanting to be done. I don't know what the world, or my own world, will be like then, but I would really like to stay in education somehow. I have ideas, but we'll see if they are still doable when I retire.

[momacacia]

No. It's just not that interesting. I've done my share of helping others find the right curriculum, discussing scheduling, etc., 'cause I don't. But, I'll go back to something that I find to be more mentally stimulating and/or makes more money. And, if I homeschool all my kids, the last one will graduate high school when I'm 60, so I'm hoping to already have more of a "side life" by then that has absolutely nothing to do with homeschooling. :laugh:

 

(This has actually been a really constructive through process. Thanks for posting the question. Starting on "side life" asap.)

[Murphy101]

I have no idea. I’m not all that involved now for reasons others have stated.

 

But I’m 17 years in and baby girl is just turning 1 yr old, meaning I’ve got at least another 17 years to go.

 

So I’ve plenty of time to worry about that.

 

As it is, if/when dh gets a job in another state, I’m going to have to seriously ratchet up my socializing and outside commitments to make new friends and find a new ‘tribe’. Breaking out of our comfort zones does not get easier with age. Introverted me is dreading it and wishes I could just stay home and knit. Me who loves the friends who have become family (only better!) and knows our family will miss them and need to make new ‘family’ is nervous and gets a stomach in knots over it. Mostly for our kids’ sake.

[Murphy101]

I never want to teach or babysit other people’s kids unless they are family, either by relation or friendship.

 

I don’t mind the kids too much, but ugh. The other parents would drive me nuts. Social politics is not my favorite tool in the box.

[freesia]

I don't know.  Add me to the people who assumed I would, but now am not sure (and Kinsa, I wanted to be a birth educator, too and then a lactation consultant and now have no interest).

 

For me, as we have gone on, homeschooling has become less a passion and something that defines us and more just something "about us".  It's so not a big deal or something I think about, somewhat like hair color.  And, oddly, it even feels strange to me to talk to someone about homeschooling b/c it would be like saying, "Yes, you too should die your hair."  But that is probably just my own weirdness.

 

Also, the journey with teens/high schoolers has been so different from when the kids were young that, even though I do still have a young one, it feels like a different world with a different language.  And the pros and cons are so much less straight forward that I don't even feel like I could speak into anyone's decision to home educate (at least beyond elementary).

 

Now, I do love to teach and if I could make money teaching homeschooled kids, I might.  But, irl, I will probably need to work full time to send youngest to college and try to plump up our retirement. But I will be old and tired then, so who knows.

[Rosie_0801]

I help out a couple of friends, but I'll be completely obsolete in a year.

[mom2scouts]

Maybe I should start a spin-off of this spin-off, but I'd like to hear from veterans who never fit in or clicked with other homeschoolers how they managed socially. Especially secular families, who don't have a built in "church family".

 

This is a struggle I did not anticipate. We're quirky and weird, but apparently not the right kind of quirky and weird? I'm not really running into judgment issues, more like having nothing in common to talk about except kids (and I really don't want to talk ABOUT them, you know?).

 

We've never really fit in with other homeschoolers, but usually for the opposite reasons. There are very few homeschool groups in my area that aren't secular and many aren't very academic. We have a church, but it's *very* pro public school. We have many public school teachers who attend and only a couple homeschooling families. Sometimes I feel like the teachers are insulted by my homeschooling. The church provided activities for one of the local high school homecoming events last week, had a special breakfast and support meeting for public school teachers and counselors the week before, provides tutors for elementary schools, and makes a big deal about the first week of public school and kids transitioning to the next school level. They always seem a bit confused when they realize we homeschool and my teen isn't doing the same things as other students.

 

For social needs, my very social daughter gets her needs met by being very active in things like dance, gymnastics, youth group, or a weekly or monthly class. She makes friends at her extracurricular activities and I try to let her do some social activities with them outside the activity.  My teen son is an introvert and gets enough social time with Scouts and youth group, but really enjoys spending his time with older men who share an unusual interest he has. It's interesting that so many people who frequent this board aren't big on co-ops and don't always feel they fit into the homeschool community.

[GoVanGogh]

This is a timely thread for me and interesting reading.

I am nearing the end of the homeschool journey and finding myself more and more wanting to run away from the local homeschool community. I have loved homeschooling, but am looking forward to having my own identity again. I started a small business this summer because I was feeling a deep need to use my brain cells differently and be creative again. I am not sure yet where it will lead, but I am hoping it will help me update my job skills at the very least. It is funny to think about how things have changed since I was last in the workforce!

[KungFuPanda]

:laugh: Yogurt commercial friendships.

 

Me, too. And same here, the relationships have moved from having hs'ing in common to planning the commune for our future little old cat lady selves, so I'm grateful for whatever brought us together!

Our group is moving to an island where "people" can't find us. We're going to magically know how to garden we'll enough to feed us and have perfect weather every day and no winters.

[medawyn]

I haven't even started yet, and I can tell you no now.

 

The small reason is that I'm sure my newbie passion and optimism will wane.  Just like all phases of parenting, things are intense and important when I'm walking through them, and nostalgic and supportive when I've passed through.

 

The biggest reason is that I can't imagine I won't be obsolete.  If things work out and I manage to get all my kids all the way through at home, we'll be at least 20 years into the future. What on earth will I have to tell moms with shiny new kindergarteners in 20 years beyond general "you can do its"?  Not to mention, I'll be an expert in precisely one thing: teaching my kids.  I don't expect that to have wide application, even if the odd family or two might benefit from my advice.  I love the help and support of this board, and hope many of you never disappear, but this is a specific niche.

 

Nope.  I'll be in it when I'm in it, because - like Saturday morning soccer practice or whatever - that's what we'll be doing with our lives.  The only possible exception is that if I return to tutoring reading in the future (when I sleep through the night again and have energy for something else beyond survival), I can see myself continuing to pull from the homeschool community after "retirement" because I can have day time hours.  But that's a theoretical maybe.

[DawnM]

Not sure. My main priority will be earning money to help pay for my kids' college.

 

That was a huge pull for me as well.  I will most likely being using 100% of my income to pay for two kids in college at once, BUT, I have to mentally tell myself that isn't all of my income.....I am also building retirement, health insurance for now and retirement, etc.....I just won't see it in my bank account right now.

 

And now my son just got his first acceptance letter.....big fancy private college.....which is what he will need for the line of work he is going into.

 

It is ok.  I just have to mentally prep myself.

[BlsdMama]

Gonna stick around as a resource person, guidance counselor, co-op teacher, tutor, writer, or mentor?

 

I am not. The Tibbie of ten or even five years ago would be astounded by that, but I'm pretty much over the hs'ing community, present company excepted. I'm not even sure I still think hs'ing should be as free-for-all legal as it is in my low regulation state and others, but since I can argue both sides until the cows come home, I have grown tired of thinking about it. Not just tired, but exhausted.

 

I'm not going to follow national public education news anymore, either, except for the purpose of selecting political candidates.

 

The only title still possibly on the table would be Homeschool Grandma; I'd do it if a grandchild needed me. But unlike when I was younger and fondly imagined Grandma School, now I hope their parents will be able to figure it out.

 

What about you?

 

 

I adore my current homeschooling situation - potentially as much or more than at any point in this career.  How is that EVEN possible I wonder?  Grateful though.

 

Yes, I would love (LOVE) to graduate mine and stay involved to help the up and comers - my favorite role would be writing 504s and working with dyslexic kiddos to empower and encourage other moms.  Perfect job for me.  Oh and the grandbabies, bring on the grandbabies.

[Wheres Toto]

I find it so interesting that so many of us aren't really active with our local homeschooling community.  Is it because we get what we need here?  Or are we here because we can't get that interaction IRL?  Are many of us introverts?

 

I think all of the above are a little bit true in my case, in addition to being secular and academic, so I don't fit in with the unschoolers or the religious homeschoolers (despite being Christian).

 

 

Maybe I should start a spin-off of this spin-off, but I'd like to hear from veterans who never fit in or clicked with other homeschoolers how they managed socially. Especially secular families, who don't have a built in "church family".

This is a struggle I did not anticipate. We're quirky and weird, but apparently not the right kind of quirky and weird? I'm not really running into judgment issues, more like having nothing in common to talk about except kids (and I really don't want to talk ABOUT them, you know?).

 

For us, we did a mix of starting our own groups and doing non-homeschool activities.

 

Dh and I run a 4-H STEM club.  We have quite a few homeschoolers but it is not a homeschool activity.  We meet two evenings a month.

 

My kids do Tai Kwan Do, Choir, and other activities in "afterschool" programs rather than homeschool programs.  Some of this is because of timing, some is because the homeschool groups tend to lean younger, and some because we've found outstanding instructors that really relate to ds, and I won't change that for anything.   Ds also goes to a Pokemon group at a comic book store, and may start playing D&D.  They also have a board game night.

 

We definitely fall into the "weird & quirky" category.  I HAVE run into judgement issues in the past.   Sometimes homeschoolers seem even less tolerant of differences and limitations than the general population,.

[sassenach]

I am staying involved with *my* hsing community, i.e. our friends who are all still hsing. I don't have any plans to stay in the community as a whole.

 

But I am for sure still pro-homeschooling and pro-homeschoolers. I just had an hour long convo with a newish hsing mom in the parking lot of dd's dance studio last week.

[gaillardia]

Having been very independent from others, the only way I will do it is to offer suggestions and continue to provide long lists of curricula, authors, books, etc. when asked.

If my grandchildren are in need of it, yes. (Or maybe even grandma school, like my grandmother was with me. She read to me and taught me art, how to work, and talked to me about cool things from her past and my grandfather took me fishing, on nature walks, cleaning up litter in the woods, and other awesome adventures). 

As a side note: friends are commenting to me that if they had it to do over again they would never put their children in PS but would hs or charter school. These are people who work in the public schools in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Utah, New Mexico, Washington, New York, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and New Jersey.

Would I get involved if I thought I could make a difference in the legalities of home education? Yes.

 

[kewb]

Doubtful. This chapter is closing and I will be moving on to the next chapter. I would certainly answer a question of asked but I will remove myself from local homeschool Yahoo and Facebook groups.

[MomsintheGarden]

I am still homeschooling, but just a little but since I began work full-time two months ago.  Dh has been transitioning to doing the bulk of it, and he does all of the running children to activities.  While I will always be happy to talk shop with homeschoolers and about parenting in general, I will not be seeking out those situations going forward.  I simply won't have the time or energy.

 

I had once thought I'd be doing "grandma school," but I will probably be working during those years, too.

 

So I am now on my third career.  The first was as an engineer, the second (and probably the longest) was a 22-year one as a homeschool teacher, and the third is as a bookstore manager.  I am already thinking of what I could do next if the precarious independent bookstore market gets to be too tough.  I'll definitely be working on building marketable skills.

[Guest]

Nope.

 

I'm already a bitter, sour,and mostly irrelevant old woman. Why would I want to pay somebody to rub more salt in my wounds? Why would I want to troll your marketing department when your customers don't have any idea what I'm talking about anyway? That's not activism, that's being a jerk.

 

The good guys don't always win. The bad guys don't always lose.

 

It's kind of awkward since I started homeschooling my oldest right out of college and then had the caboose baby, but I'll probably come up with some sort of joke or snark for social situations along the lines of:

 

"Hey Granny Sourpuss, what did you do before you retired?"

 

"Not a bloody thing! Get off my lawn!"

 

"You know what a lithograph operator is? I didn't think so. You don't care, either, do you. Get off my lawn!"

 

"Nothing I want to talk to YOU about! Get off my lawn!"

 

I'm leaving this account open because of the caboose baby and the people I've met here who I genuinely care about, but I have no desire to be a freak show or a yucky old troll. Homeschooling is a product marketplace, not a social movement for the betterment of mankind, and business must business.

 

The sick joke is that Helen said we won the most important parts of the lawsuit; I'd hate to think what the world would look like if we hadn't!!!

Edited October 15, 2017 by Guest

[Rosika]

Gonna stick around as a resource person, guidance counselor, co-op teacher, tutor, writer, or mentor?

 

I am not. The Tibbie of ten or even five years ago would be astounded by that, but I'm pretty much over the hs'ing community, present company excepted. I'm not even sure I still think hs'ing should be as free-for-all legal as it is in my low regulation state and others, but since I can argue both sides until the cows come home, I have grown tired of thinking about it. Not just tired, but exhausted.

 

I'm not going to follow national public education news anymore, either, except for the purpose of selecting political candidates.

 

The only title still possibly on the table would be Homeschool Grandma; I'd do it if a grandchild needed me. But unlike when I was younger and fondly imagined Grandma School, now I hope their parents will be able to figure it out.

 

What about you?

 

I don't currently follow national public education news, and I only hear about state homeschool news when the moms at co-op or scouts are talking about it within earshot. I live in a low regulation state, but don't give it any real thought. 

 

I am not very involved in the homeschool community now. I like to do my own thing and be by my own self.  :lol: I will have to modify that some for my caboose baby. I forced myself to be social during my oldest's 1st-5th grade years but then I retreated to a group of 2-3 other families who become my "community." I've been lucky that these families I met with my oldest had kids that lined up with all of mine. Our youngest kids are still friends at 12-13, and have been since they were all 1 year old. The problem is that now I have a caboose kid so I imagine I'll have to eventually find a new group. I'm already dreading it and he's barely a year old. LOL

 

I will homeschool my grandkids, if asked. My son is engaged to a homeschooler and they've discussed homeschooling their children. My parents have helped homeschool my children, too. They take the toddlers to story time so the olders can focus one-on-one with me, they've taken on elementary science, middle school math, many life skills "classes" and lots of field trips for those very necessary Teacher Planning Days. They've been a constant presence and bonus to our homeschool, and I'd love the opportunity to do the same for my kids and grandkids. 

 

So I guess I'll stay involved to the extent that it benefits my own family. Basically the same as now. 

[Julie Smith]

I was never part of a homeschool community, so it’s not like I will join one when I’m done. I just homeschool my way, and don’t talk about it much. My technique has always been to find a curriculum that works for us, and stick with it. The only subject I outsource in piano lessons. We have also started outsourcing French, but only fun french conversation. Once a week my boys and myself meet a teen and we play board games in french and she gives us tours of very local places, such as the grocery store, the park, ...

 

No one asks me for advice now, so I don’t see why that would change. The only time I talk about it is the occasional extended family gathering where I state the laws surrounding homeschooling and point out that it is legal, and you get zero oversight and resources from the government. That always seems to shock people who are sure I’m getting books from the local school.

 

Field Trip Gramdma. Read Aloud Grandma. Never in a million years Math Grandma.

Oh, I would like to be a read aloud Grandma, but even better than that might be to be a Math grandma. The longer I homeschool my boys and the further we go in math, the more and more I like math. When I’m done homeschooling I am thinking of becoming a tutor for higher level math classes. It’s just so much fun!

 

  

Hey, at least they think they should accomplish something! The new breed of homeschooler around here is, "I am too lazy to get my kids up for the bus or drive them to school, ...

I do admit I am to lazy to get my boys up for the bus, or walk to school. ... I do joke (with very immediate family)that is one reason I homeschool.... But I am not to lazy to spend hours a day teaching them.