Advertising Homeschool Groups...or Where did you find out about yours?

[SonshineLearner]

Hi There,

 

I'm trying to figure out where to advertise our Homeschool Once a Week Program. I can't figure out the best places to hang flyers...SO, I thought I'd ask... "Where did you learn about your Homeschool Group? Coop? Alternative School?"

 

I want the most bang for my flyers:-)

 

Carrie

(We're in Oregon)

[6packofun]

What does your HS Once a Week do, just out of curiosity? I've been meaning to start a group in my area for a few years so I'd love to know what other groups do during their time. There is NADA here for our kids that I can find to suit us. :glare:

[Mesa]

I would advertise it on the internet for sure. I dont know how though lol.... maybe someone can chime in here.

The library is a big one put something on their bulletin board. Maybe even on the grocery store bulletin boards? I would put one in your newspaper for sure.

 

When I was looking for a group I searched yahoo groups to see of there was anything there. It was incredibly hard for me to find a group.

[Rosie_0801]

I found ours by searching yahoo groups.

 

Rosie

[LaxMom]

First, I dug through Yahoo groups to find a homeschoolers list in our area. Then, an informational meeting for a new co-op was posted there. That's it.

 

Fast forward a few years... now, we hold a couple of informational meetings (general information for new and prospective homeschoolers, or people new to the area) a year, which we advertise on the local yahoo groups, on library bulletin boards and in the newspapers. We are also listed in the homeschool resource section of our local library's website.

 

We also do a service project each session (we have 4 sessions per school year), which gives us exposure in the community, and is generally in the paper.

 

Weirdly, the neighboring county board of ed now gives my contact information to people who are considering or beginning homeschooling. :001_huh: It's fine, but a little odd.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Well, when we move, I go actively looking for homeschool groups. If I know other homeschoolers in our new home, I ask them for what groups they are in. I ask around at church. I google the new city or base and homeschool to see what shows up (this isn't as effective as I wish it were).

 

When dh got to Japan ahead of us, he asked at the base library. They have a homeschool resource corner with catalogs to go through and they posted a flyer about our upcoming curriculum fair. We're working on updating our handout and having these available at the library too.

 

One other thing you might consider is editing the flyer into a brochure format (trifold is a nice size) that everyone in the group has as an email attachment or file on a group website. That way, they can just print them and hand them out to people they meet who are interested. I think most group info come from word of mouth.

[Hillary in KS]

We made sure we could be found online (on blogspot), and advertised in the area/regional newsletters.

 

We also sent fliers to churches we knew had a large homeschool population, and left a stack of fliers in the children's section of our library.

 

A word of caution, though. After we began advertising, our group exploded in size. (From 5 families to about 40 in the first year, then over 60 families the second year.) We loved meeting new people, but after a while we began to feel we grew too fast.

 

Sevreal people didn't want a co-op, but just babysitting while they ran errands. Others were just...odd and didn't work well with others. One family had a parent who was aggressive and unbalanced (that came to a head after about 6 months. We knew something wasn't right, and then she began melting down.). Other families had expectations of the group that weren't what the group was created for.

 

It got to be too much and, looking back, we wished that we had just allowed word-of-mouth to work. When homeschooling acquaintances recruit homeschooling acquaintances the group seems to gel better.

 

Depending on the goals of the group, you may just want to spread the word among people you know, and tell them to pass it on to others *they* know.