Activities & Friends

The best strategy I’ve found to meet other homeschooling families is to sign up for homeschool-specific activities.

Starting out..

When you begin on your homeschool journey, it can be difficult to feel connected with other homeschoolers. Unless you already have a bunch of homeschooling friends, you are probably going to have to be really proactive in order to meet others.

Socialising

Socialising with other families is definitely one of the highlights of our week. In addition to the fun games and important social interaction between the kids, it is so helpful and encouraging for us as parents to have supportive friends who know what we’re experiencing! I would encourage any homeschooling family to make social contact a priority – even if only a couple of times a week. If not for your own sake, do it for your kids!

Swimming

I have never wanted to get super busy, but the moment my eldest turned five I signed her up for homeschool swimming lessons at the earliest opportunity. Not only did I want her to learn to swim – at a very competitive price – one of my main objectives was to connect with others and find friends! Many of our current friendships began at the pools.

The ever-widening circle

Once you start to get to know a few people, they introduce you to others, and gradually your circle widens! In some areas there are more organised groups that you can sign up to, which I imagine would be helpful for developing relationships intentionally. However in many areas – like South Auckland where we are based – it is much more casual. It’s up to you! No one is going to force you into social situations or coerce you into interacting with others.

Over the years we have made friends via swimming, church, church conferences, homeschooling conferences, writing groups and friends (or neighbours) of friends.

Activities

There are a myriad of different activities on offer – way too many to choose from! But I’ve found that picking one and sticking with it for a while has led to most of our connections. Of course, we also enjoy dipping in and out of various other ones, such as rock climbing, drama, choir, sport, literature quizzes etc.. and I’m looking forward to joining in with some of the other classes on offer in future! Some activities repeat on an annual basis like the history fair, science fair, cross country and art fair. All of these events provide great opportunities for interaction with other home educated kids and parents.