Without finding a community, it is infinitely more difficult to be a homeschooling family. Surrounding yourself with those who share the same family values that you do, love your children, and inspire you to live your best life is one thing that I was blessed to do, all during a pandemic.
It started one Friday in November 2020 when I saw a post on FB about a meet up happening at Great Brook Farm in Carlisle, MA. (If you’ve never been, it’s an amazing place to visit – see my blog post here.) I told the kids the day before that we were going to go meet some other homeschoolers, and that we were all going to make some new friends, even me. I’m an introvert, or I used to be, but I was willing to show up, be friendly, and see who else was out there trying to homeschool. (I used that word “trying” on purpose… ;)) This was still really new to us; I had just sent in a homeschool application for my son in August, so I was still trying to figure out a flow to our days, our weeks, and how we could develop community.
I left that meetup feeling more filled up than I had in so many months. The women were welcoming, thoughtful, friendly, and real. My kids played hard with their kids, and started friendships that day that would continue to develop well into the future. I made a point to chat with every single mom, introduce myself, and just be open to anything. The people I met that day hold a special place in my heart because it ended up being so fateful, in a good way. It was meant to be that I showed up for myself and for my kids because it took our homeschool experience in a whole new direction. I was thrilled to encounter this group for so many reasons: plans on Fridays, mom friends, kid relationships, but mostly, this is where I found my people. I found the ones who I eventually developed deep friendships with, and who led me to where we are today with the community of homeschooling friends that we call family.
As it turns out, this was a Wild+Free meet-up, a homeschool network I had never heard of before. When I looked more into the group and its mission to be a supportive community for caregiving and homeschooling mothers and to expose children to as much joy and wonder through nature as possible, I knew this was a perfect fit for my family. (If you’re interested in learning more about Wild+Free and how it might fit into your homeschool, see my blog post here.) My kids thrive outside – they would spend all day every day in the woods and up in trees if they could. Finding a community of people that so closely matched up with our desire to homeschool in this way brought me so much happiness.
As I got to know this community of people, where new members would come in often, I began to develop really close friendships with some of the women. Their kids were around the same ages as mine, and they played so well together. One of my friends asked us one day if we would be willing to get together to try a co-op, where the kids would do some learning together, in addition to our normal hiking or playing outside. She coordinated a group of 5 women, all intentional, loving mamas that wanted to provide our children with another valuable homeschool experience. We met at her home for our first try at this co-op and we used a theme from Exploring Nature with Children, a curriculum that served as a great jumping off point for group learning and activities. It went so well that we decided to continue meeting for the spring, rotating homes among all the members of our group. Hosting the co-op was a special day for kids; they got to show their friends their homes, play in their own backyards and feel comfortable in their own living space. It was like an extended show-and-tell!
After deciding that our vision for the group could turn into something really successful, one of the ladies recommended a venue that could possibly host us for the next year. 19 Carter is a community center in Berlin, MA that was transformed completely from an old run-down church into the beautiful building that it is today in 2017. For our last meeting of the year, we decided to try out this new space to see if it would work for our group. The layout is perfect; there’s room for our group to sit together to enjoy a story, there’s a big table for crafting and snacks together, and there’s a full kitchen to do cooking projects. There’s a whole post on this amazing place with so much history here.
In the end, two of the families in our group decided that returning to public school was the best decision for their kids, leaving our crew with three families for the upcoming school year. We didn’t want this group to fizzle out after the success we had had so far, so we decided to invite a couple other families that we knew from other homeschool meetups to join us for the year. Without any paperwork or policies in place, the co-op has a very casual vibe that works well for us and our kids. Basically, we reached out to say that we’re trying to start a co-op, would you be interested in participating/helping us? Our hope was to meet twice a week, once for an adventure day and once at 19 Carter to learn together.
We started the fall off using Exploring Nature with Children as our nature study, and we made some really special memories together. The kids’ relationships took off – they made some endearing friendships, and us moms became really close too. When you commit to “do life” with people who are like you, it brings with it a sense of security that isn’t too common these days. Our last day of co-op last year was so extraordinary; we printed pictures from our adventures and our co-op days from the whole year and the kids made photo albums to remember all the fun things we had done together. It was magical watching them relive these special times, reminisce with each other about the exciting trips we had been on, look at silly pictures, and remember all the themes we had studied. After a first year as successful as this one, we were planning and brainstorming for another year together as the summer approached. To this day, another successful year under our belts, this group has been a lifeline for our homeschool. My kids love Tuesdays and Thursdays more than any other day, and they light up when people ask them about their co-op friends.
If a group like this is something that’s missing from your homeschool experience, I urge you to get out there; step out of your comfort zone and be vulnerable. Attend homeschool events and meet other moms and families to see who might be a good fit for a group. It’s not as hard as you’d think to start from the ground up, and who knows where it can go from there!
