How To Find Your People For Working Homeschool Moms

Did you know? Cultivating your community is vital as a homeschool mom. Guest writer Courtney Messick from Homeschool Mastery Academy is sharing how to find your people and the support we need. 

Have you ever desperately wanted to plug into your local homeschool community, but you simply can’t? Because you are a working homeschool mom and the majority of homeschool groups and co-ops meet while you are at work.

You see fantastic opportunities for field trips, play dates, and co-ops, but then you check the time, and yep. You will be at work when these events are scheduled. Another opportunity was missed.

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Maybe you are tired of hearing that you should socialize with your children. You want them to make solid connections, but again the local homeschool groups in your community are meeting while you are at work.

And you would love to find the support of other working homeschool moms to share the challenges of working and homeschooling, but there aren’t any local groups catering to families that work and homeschool.

We need to create opportunities for working homeschool families to connect as much as other homeschool families. Possibly even more!

Working homeschool parents need support. Working full or part-time AND homeschooling your children is not an easy task.

But, How can we do that?

By one connection at a time.

Everything in life, every change, every opportunity started with a first, with one.

Hold that thought!

Let’s chat about the challenges we face as working homeschool parents:

• Our schedules are not always flexible.

Our children may be missing out on excellent opportunities to socialize or participate in group activities, and there is little we can do. We can’t always rearrange our work schedule for a play date or field trip. It just isn’t possible.

What many other homeschool families may not realize is that we have to work to live. It’s not that we don’t want our children to participate; that is far from the truth. But we feel like our hands are tied. There aren’t any options where we can plug in. There are not any options that fit our lifestyle.

• Our budgets may be tight.

As working homeschool families, we may make significant sacrifices to work and homeschool. Just because we have a job doesn’t necessarily mean we have expendable income. So paying for every field trip entry or picking up extra fuel charges only for a play date can be a real struggle.

• Many working mothers are working because they are single parents and sole providers.

That can put an additional strain on time, availability to plug in, and resources for the family.

How to Find Your People And Cultivate Community

• We need to start to cultivate relationships among working homeschool families that support one another. It sounds cliché, but it is true; it takes a village. We need to start to come together to ease the stress and strain for our fellow working homeschool families.
• We could lean into one another and make a difference. By carpooling or offering to pick up another friend’s child, we can make it possible for another family to join in the fun.
• We could take turns with a co-op responsibility or trade-off teaching a class. Small and simple changes could start to open up doors for more possibilities.
• Find your people by seeking them out in local homeschool circles, word of mouth, and Facebook groups. The homeschool community is great about getting the word out. Mention any direction you are thinking of taking and children’s ages or possible activities. Keep in mind that the more you share, the easier it may be to find quality connections – like attracts like.

Simple Ideas for Creating a Working Family Homeschool Group

• Start a Homeschool Group.

Wait. Stay with me. The first step might not be as overwhelming as you think. I mentioned before that everything starts with a first. With one connection.

By finding one or two other working homeschool families, you can start to create a small group. You could meet in the evenings or Saturdays doing something easy, like a book club or a park playdate.

• Start to build connections slowly.

Find a few families and agree on activities to participate in that you all enjoy, or create a mini co-op of sorts. Maybe a science club or nature club.

• If you are “all-in” on the idea, think about creating a large-scale group of working homeschool families.

Use a resource like Meetup or Facebook to bring families like yourself together. Host a meeting and start planning as a group.

If each parent took on one event at a time, you could plan a monthly support meeting for parents to connect, a monthly field trip, a monthly play date or an educational class.

The possibilities are endless.

Your group doesn’t need to look like other typical homeschool groups. Create events and gatherings that fit your people.

There are no hard and fast rules for creating homeschool groups or co-ops. Choose large or small, like-minded or diverse, but most of all connect.

The support and possible friendships you and your children can cultivate are so worth it.

Find your people!

If you are thinking about creating a homeschool group for your people, large or small; Homeschool Mastery Academy has all types of resources for building homeschool community.

We would love to support you on the journey of finding your homeschool people and cultivating your community.

A special thank you to Courtney for sharing practical tips and tools to help us cultivate our own community. 

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