by Holly Furgason

Why should we even bother with homeschool support groups? I found there are several benefits:

To get group discounts!
Seems like a simple reason but it has been quite beneficial to have a $10 ice skating fee reduced to $3- quite a savings when you have six people to pay for! And in the world of institutionalized schooling sometimes the only way to have access to some educational field trips is to be an organized group.

To network with other families!
What better way to find other homeschool families that share your interests than to meet with lots of them on a regular basis?

To disseminate information!
Groups are a great way to share information about homeschooling, events, resources and ideas. Although I’m not a believer in “panic alerts”, there are times when homeschoolers need to know what’s going on at the state and national level. Not everyone agrees with what we’re doing and if we want to keep things as they are we need to keep watch. Since not everyone is interested in politics, those that are have a way to give a quick “heads up!”

To share resources!
Books, experience, materials and encouragement not to mention the opportunity to get together with those who understand what your life is like can be a valuable part of of homeschooling.

Groups can be as simple or as complicated as you want. HUG had a fairly simple structure which fit our personalities, the way we homeschooled and met our needs. Here are the basic steps to starting a simple group:

Decide what you want out of the group.
Some people are looking for an opportunity to meet with other homeschool families, some would like a very organized group to plan all kinds of activities from field trips to sports leagues to achievement banquets, some need support for a particular learning/teaching method and some are looking to organize themselves politically. Any reason is fine. If you have a need that a group can fill, chances are others out there will too. There should be different groups for different reasons and no one should feel as though one group will meet all their needs.

Decide on a place to meet.
This could be your home, a local park, a church, community center, business or any number of places. If your meeting is going to include the kids make sure there is adequet room for them to play and things with which to play. Call around and see what you can find. Be bold since the most they can do is say “no”! You may want to consider other needs such as bathrooms (a must!), tables, chairs etc.

Choose a time.
This can be difficult until you have the meeting place established. The most important thing about choosing a time is to remember that you can’t set a convient time for everyone! Set one that is reasonable and convient for you since you will need to be there and as time passes people will work out conflicts in their schedules if they want to. Don’t change the meeting often or for light reasons. This will only confuse people.

Set up a structure.
This is where it can get complicated. Your group’s structure is going to depend a lot on the reason for you group. If the group is very informal and social you may just need volunteers to remind members of meetings, confirm the meeting place every month and perhaps get people to bring snacks.

If you are looking to have something more complicated then you may need to write by-laws which will spell out a missions statement, various positions in the group and the selection process, dues and possibly even membership requirements. If your group wishes to become a non-profit educational corporation, the best thing to do is consult an attorney.

When I started HUG all I wanted was to get together with other families and let the kids play. I had decided that even if no one showed up, my children would have an afternoon at the park. It turned out that we were never the only ones there since many other people were looking for the same experience. We had over 125 families! [The group no longer exists. Kids got older!] How many families need what you have to offer?