A Weird Day

We had the opportunity to travel out of town for a couple days with my husband as he attends meetings, and we were all set to do so until I looked at the calendar. When I realized just how many activities my son had for those 2 days, I opted to stay home instead. Wrestling practice, play practice, Cub Scouts and volunteering were all on the docket. My daughter, for a change, didn't have a full schedule and would only miss rock climbing so I suggested she go along with Douglas and hang out with relatives during the day while he was at meetings. I was surprised when she said she wanted to do that, so we got it arranged.

This was the first day of the entire school year I think that Denver was here and working but Aurora was not. It was strange. Denver talked to me (gosh darn interruptions!) a lot more and wandered about making his usual noises and flying various contraptions he'd built, which he does anyways, but he did it more than usual today. I think that the little edge of competition between the kids keeps both of them more focused, just as it did with a classroom of kids at school.

The sweet part for me was the lack of squabbling about who gets to use the computer and who looked at who how, and who touched whom. I thought I might have more time to focus on work with just one kid around but Denver made up for it. Apparently the interaction between them is a significant part of their social life and I picked up the slack until I shot Denver a look that said, "No more!" We could get used to this, but I'll be glad to have Aurora back in a couple of days.

Support Groups for Homeschooling

In researching homeschooling, it was highly recommend getting connected with other parents or groups for the kids. When we first made the decision to homeschool I started asking around about homeschooling groups. One that kept coming up was the "Christian mom's" group. I ended up getting an invite to one meeting, but not after that, so apparently I didn't fit the group's criteria. I also heard of a neighbor lady who hosts a group of homeschooling moms. Another neighbor introduced me to her, we had a wonderful chat, she said she would approach her group about "letting" me into the group. I didn't make the cut for that one either, and a polite email turned me down. Another mom started an 11-12 year old girls group, and there were a solid 12+ girls interested in this group, with about 5-7 showing up for each activity last fall. That one, too, has fallen by the wayside, with no more word about meetings coming through the pipeline.

I think part of the roughness with these groups is my hearing impairment. You would think that homeschooling parents would do email, but apparently not all are totally 'plugged in'. Since I have a hard time hearing on the phone and I prefer email contact, I think it just becomes easier for people to just not call. It could be, too, that our kids are smart and gifted, and many parents are homeschooling their special needs kids. It comes across as bragging to talk about smart kids so it can be difficult to talk about where they're at and what they're doing.

I'm not totally disappointed about being on the out and out with these groups. I would really like to have more contact with other homeschooling parents, but it seems like all are busy, busy, busy. Plus it has to be a good fit--more like a friendship than just an impersonal group since we are really talking about our lives here. Homeschooling can't be separated from "life". So while my kids have a vibrant social life (more so than when they were in school, if you don't count the school day!), I am finding my social life somewhat curtailed. I am home more because of homeschooling obligations, when I used to be off and about with friends. It's not that I can't go out, but the extra workload homeschooling puts on me eats up what used to be "free time." It takes a little more effort and planning to get out.

Tradeoffs (sigh). Still worth it, though. For now.