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Ideas to Help You Start Your Own Local Home Ed Support Group
Beverley Paine, 2007
Here are some ideas I put together when thinking about starting a local homeschooling support network:
- meet weekly in a suitable venue - needs adequate outside and inside play space, toilet facilities, cover for rainy weather
- members join HEA for insurance cover purposes, or seek cover through Playgroup Association
- organise a group cooperative library; perhaps seek grant for new books
- rotating roster of responsibility for organising an activity each week if desired
- shared lunch, or bring lunch and eat together
- small fee (gold coin) per session
- quarterly shared family 'themed' dinner, or progressive dinner
- email loop & telephone tree
- regular parents' night out (separate mums and dads - different venues, ideas, etc)
- monthly newsletter, online and printed, distributed to libraries
- year book production
- directory; contacts for getting started info, 'buddy' list for help in times of stress and need
- annual concert
- art fair
- web page
- make bumper stickers, hats, t-shirts with logo and slogans
- quarterly/monthly educational excursions
- annual local camp
- info stall and educational activities at local show or market
- guest speakers at monthly/quarterly workshops
- quarterly sports days
- Scholastic Book Club memberships and other group buying deals and discounts
- involvement in home ed seminars and conferences, etc
- annual curriculum/book fair/swap meet
- birthday parties and seasonal and spiritual festivals and celebrations
- organise activities: art and craft sessions, history & geography sessions, science experiments and fairs, book clubs, games days, chess and scrabble clubs, computer game clubs, martial arts, movement/dance, gym/yoga/tai chi, LOTE sessions, astronomy, theme days, etc.
Group Objectives
- to introduce families to the joy of home education
- support and encourage homeschooling parents
- maintain communication and social networks - newsletter, email loop, website, directory, telephone tree, yearbook, regular input into community media for promotion of homeschooling
- maintain library of resources to share
- obtain discounts for group or individuals to events, suppliers, etc
Suggested calendar :
January
Week 1 Sports Day
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Swimming
February
Week 1 Parent Workshop on Home Ed Topic
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Literature Theme Day and Book Club
March
Week 1 Educational Excursion
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Annual Camp
April
Week 1 Sports Day
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 BMX or Skate Park or Roller/Ice Skating
May
Week 1 Parent Workshop on Home Ed Topic
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Science Fair
June
Week 1 Educational Excursion
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Annual Homeschool Dinner
July
Week 1 Sports Day
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Art Show
August
Week 1 Parent Workshop on Home Ed Topic
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Literature Theme Day and Book Club
September
Week 1 Educational Excursion
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Spring Fair and Market/Swap Meet
October
Week 1 Sports Day
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Literature Theme Day and Book Club
November
Week 1 Parent Workshop on Home Ed Topic
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Homeschool Group Year Book Production Day
December
Week 1 Educational Excursion
Week 2 Dads Night Out, Games Day
Week 3 Mums Night Out, Art and Craft Afternoon
Week 4 Annual Homeschool Concert and End of Year Dinner
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Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home.
Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.
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We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
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