Convention Corner: Grow Your Community

There are many homeschool influencers and experts whom I enjoy watching on YouTube, listening to their podcasts, or reading their books. I’ve gleaned so much information to apply to our homeschooling. I’ve been encouraged by their stories, whether triumphs or failures. I’ve seen myself reflected in their worries and in their motivations to keep going.

Jennifer Cabrera, known as Hifalutin Homeschooler, says you need a “best good homeschool friend.” This is the person who you can spill your guts, express all your fears, pour out your hopes to. They listen, sympathize, and encourage. I’ve got a best homeschool friend. She’s the person whom I can safely say in her presence that I’m ready to quit. She’ll respond, “I hear you, I’ve felt that, and you’ve got this.”

We are blessed beyond measure to live in a time when it is so easy to connect with other homeschool families. The proliferation of co-ops, online communities, classes, and programs means that we can meet like-minded families almost anywhere and anytime along our homeschool journey. We can also keep up with friends who were integral to our journey, and then, God had other plans for them. I still keep in touch with the ladies from my first co-op, even though we are in three different states now.

Community is a vital aspect to a successful homeschool journey. It might be formal, like a co-op program, or organic, where you just get together with other parents to swap stories, books, and advice. The key is to not be the lone ranger on the hill. After hearing stories from the generation that pioneered the modern homeschool movement, it sounds like it was extremely lonely.

I love that my husband and I are in charge of our children’s education. We can center it on Christ and bring up our kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But that doesn’t mean we have to do it alone.

Going to the CHAP convention is an excellent way to build and broaden your community. Strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you in a breakout session. You’ll probably find that you have a lot in common. Ask a few questions to other parents who are browsing the same curriculum booth as you. They will likely be eager to tell you what they love and don’t love about the curriculum you’re considering. You might just meet your next best homeschool friend.