Welcome to day four of this weeks 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials posts brought to you by the
Homeschool Review Crew.
We have 89 homeschool Mom's like you sharing their top homeschool
essential lists with you.
Today I would like to share about my second most essential homeschool item:
your Support Network.
Home school support groups are not about education they are about
mentoring relationships. This sort of group is not a
home school Co-op. This is about
you the
mom to access a supportive environment and for your children to know
that there are other children out there being home educated. Renee Gotcher from
Next Generation Homeschool explains it this way:
"When you think about it, homeschool support group is a bit of an
oxymoron: We choose to homeschool so that we can independently make
decisions about our children’s education, and yet we inherently desire
the support of others to inform, encourage and assist us."
Mentoring A
mentor facilitates personal and professional growth in an individual by
sharing the knowledge and insights that have been learned through the
years. - USC Mentor Program
Mentoring is a developmental partnership through which one person
shares knowledge, skills, information and perspective to foster the
personal and professional growth of someone else. We all have a need for
insight that is outside of our normal life and educational experience.
The power of mentoring is that it creates a one-of-a-kind opportunity
for collaboration, goal achievement and problem-solving.
“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right
direction.” John C. Crosby (
Mentor program)
Remember a mentor does not need to be someone older in chronological age
just someone older on the journey with more experience and most
importantly someone who is still willing to learn and grow and accept
you and your family for who you are.
A word of Caution While home school support groups offer a huge amount of encouragement
and support on your home education journey they can also become a noose
around your neck. For years and years I was a part of two particular
support groups and loved learning and growing with these families. I
still miss them. What I did not do however was evaluate some of the
choices that slowly seeped into the group. It was not until years later
when I moved away and was confronted with asking myself why I was doing
some things (dress code, curriculum choices, etc) that I realized that I
had taken on an unwritten 'law' from the group that was not healthy for
my family. Now I am part of several groups but I do so with caution
and I constantly re-evaluate what I'm doing with who my family is. So
when you are part of a network be sure to take a regular time of
de-cluttering your mind and spirit and be sure that you
remain true to who you are
or you might find that who you are becomes lost in trying to fit in.
If you need to work at fitting in you are definitely a part of the wrong
group.
Benefits
There are many benefits in a joining a support group and I encourage you
to find a group of like minded mothers. A good support network will be
a place you can take a break, enjoy a relaxing cup of tea to recharge,
ask questions and have access to real life help.
- Seasoned Homeschoolers to receive encouragement from.
- Encouragement
- Social opportunity for Mom with like minded people
- Help
- Advice
- Supportive environment
- Care
- Networking (knowing who to go to when you need assistance)
- Contacts
- Assistance
- Solutions
- Access to Information
- Guidance
- A place to connect with like minded Mom's
On Line Support
I appreciate that in today's culture we have limited time to invest in
meeting together face to face and for many of us the only support we
have access to is on the www. Here is a list of place to seek support
on line.
On the WWW
Blessings
Chareen
Don't forget to check out and see what my fellow
Homeschool Review Crew
mates are sharing this week. Here are some to get you started. Some of
these links will not be live until tomorrow due to time zone differences
as these bloggers are from across the globe. Here are some from the crew to get you started
Note: This article is part of a reprint from
my post in May 2013
