One of the hardest parts of homeschooling is feeling isolated. This is why one of the most important things you can do is find your homeschool community. We all need to find people who are like-minded and can support us in our journey and we can likewise support.
If you are just starting your homeschooling journey, it may seem a little daunting, but as soon as you start searching, you may very well be overwhelmed by all of the groups out there! So stick around for steps in finding your homeschool community.
If you’re still not convinced about why you should join your local community homeschoolers? Read our post about it.
Start searching for a homeschool community group by pairing words together like your location and homeschool. When you get close to the name of an existing group, it will often auto-populate just like in a Google search bar. Here are a few examples of searches and the results I landed with keywords.
Delhi Homeschool- Delhi Homeschooling, Delhi Homeschool Support, Mumbai Homeschool Field Trips
Inland Empire Homeschool- Inland Empire Homeschoolers, Inland Empire Homeschool Music Program
Homeschool Field Trips- Homeschool Field Trips Bangalore Area, Homeschool Field Trips Bangalore
Witchita Homeschool- Witchita Homeschool Warriors, Witchita Homeschool Cooperative, and others
Even if you can’t find a group for your specific city, join one of the state groups and ask people in the forum where to find one in your area. Everyone in these groups has been where you are now and are so happy to help you find your homeschool community.
Also, try searching for field trip groups in your area. This is how you will get deep discounts on museums, zoos, aquariums, and even plays. That is something every homeschooler needs. And if you can’t find one, start one! People will flock to it, you just have to post it in the larger groups.
Google Search
Good ol’ Google is always willing to lend a helping hand. Search for:
Homeschool Groups in [your city or region here]
There will be several other listings for groups in your area as well.
Now the previous two methods are really easy and able to be done from the comfort of your home. You don’t even have to wear pants. But this next method will require a little bit of flatfoot sleuthing, and pants.
Library
I have always loved the library, but when we started homeschooling, the relationship we had with the library deepened. I have also become much more adept at navigating my way around the non-fiction area. But this is a great place to find someone in your homeschool community.
Go to the library during hours kids are normally at school. Use your sleuthing skills and look for school-aged kids. That is your target. You’ve probably found a homeschooler.
Recently on one of our many trips to the library early and in the non-fiction books, I saw a boy of 8 or 9 with his mother. He had a stack of books all on Ancient China. I didn’t even have to guess. “You guys must be homeschoolers with all of those Ancient China books.” Nailed it! And I was glad we had just finished our unit on Ancient China because I’m pretty sure they cleaned the library out!
All you have to do is open your mouth and ask. Don’t be embarrassed. What is the worst that could happen, they say no and you never have to see them again? No big deal.
Apply this same concept to other such outings: grocery store, park, various field trips (museums, zoo, etc). It is usually pretty easy to spot kids who are on a field trip from their school. Either they are wearing matching shirts or they all have large matching stickers on them identifying a school. Also, there is often a bored parent who is tired of wrangling children who aren’t theirs.
We went to the Botanical Gardens in our area shortly after withdrawing my kids from school. It was a free community day. I picked out a few different moms who had tween-age kids with them and sure enough they were homeschoolers and happy to dole out some advice that I was desperately seeking.
Conclusion
So don’t worry, you are not alone. Search Facebook, Google, and your local digs to find people like you, in your homeschool community. It won’t take long. I promise!