At this time of year, I find myself debating whether or not to continue our membership in our state’s support group. This year, I am having a really hard time deciding to pony up the membership fees.
We live in a really large state and for some reason the state-level groups provide no activities in our half of the state. Actually, they only act in about 1/3 of the state. Years ago, they were all focused near the state capitol but now any homeschool activities, including the annual conference take place 8-10 hours away from where we live. And we live smack dab in the middle of our state.
This year I just don’t know. Why am I supporting a group that does not serve my state, even though they say they do? Is it for old times sake, or just to support the only group left here?
And why did the state-level group retreat to a tiny corner of my state? Where are the homeschoolers? Are they all crowded into that area?
When my kids were little there were so many homeschoolers and homeschool groups it was hard to avoid them. We had our pick of group field trips and park days each week. In fact there was so much that we had to learn to be selective or we would never get any classwork done.
When my kids entered their teens they were busy for a number of years with more specialized groups that included a range of kids, not just homeschooled children.
Now that my children are towards the end of their teen years, they are interested in reconnecting with homeschooled kids. The difference between the homeschooled child and the public schooled child is more pronounced now that my kids are older. Mine have been doing college-level courses for a while now, and their plans for adulthood do not follow the track that most publicly-schooled children head down.
And so I went looking back once again into the local area. Strangely I found lots of activities for teens, but nearly nothing for younger children. While this works for our family, it really makes me wonder.
Do you have a hard time finding park days and homeschool group activities in your area? Is it just my area of the state that appears to have no more homeschoolers? Do you pay dues for a state-level homeschool association that doesn’t actually serve you?
What do you think. Should I pay the dues or not?
