Building a Homeschooling Network

When you first heard of ‘homeschooling’, you might have come across the idea of isolation. Imagine you and your child learning at home without anyone around, and working with limited materials to use for teaching. Did you know that there is this thing called ‘Homeschooling Network’?

These networks are groups of parents or guardians who have come together in communities to share their experiences and resources about homeschooling. Think of it like your high school book club. There are actually other people who are homeschooling their children.

Identify Your Goals

There are a lot of homeschooling networks out there. Each of them started with goals and objectives before launching their community. It’s a vital part of the process to know what your intentions and goals are for building your own community. Most of the time, this kind of group is there to help other parents and homeschoolers. Be clear with what you want to achieve. This will not only bring you the right members, but also to keep you from losing track of why you started it.

Research on Existing Communities

If this is your first time to build a homeschooling network, it’s a great idea to check what’s out there. As you see other groups, you will gain ideas on what they’re good at, their contribution, what sets them apart from each other, what is lacking, and where to improve on. Keep in mind that you are not doing this to criticize their networks, but to learn from them.

Join Other Homeschooling Networks

So you’ve come to the conclusion of which groups are best fit to your preference. You got the feel of different members’ online presence. Join those communities and participate. Even if you are thinking of building your own network, you don’t have to isolate yourself from other groups. The more that you have to be open to knowing more members whom you can invite to join you.

Create an Online Group

After you have identified your goals and purpose, researched on other communities, noted other networks’ best practices and areas of improvement – it’s now time to start building your online group. You may choose to build an actual group among your friends, family, or neighbors, but another way to do it is by setting up an online group. Although you interact with other members such as parents or guardians online, it is as good as physical communication. It is a lot faster to spread information and knowledge through this method.

Be Active and Keep Your Goals in Mind

Now that you have already begun your own homeschooling network, remember that that’s not it. You are just one step closer to making this thing happen! It will definitely bring you great joy to see that there your members are growing in number, that there are more and more discussions. There might be instances of misunderstanding, especially that the communication isn’t face-to-face, so always keep an unbiased approach in handling issues. You have to go back to your goals and objectives, and one of which is to help other members learn and share their homeschooling experience.

Mimi Rothschild is a veteran homeschooling mother of 8, writer of a series of books called Cyberspace for Kids, and passionate advocate for children and education that is truly worthy of them. In 2001, Mimi and her late husband founded Learning by Grace, a leading provider of online Christian homeschooling Academies.

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