When Homeschooling Feels Lonely

When Homeschooling Feels Lonely-One Mom's Story

Written by Jessica.

Homeschooling is so common these days that it seems like everyone knows someone who homeschools, used to homeschool, or who’s thinking about doing it. There are more curriculum choices and online resources than a homeschooler could use in a lifetime. School districts and homeschooling laws have become friendlier. There are homeschool co-ops and classes popping up everywhere. Many homeschoolers say that it’s so easy to find activities and to connect with other homeschooling families that there’s not enough time to fit it all in.

But, that isn’t true for everyone. Sometimes homeschooling can feel lonely.


When Homeschooling Feels Lonely-One Mother's Story

Photo by Jean Gerber on Unsplash

The Best Laid Plans


When my husband and I bought our house several years before starting a family, we figured it would be a starter home, nothing more. We bought it intentionally, knowing that we would be able to afford it on one income. We also purposefully lived with just one vehicle. We thought we were doing everything right and had big plans. We were going to fix the house up, sell it, and use the money earned from its transformation to move onto something better-suited for the long term. Trouble was, the housing bubble burst at just the wrong time. Then we got slammed by one costly vehicle, appliance, medical, and house-related issue after another – for years. And three attempts at selling our house and trying to buy another – all fell through.

And so, we stayed put – for thirteen years. All fixed up, the starter house became home. It is cozy, adequate for our needs, and most importantly: it enabled me to give up my teaching career and stay home with our children. We were, and still are, deeply grateful for our home. But it isn’t without its drawbacks. Our greatest challenge is its location in a rural and economically depressed area. It was okay when we were a young couple commuting an hour to work each day, running our errands then, and socializing with colleagues. But when I became a stay-at-home mama out in the sticks, with no car during the week, we felt the limitations of our location.

When Homeschooling Feels Lonely

Community


Those early years were a happy blur of carrying, nursing, and caring for my small children. I was filled with joy and contentment, living my dream of being a stay at home mama and loving it. The workdays were long because my husband was doing close to a two-hour round-trip commute. For a period of time, he also worked two jobs a couple of evenings a week and one day on the weekends. During that time we were both in full time care-giver mode, constantly caring for each other and our little ones, and unable to invest in other relationships outside of our own family and our extended families. Superficial friendships fizzled. We were happy and fulfilled, but tired and busy.

Because of having just the one vehicle, the kids and I were stuck at home every day. We missed out on things during those years like story hours at the library, mom and tots playgroups, and Bible studies for young mothers. We were content with just each other, so it didn’t matter much, but we did miss a window for forming relationships with like-minded families in the early years of being a young family.

Fellowship was something that my husband and I were already lacking in our lives anyway. As a young married couple we fell away from church completely. After almost a decade we found our way back. Our values, interests, and the types of people that we now wanted to be around had changed a lot, but we found it was difficult to make new friends as adults. Further complicating matters, we returned to Christianity via a denomination neither of us had grown up in. We soon realized that we had made a major theological mistake and found ourselves humbled and lacking confidence as we tried to find a different church community. We had our amazing extended family and were deeply grateful for their companionship and support, but we were lacking fellowship with other young families like our own.


Homeschooling Connections


When we started homeschooling, we felt an even greater urgency to find fellowship. We hoped that finding connections in the homeschooling community through a co-op would be the way to go. But the challenges and obstacles continued.

We live in one of the most regulated and difficult states for homeschooling. Despite this, there are still lots of active homeschool areas – but in pockets, and not close by. The nearest vibrant, thriving homeschool area? Several hours away. The next closest area, with less to offer but still an improvement from our own? An hour and a half away. And in our immediate area? Not much. The few co-ops less than an hour’s drive away are specifically secular, linked to denominations that we don’t belong to, or use methods that we don’t.

Forging homeschool connections has been a lot harder than we anticipated.

When Homeschooling Feels Lonely

What’s a Homeschooler to Do?


Your circumstances aren’t the same as ours, but perhaps you find yourself in a similar place.

Maybe your family just moved to a new area.

Maybe you’ve encountered cliques, or just felt unwelcome in the homeschool groups that you’ve tried.

Maybe your kids have been bullied or excluded in your local homeschool group.

Maybe the needs of one or more of your children make it difficult for you to participate in a co-op.

Maybe you haven’t found a homeschool co-op because you don’t go to a certain church, use a certain curriculum, or teach with certain methods.

Whatever the reasons, here are a few ideas to try as you seek to find homeschooling companionship:

The YMCA

There are several YMCA branches within an hour and a half’s drive from us that offer homeschooling classes. Some of the branches offer specific ones (ex. swimming lessons), while others offer general PE type classes. Our children are currently trying a class at one of the branches. YMCA classes are often offered for short sessions of X number of weeks, so you can easily try things out.

Dance, Gymnastics, Arts and Crafts, and Martial Arts Studios

Check out your local studios and see if they have any homeschool classes listed. Our oldest attended a Christian homeschool ballet class last year, and it was a wonderful experience. It was an hour’s drive, but it was worth it. Unfortunately the studio moved even further away and eliminated the homeschool class, but it was a huge blessing last year.

Children’s Museums/Aquariums/Historic Sites

Visit your local attractions, if you have any. Often times, if there is sufficient interest from the community, these types of places offer a special “Homeschool Day” for homeschoolers to take field trips to. These are usually just a once a year event, but you might be fortunate and find one that does monthly classes. We have a couple of places like this is our area.

Nature and Audubon Centers/State Parks

Don't forget about your local nature resources. Again, if there is sufficient interest from the community, sometimes nature centers and state parks offer organized classes or nature hikes specifically for homeschoolers.

Rec Sports and Other Lessons Not Specific to Homeschoolers

These options facilitate ways for your kids to be around and interact with other kids. They may not generate the same kind of interactions as going to a weekly homeschool co-op would, but it’s something. We’ve had our kids try out swimming lessons and rec soccer, and both sports gave them some new experiences to try, if nothing else.

Some of these options are better than others. In some cases, your kids might just take lessons or do sports parallel to other kids doing the same, without any meaningful interactions or lasting friendships actually coming from the experiences. In some cases, having your kids take lessons or do sports with unfamiliar teachers or coaches is not ideal. But, they’re still opportunities for you and your child(ren) to meet other families.

When Homeschooling Feels Lonely

The Hard Truth


Homeschooling isn’t easy. Homeschooling without the support and fellowship of other homeschoolers is extra hard.

It has been one of the greatest desires of my heart for many years now to find a homeschool community for our family. We all need a group of like-minded friends to share life and the homeschooling journey with. I don’t understand what the plan or purpose is for our family in going through this desert experience for so long.

If you’re feeling isolated in your homeschooling journey, please know that you’re not alone. Although no one wants to admit it, many homeschooling families struggle with this, even if just for a season. Goodness, even families who send their kids to public schools have similar experiences!

It hurts to say the same prayers again and again and not have them answered the way we’d like, to not know the big picture, and to feel alone. If you are walking through a similar season in your homeschooling journey, please remember that we have a good, good Father who works all things for our good, according to His purposes. Keep pressing on, knowing that this might well become part of your family’s faith-story! And if you’re a homeschooler who is already blessed with a strong homeschooling community, please be intentional about reaching out to those families that you encounter who are seeking one.




Teach Them Diligently 2018

21 comments:

  1. This is so honest and heart felt! I pray that you and your family find the home school community and friendships that you are searching for. Another great post, thank you!

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  2. Thank you. I am in a similar situation...glad to know I am not alone.

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    1. Not alone at all! Just knowing that there are other families in similar situations can encourage us as we press on through the hard.

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  3. Thank you for sharing your situation. We also live in a small rural area and drive many miles for co-op and activities. My husband also has a two hour round trip to work everyday. We've grown to love our small town but it does require extra creativity and a willingness to drive far distances to participate in what might be more readily accessible in larger cities. I think what you said about reaching out to others who are looking for homeschool community is important. Not everyone who comes to our co-op thinks it's a fit for their family but I try to reach out as a fellow homeschooling parent anyway. There's no reason a difference in educational philosophy, religion, family make up etc should be a reason I loose an opportunity of making a new friend.

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  4. Thank you for taking the time to share your story and perspective with the readers here as well. It's reassuring to know that we're not the only ones facing these kinds of challenges. Yes - creativity, willingness to travel distances, and bravery/resilience in reaching out to others to try to find community are all a big part of making homeschooling work in a rural, or other isolated, area.

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  5. I can only imagine how it would feel to be isolated by such great distances from others... My heart just aches to know there are families just like mine... In the daily grind... But are lonely. Sending you a hug from our whole family to yours and prayers for Jesus to strengthen you through the drought until He brings the rain. I wonder... Would a Skype or face time session once a week be helpful? Perhaps with another Homeschooling mama friend you already currently have... for something like geography or arts and crafts?? Maybe on the TV so the screen is really big? I know a family that lives on a farm and when the weather is bad and the roads are impassable she does this with her best friend's kids for history (I think?). Then they all eat lunch "together" and the duel TVs and webcams sit at the kitchen table!! Not conventional and takes some set up each week but... Might be fun!!

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    1. That's a great idea, Krista! My kids actually use Glide on my phone to chat with their friends who moved to another state and who haven't made strong homeschooling connections yet. It's like video messaging and can be watched and responded to at the person's convenience so that neither of our households get disrupted.

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    2. Thank you so much for the prayers and 'hug,' Krista! I so appreciate them. I had never thought of using Skype, etc. to connect with other homeschooling families. We use it for "seeing" our family that lives far away, so that is a really good idea. Thank you!

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  6. We also live in one of the most regulated states and it aggravates me deeply that we can't access ANYTHING that the public school offers. Things such as band, art, extended school day (after school clubs), etc.

    We are in a rural community with very few options and traveling over an hour for activities isn't feasible.

    It's frustrating and lonely.

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  7. I've been struggling with this for 16 years. What makes being so isolated hard is that no one wants to make the commute to our house. So very lonely. Also worn out from all the long driving. It does hurt when I drive an hour for church or fellowship and my kids are judged or I am shunned. No one seems to have time to invest in friendships. I just want to have someone drop bye to say hi and see how I'm doing. I had that happen once and I started crying. It's been building up for years. I mow know what isolated village people feel like when a missionary brings them the gospel. Maybe God us preparing us for something. I do know company is a ray of sunshine.

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    1. Hugs to you! I can't imagine how difficult and lonely these years must have been. Please know that you are always welcome here in this space. You will be seen and heard and appreciated.

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  8. Even being surrounded by a large homeschooling community, I find it extremely hard to make friends. There are plenty of random activities we do and we have a church. But, making close connections with other people is so hard. Everyone seems to already have enough friends or to be too busy with other things... I am glad I have 2 boys and 2 girls close in age so they have a good sibling bond and we all get along pretty well as a family, but although we have a lot of casual friends, we have no close friends where we live. I have one close friend who homeschooled her kids in a small mountain city in the boonies and whose husband travels over an hour for work one way. Like your situation. Her kids are graduated now. And, we had our friendship via phone and computer. We are as close as family for over a decade now. So, I'm grateful for that. I'm just sad that after 6+ years surrounded by many others in a big city area, we haven't found any other close friends... It's tough. Sometimes it tempts me towards public school, but the reality of public school that I experienced keeps us away. I didn't have many friends and was bullied. None of my public school friends are still my friends, either, so...and then there's the liberal/non-Christian worldview, sometimes bad teachers, so much sitting around and not having times for exercise, sleep, family or friends...

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    1. I'm so sorry, Dani. I had a similar experience for the first few years of my homeschooling. I felt very lonely. But I continued to pray that God would bring some families to surround us and He did. In the waiting time, he strengthened our family bonds.

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  9. My daughter makes a great friend is loving, happy and kind and funny. She was so eager to start public school and make friends. We live in a "Great school district" my kid gets great grades and was thrilled to meet friends. These "friends" turned into frenemies. One ripped hair out of her head and another slapped her in the face hare in class. The principle and guidance counselor said "well it could just be how your child perceived being slapped" perhaps the other girl saw it as well just playing " The girl has major family issues where there is abuse. The school did nothing ... All they did was sit the girls down and say no one is to hit. But this was already told to them b4. I will be home schooling my child. People say "she won't socialize " well it's a risk I'm willing to take. I believe God will place good people in her life. 8 years more of being in a cold brick building like general population prison where you never know one day to the next what will happen to me is far worse. It's ok to some times have seasons of being lonely and it's ok to try and fail and try again but public schools no matter where you live are on a fast decline. My kid will miss ALOT of things about school, but I will get her involved in art, dance, go to shows and do sports but it was an eye opener that very little is done about bullying, parents are not even called. It's word against word and the bully wins and does it again and again. Please wish me luck ! My child is an only child, we have very little family that live far away but many have it worse ... But being assaulted at school is not ok. And my child's self esteem and safety come first

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    1. Are there any co-ops in your area? Co-ops are great for getting kids together with other kids but in a parent-led environment, meaning NO BULLIES.

      I wish you all the best as you start homeschooling!

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  10. Thank you. I needed to read that right now. We moved to a new area and there are plenty of homeschooling families and I am praying that my shy HS children and myself can make some good friends not just acquaintances. It is begining to feel lonely. Hubby works and has friendships there. Lucky him ha ha.
    For now, I know God has His reasons.

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    1. I am in a similar boat. We moved to a new city in February and I'm finding it very draining to always be the newbie in every group. It would be nice to have at least one deep friendship--one which the other person sees and knows me well.

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  11. Thank you for sharing this - it's exactly what I needed to hear. It's a struggle at times with a pre-teen who wants socialization, to not feel like I'm failing him. I know that walking away from my career and homeschooling the kids was a plan that God put in my heart for a reason. Pray with ceasing...He hears and will provide a community for our family (and other families experiencing the same) when His time is right. Thank you and blessings to you and your family!

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    1. Keep on praying for a vibrant homeschooling community. Chances are, if you feel lonely, there are other homeschool families around you who feel lonely too. Be brave enough to reach out and make the first move. You'll be glad you did.

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