How to Start a Homeschool Group

Are you interested in getting together with other homeschooled children and families in your area to start your own homeschool group? This post is going to teach you how you can start your very own homeschool group with other homeschooling families with these 8 easy steps!

Homeschooling is such a blessing

You as the homeschool parent get to…

• Choose what your children learn
• Be involved in child’s work and studies
• Instill the things that are important to you and your values
• Get your hands dirty with projects
• Learn new things with your child
• Read great literature to them
• Build long-lasting memories… through the good and bad!

I know you can relate and agree as a fellow homeschooling family!

But sometimes, we want to step away from the home and schooling at the kitchen table and get together with other homeschoolers or a homeschool family.

This is where starting a homeschool group, or being a part of a homeschool group comes in!

However, this is not to be mistaken for a homeschool co-op!

What’s the Difference between a Homeschool Co-op and a Homeschool Group?

• Homeschool Co-op- A homeschooling co-op is actually like a homeschool organization of sorts, that registers with the IRS as a non-profit or other entity, and usually charges a monthly or yearly fee for joining the homeschool co-op.
• Homeschool group- A Homeschool groupis free and is basically just an organized time of day/ week/ or month that you meet up with other homeschooling families and friends for homeschool-related topics.

Now that we got the two distinguished, let’s move on to how exactly you could start your very own homeschool group.

How to start a homeschool group

Using these 8 easy strategies, you will be on your way to hosting your very own homeschool group in no time!

Step 1. Choose your group members

Think about who you would like to form a homeschool group with.

One idea is to browse through some Homeschool Facebook groups, or start your very own private Facebook group with other homeschooling parents.

Or, if not on social media, create an email list or a group text for all the homeschool parents you know.

You can call friends, family, friends of a friend who homeschools, neighbors who homeschool, and whoever else is in your homeschool community, and see if they would be interested in forming a homeschool group with you.

Step 2. Choose Like-Minded Homeschooling Families

This isn’t exactly a MUST, but it might be a good idea to find like-minded homeschooling families.

Here’s why and what I mean:

• If you do the unschooling route with your children, and you have members in your group who are very strict with doing bookwork type of homeschooling, and your homeschool group decides it wants to do educational meetups, you guys might not be able to agree upon the different projects you do with your homeschooling group, or even the basic values of what your personal homeschooling journey stands upon.

• If you love the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling, you might want to form a Charlotte Mason-inspired homeschool group. In this case, don’t link up with those who have a strong opinion on only using curriculums and a strict lesson plan.
• Are you a Christian? Starting a Faith-based homeschool group would be amazing! But you wouldn’t want your Atheist friend to join, as there would be a lot of butting heads on beliefs!

Don’t lose or ruin friendships over something like this. Find link-minded homeschooling families and form an awesome homeschool group together!

Step 3. Contact the Homeschoolers

If you formed a private Facebook group with other homeschoolers, this is the time to reach out and ask who would be interested in forming a homeschool group with you.

If not doing a Facebook group, send out a mass email or group text to those whom you think would be interested.

Step 4. Choose your homeschool leaders

Who’s going to be in charge?

One tip- Don’t make this overly complicated.

Have one homeschool group leader, maybe two homeschool leaders, at the most, because the more people in charge, the more drama.

The homeschool leaders are who will be in charge of contacting the other group members, planning the outings, calling ahead and making reservations (when doing a field trip with a large group), etc.

The homeschool leader’s job IS NOT to run everything without getting feedback, opinions, and ideas from the other memebers.

Step 5. Choose your homeschool group name

Choosing the perfect name for anything always takes a lot of brainwork.

You can start the brainstorming process for choosing the name of your homeschool group by writing down a bunch of adjectives that you want to “describe” your homeschool group’s atmosphere.

Sample homeschool group adjectives:

• Fun
• Happy
• Lively
• Living
• Friendly
• Modern
• Cool

Make sure to download my FREE “How to start a Homeschool Group” Planning pack!

You can also make a list of rhyming words or two words that both begin with the same letter, for example:

• Friday/ Fun
• Monday/Meetup
• Fantastic/Friends
• Monday/Fun Day
• Cool/School

Next, you can grab a few adjectives, rhyming words, or words with the same letters and start playing around with different homeschool group name variations.

Here are some fun homeschool group name ideas:

• Friday Fun Homeschoolers
• Monday Homeschoolers Meetup
• Living Littles Homeschool Group
• Happy Homeschoolers

You can really choose your own adventure here and get super creative.

Ask your homeschool group members and have everyone join in on contributing adjectives and name ideas, and then host a contest!

Step 6. Start Planning

Use your private and exclusive homeschooler’s group Facebook page, email list, or group text to be the mode of contact.

This will be where you guys can decide the theme of the next meetup, places to meet, fun field trips, etc.

Step 7. Should your homeschool group be for education, fun, or both?

Decide whether or not you want your homeschool group to be solely a fun meetup group and do fun group activities, an educational meetup, a playgroup, or a mixture of all.

Here are some ideas to get your homeschool group brain juices flowing:

• Would you like to do a big group project together?
• Meet just for playdates or field trips? (LINK TO FIELD TRIPS POST)
• Have a craft day?
• Start a choir or make a play?
• Do community service projects?
• Want to start a homeschool book club? You could meet and read a few chapters together as a group, and then do a project or talk about what you read.
• Your homeschool group can attend fun events together like, county fairs.

You and your other homeschool group members decide. You could organize it by the week or by month.

For instance:

• Week one could be craft week
• Week two could be a unit study
• Week three could be a field trip
• …. and so on and so forth.

Step 8. Choose how often you should meet with your homeschool group

This will depend on everyone’s homeschool schedules. Once a week would be the most I would do in a week, personally.

But some might choose to meet up a few times a month, or even once a month!

During major holidays, you can meet up with your homeschool group to do crafts or fun projects together.

Will you only meet during the homeschooling season or homeschool year? Some people school year round, and some homeschool during the normal public school schedule.

How else can I utilize my homeschool group?

• Having a rough day, homeschool mom? Call one of your group members for some much-needed venting.
• Use your group members as a sort of, “homeschool support group” and help encourage each other, bounce homeschool ideas off one another, etc.!
• When it’s homeschool convention time, you and your other homeschool group moms can go together! Make it a fun girl’s day!

Should younger siblings be able to attend the homeschool group activites and meetups?

Well, this is up to you and the other members.

If you don’t bring the younger kids, who is going to watch them?

Not allowing younger siblings to come, can also greatly impact the other homeschool members being able to attend the meetups.

The little ones don’t have to join in on the lesson plans or projects, but they can still come!

I, personally, don’t see anything wrong with bringing younger siblings, but your homeschool group members will have to make this executive decision and stick with it.

Whichever route you choose to form your very own homeschool group, use these 8 steps to help guide you on the path to creating the best homeschool group EVER!

pin for later reference!