Re: Feeling alienated from non-homeschool moms
Jeff & Kate Kerr
****Our social group is so small because of our choices for our children
At this point in time, I feel exceptionally alienated from
non-homeschool
moms!!
Nancy****
****I now find myself separating from friends who follow
very mainstream parenting practices. These weren't overnight losses.
Many
of them took years to disolve but the change in lifestyles crept in and
ate
away at the friendships
Jennifer****
Interesting that this should come up now. My husband and I have been
discussing this at length for a while now. We've recently lost a bunch
of friends (ok, we know where some of them are, it's just when we go
there there's some one else living there - they've moved). Two families
have moved far away, one family has dissolved in a sea of drugs and
fighting, one has left us because of our family/schooling choices (she
was a friend from high school, I'd known her for over 25 years), and our
homeschooling group is disintegrating due to lack of interest and who
knows what else.
The long term friendship has been the hardest for me, I thought it would
always be there.
The homeschooling group is also hard. Most aren't interested in getting
together anymore, every time a new family shows up they are turned off
by the group and it's cliqueishness (is that a word?) and they leave
us. It's the only group in town, except for the Christian group and
they make you sign a statement of faith form before joining, so that's
out for us.
So here we are, losing our friends, lost our homeschooling group (I'm
tired of fighting for it, I feel like I'm the only one), and struggling
to find new friends. We lost our non homeschool friends a long time
ago, when their children started school.
Sometimes I feel I am doing my kids a disservice by not sending them to
school, but then I slap myself on the head and our life goes on
unschooling.
This is a little disjointed, sorry for that. I just wanted to say that
it's happening here too. And I'm hoping that this summer brings new
friends for my kids to play with.
Kate
in CA where our school is called Windystreet School, just like our email
address.
At this point in time, I feel exceptionally alienated from
non-homeschool
moms!!
Nancy****
****I now find myself separating from friends who follow
very mainstream parenting practices. These weren't overnight losses.
Many
of them took years to disolve but the change in lifestyles crept in and
ate
away at the friendships
Jennifer****
Interesting that this should come up now. My husband and I have been
discussing this at length for a while now. We've recently lost a bunch
of friends (ok, we know where some of them are, it's just when we go
there there's some one else living there - they've moved). Two families
have moved far away, one family has dissolved in a sea of drugs and
fighting, one has left us because of our family/schooling choices (she
was a friend from high school, I'd known her for over 25 years), and our
homeschooling group is disintegrating due to lack of interest and who
knows what else.
The long term friendship has been the hardest for me, I thought it would
always be there.
The homeschooling group is also hard. Most aren't interested in getting
together anymore, every time a new family shows up they are turned off
by the group and it's cliqueishness (is that a word?) and they leave
us. It's the only group in town, except for the Christian group and
they make you sign a statement of faith form before joining, so that's
out for us.
So here we are, losing our friends, lost our homeschooling group (I'm
tired of fighting for it, I feel like I'm the only one), and struggling
to find new friends. We lost our non homeschool friends a long time
ago, when their children started school.
Sometimes I feel I am doing my kids a disservice by not sending them to
school, but then I slap myself on the head and our life goes on
unschooling.
This is a little disjointed, sorry for that. I just wanted to say that
it's happening here too. And I'm hoping that this summer brings new
friends for my kids to play with.
Kate
in CA where our school is called Windystreet School, just like our email
address.