Groups for Homeschoolers
Parent Q&A
Archived Q&A and Reviews
- Looking for other homeschooler families
- Want to form a homeschooling collective
- Email lists and online groups for homeschoolers?
- How to find unschooling families in the area
- Unschooling/Homeschooling Teen groups in East Bay?
- Earlier Advice
Looking for other homeschooler families
Sept 2014
We are homeschooling our two sons, ages 8 and 10, after many years in public school. We don't have any friends who homeschool, and find park days where everyone already knows each other a little intimidating. I'm also aware of various events at Chabot, LHS, etc.... What would be ideal would be to meet up with homeschoolers who are also public school vets. Any advice greatly appreciated. Amy
While your post indicated that park days feel intimidating, I want to let you know that there are a wide variety of families who go to park days. There are always families coming for the 1st time & others who've come for years & everything in between. You will also find lots of public school vets; also families where one child is being homeschooled while another is going to public school, or families where they've gone back & forth with schooling choices.
On Monday afternoons, Homegrown Kids meets from roughly 1-5 at the following parks: Orinda, Codornices, Kennedy Grove near El Sobrante, Shorebird, and, on 5th Mondays, Arlington Park.http://www.homegrownkids.org/ The schedule is posted on line, no membership needed.
On Tuesday afternoons, the SF Bay Area Unschoolers (SFBunnies) meet at Berkeley & sometimes Oakland or Emeryville parks. SFBUN (Unschoolers) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SFBUN/ They do not post a public schedule for the park days. You need to ask for get into the group.
On Thursday afternoon, the Alameda-Oakland Home learners get together, alternating between Oakland & Alameda at wide variety of parks (much more variation in parks than the Mon or Tue groups). (AOHL) http://www.aohl.net/
All 3 groups do additional activities: field trips, getting together to go to plays, camping trips. The parents of AOHL also offer quite a lot of classes for kids in writing, science, debate, book club, etc. To get all the info about classes, etc for aohl, you need to become a member ($15/Sept-Aug 'year').
I wish you all the best in your homeschooling journey and all the support and resources you are hoping to find. happy homeschooling
Want to form a homeschooling collective
June 2014
Mom in north El Cerrito interested in home-schooling 6 year old son next year looking for other moms interested and/or enrolled in home-schooling in Contra Costa County to teach and take turns in some sort of collective style. Would love some age diversity and experience with home-schooling!
You might want to post your question on these groups as well:
SFBUN (Unschoolers) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SFBUN/
Alameda Oakland Home Learners (AOHL) http://www.aohl.net/
Homegrown Kids: http://www.homegrownkids.org/home
Also, there is a locally made documentary coming out later this year that is growing community: https://www.facebook.com/ClassDismissedMovie and http://www.homeschoolfilm.com/
-Kim
Email lists and online groups for homeschoolers?
Nov 2011
I am considering home schooling my child for various reasons. Would any homeschooling parents please share which email lists/online groups they belong to, that have been most useful for you? Thank you! Potential Homeschooling Parent
The Community Learning Web (communitylearningweb.com) is great and I have heard good things about Hickman Charter School (a resource center for homeschoolers, located near MOCHA in Oakland). There are several groups, including Homegrown Kids, SF Bay Unschoolers, and Alameda Oakland Home Learners -- all of these host park days in the east bay. Also check yahoo for local homeschool group listservs, andhsc.org for the Homeschool Assoc. of CA. happy homeschool mom
join the yahoo group BAHFT (bay area homeschoolers field trips). Join regional and national homeschooling groups which support your needs/reasons for considering HSing (e.g., SENG, 2e, Calvert, ADHD, SPD, LDS, Davidson) check out the great resources at http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/ happy HSing
There is a yahoo group SFBUN - San Francisco Bay Unschoolers. Unschooling is a particular flavor of homeschooling. To learn more about it google Growing Without Schooling and look up the work of John Holt, John Taylor Gatto and Grace Lewellyn. This website is also a good place to start:http://freechild.org/unschooling.htm EK
Meetup - I've joined a couple of really good groups through Meetup - just go to the Search boxes and enter in ''homeschool'' for topic and your zip code for area.
Yahoo Groups - Another great resource. Do a search for ''SF Bay Area'' and ''homeschool'' (or something similar), and you'll get a wealth of choices.
Both of the options mentioned above would be for online groups that also meet in person (usually a couple times per week, at least). If you're interested in an online only listserve-type of group, I personally like Well-Trained Mind Secular (find it through Yahoo groups); I'm also on a couple of Catholic homeschooling lists, as our family is Roman Catholic.
It also depends on what type of homeschooling you're interested in - we're doing the 'classical' method, but others are unschoolers, Waldorf, eclectic, etc. You'll find groups for all homeschooling persuasions online - Yahoo groups is great for that.
Good luck in your homeschooling journey! We are just starting out, but so far have found it to be an incredibly rewarding experience. Please feel free to contact me at my email address if you'd like more info about anything. Monica
How to find unschooling families in the area
Oct 2010
I'm a stay-at-home mom to a lovely, sharp three-year-old and next year she will be ready for preschool. The topic of ''unschooling'' is something I've been reading about and I am strongly interested in doing that in lieu of the traditional school route. However, I'm not sure how to find some unschooling families in the area (Berkeley/Oakland) to get some more information about it. Does anyone know how I could get in touch with some families who unschool? I'm hoping to not only make contact and ask questions, but even hang out with them to see what it's like. Any help on this topic is appreciated! Rachel
There is a huge community of unschoolers here in the SF Bay area! You can find many of them online here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SFBUN/ The best way to get to know more unschoolers is to come to some of the events that happen every week. There are a lot of younger kids who come to the Berkeley SFBUN parkdays on Tuesday afternoons! There is also a gathering every month in which many of the families come from all over the bay area and the kid age ranges from newborn to teen, and everyone is very friendly and open. Feel free to email me if you would like more info, Sam
Unschooling/Homeschooling Teen groups in East Bay?
April 2010
My son is currently in 9th grade and has just moved to El Cerrito. We are wondering if there are ways to connect with other teens in the area who are studying at home. I'd also like to hear any advice from parents who have tried unschooling with their teens.
There is a yahoo group called San Francisco Bay Unschooling Network (SFBUN), and some of those families have teens. In addition, a homeschool cooperative for teens is forming called High School Without Borders (http://www.highschoolwithoutborders.com/), which will be offering social networking and classes in the East Bay for homeschooling teens. Jennifer
High School Without Borders is a newly formed group of experienced and new home schooling families who want a unique, interesting, challenging, college preparatory high school level education for their East Bay kids. http://www.highschoolwithoutborders.com/ Best wishes.
Nov 2004
There are many resources for homeschooling in the Bay Area. There are local support groups that have regular park days for informal socializing. There are websites and email lists dedicated to giving out information about field trip opportunities, classes and social functions. For academics, families can choose from several options including charter school specializing in independent study, district independent study programs, private independent study programs and private school affidavits (R-4s). Here are a few phone numbers and websites to get you started:
Some local support groups and contacts:
Family Village - meets at Corodonices Park in Berkeley every Monday afternoon (weather permitting). Mary D.
Home Grown Kids - meets around the East Bay weekly. Marianne F.; Lucy K.
Alameda Oakland Home Learners - meets in Oakland and Alameda on Thursday afternoons. Jennifer O.
Websites:
The Homeschool Association of California - www.hsc.org HSC has information for new homeschooling families and also runs the Home=Education Conference every summer in Sacramento. They offer speakers and workshops which are really great for both the new and veteran homeschooler.
Homefires - www.Homefires.com - for lots of local information including an extensive list of local support groups and contacts.
California Homeschool Network: www.californiahomeschool.net - information on the legality of homeschooling in California.
Independent study charter schools serving the Bay Area:
Bay Area School for Independent Study (BASIS): www.basischarter.org or call 510-687-9111
Hickman Charter School (Berkeley Annex): www.hickman.k12.ca.us or call (510) 525-3111
Connecting Waters Charter School: www.connectingwaters.org or call 800-808-9895
Thank you,
Julie
February 2003
Hi to All, I started (with a few bumps) a group that meets on the last friday of the month 7:30 - 9:00pm at the El Cerrito Plaza Barnes and Nobles, a group for homeschooled/ing teens and their parents. It is an inclusive group designed to support parents through this teen time and to allow teens to met new teens. Relationships and issues and challenges and joys come and go so fast during these years. The teens met in the book stacks and chat and ask the parents if they come up with any idea's for fun/learning they want the parents to support. While this is happening, the parents chat and share what works, what isn't, what could be interesting to do as a group or a few, etc. It is meant to become a group of parents who commit as regulary as they can through these years but who also in all probability have a schedule that does flucutate, like mine! For more information come check it out. I will be the one with the coffee cup looking around constantly! Lucinda
Hi there. Trackers in Berkeley has a microschool/homeschooler programs. Also, there's a sweet little microschool on San Pablo Av in Albany called In Addition Center. Lot's of people homeschool now, so I'm sure you'll get more recommendations. Good luck!
If you are in BUSD, they have an assisted homeschool program (Berkeley Independent Study - BIS) that is open to anyone in the district who would like to go that route. My son did BIS for a year in 6th grade, and he learned and grew so much during that year. Kamala Asher is the K-8 coordinator as well as one of the lead teachers, and she's amazing. You can do as much - or as little - lesson planning as you like. There are many pre-made resources and lesson plans to draw on, or you can design your own plan - it's very flexible. Students meet with their teacher once a week along with their "home teacher" (that's you!) and there are other opportunities to interact with BIS families as well (art, book clubs, garden class, etc.) The garden program in particular is incredible. Overall, if you are in the district and thinking about homeschooling, I'd definitely check out BIS. Links are:
Kamala Asher: kamalaasher@berkeley.net
https://www.berkeleyschools.net/schools/independent-study/
https://www.berkeleyindependentstudy.com/garden
There are facebook groups with homeschool groups in the area such as SF bay area homeschool network and east bay area homeschoolers.
If your son enjoys music/singing, I would highly recommend looking into the Pacific Boychoir Academy in Oakland, right off Piedmont Ave. They are a micro-school in terms of size with individualized learning for 3rd-8th graders. They also have a program for homeschoolers who participate in the music portion only and attend for half the day. There are also former homeschoolers who are now in the day school and my impression from speaking with other parents is that the transition went very well for their boys. We actually pulled my son from his school mid-year due to bullying and he's excelled in the small environment at PBA. We've been very pleased with how the school is able to cultivate a culture of kindness among the boys. I think much of this has to do with the small size and teacher/student ratio, in addition to the top notch instruction which includes a lot of social/emotional support. They are relatively affordable as private school options go and have pretty generous scholarship opportunities. Happy to answer any questions if you are interested in hearing more about the school.