Why It's Important to Keep Trying Out New Homeschooling Groups

We met up with, yet another, new group of homeschoolers today.  I have only recently learned about this group and while they aren't really that local to us, they do have events that aren't so far away we wouldn't want to go.

We decided to check out the group and see if it would be a good fit for us or not.  I think it is so important for us to keep trying different outings with different groups of homeschoolers because:

• We'll never make new friends if we don't.
• We need more homeschooling friends; we get bored with just ourselves
• I'm still looking for "my tribe"; you know that groups that supports you, gets you and understands what you are going through
• It's a great way to experience new things through group rates and planned trips.
• Each group, activity, and experience is unique

I finally found a large group of ladies with an even larger group of kids at the lake today and I hesitantly approached them asking if they were the homeschoolers (it was a HUGE group!).  They were!

We settled in and slowly introduced ourselves.  Mostly we waited for someone to approach us before we spoke because we're all those kind of shy/ reserved people, but as more and more moms approached to introduce themselves and their kids stopped by with them my boys soon loosened up and took off to play (with the exception of Evan who tended to stick closer to me until the day was just about done). 

group photo of most of the kids (two of mine are absent and I'm sure
a few others were here and there too)

I met many nice families and after watching the boys have so much fun today promised we'd meet up with them again sometime.

It was a perfect day weather- wise too.

The boys swam, worked with large groups of kids to make an impressive dam, and made new friends.

That common language of shared interests led to many discussions of Harry Potter, Minecraft, Pokémon, etc.

The boys took time to observe nature and the world around them; we saw ducks, caterpillars, turtles, a blue heron, and butterflies.  It was a great summer celebration.

We could not get over the size of these ducks! They're
easily twice the size of the ducks at our lake. 

Boys and their trucks

Ian was happy to help with the bulldozer

Evan tried skipping rocks

Working together to start the dam

These kids worked for at least an hour to improve and build a dam

Evan took a rest and a break from the sun

Alec tried to heft a bucket full of sand and found it
to be quite heavy!

Adding more sand to build up the dam walls

Ian stopped building to play a few rounds of pass with this little boy.  It was nice to see them both smiling and having fun

Evan found some friends and they played pass in the
woods for a bit. 

One of the caterpillars Evan "rescued" from the path  

and brought to a tree/ bush to keep him safe

It was nice to see Evan opening up and talking to a variety of kids

Alec appointed himself dam foreman and took charge of reinforcing
the walls; luckily no one else seemed to mind

Walking to the bathroom we found a sun turtle in the path

Evan picked him up

And after determining what direction the turtle was heading, he brought him to the water's edge

In just a few minutes we watched the turtle take off and swim away

We decided to cover up the holes where it appeared that the turtle had just laid her eggs

We never would have had all this fun if hadn't decided to just take a chance and see.