My HS group split In November and since then, three splinter groups have formed. I am tired of having to post various activities/deadlines to four groups, just to make sure everyone knows that X starts at this time or the deadline for Y is in April...

It bothers me that the splinter group mamas will ask, "can someone post this info?" on the old hs board. I feel like I can't be friends witht his one mama, the one who started the rift,someone in my opinion, is just misunderstood.:shake:

This HS group stuff reminds me so much of high school !

DH told me to quit everything, but what would I do without the group? Can I HS alone? I just have my family, no playmates for my boys. My DD doesn't care for friends, lol.

Thanks for the whine:heart:

Why don't you just remain a member of one or two groups? I could not keep up with 4 separate groups! I also could not homeschool without the support of some hsing friends, but that's just me. I belong to two groups, and I also have a few other friends who homeschool and are not in the groups. You can still have friends without the groups, but I think it's important for hs'd kids to have other hs'd kids so they don't feel completely out of place, kwim?

Of course you can hs without a coop, but do you really want to drop all association with everyone? Can you simply keep in touch with those you feel most kinship with? I am part of a larger network, but I do things with a limited number of select people I enjoy. Here and there we might try something with others, esp if they are new, but there are some folks I don't enjoy or who I think aren't as kind or respectful to the children as I prefer. I have very little patience when it comes to that. If I wanted to deal with that, I'd send them all to school, kwim. lol

You defenitely should not drive yourself crazy and/or play games with people who are acting like they are still in high school.

Sure you can--we've done it. We're doing it briefly right now, as I look for a group. I prefer to have a source for group field trips and activities...so in your position I'd probably pick one or two of the split off groups so there'd still be options for things to do.

We *have* to - my 2 youngest dd's have an immune disorder, so we're ordered to minimize contact with "the outside world", LOL.

But y'know, we pay attention to social needs still, and all of the others are getting good time with select friends and outings and such. Maybe not as much as they'd like, but still . . .

you can meet their friendship needs without it *needing* to necessarily be in a homeschool co-op setting, y'know? Playdates with the families you're closer to, mini-events.

Sarah/snugbug puts together mini-events using our local library's meeting room. She'll email a few mamas and say, "let's do a Valentine's craft day", and she'll reserve the room, we'll all bring a theme craft and a theme snack, and she'll check out some books around the subject and read a couple. This is such a super example of a quick, easy, learning-oriented thing to do (even if your dc are older, similar things could be done) without the drama of a hs group. She recently did a firehouse field trip that way.

I totally agree with you that the politics can end up like junior high! My sis has shepherded several groups that did the same thing, with fruitless infighting and splintering, ugh!!

eta: I just read more carefully and noticed you said, "I have no friends", but I *still* think if you did the Sarah-thing, set up a fun little event, then invited, say, 4 mamas you like who have dc your son's ages, they'd enjoy attending! Good luck, mama, both being in the middle of all this, and being isolated, are nooooo fun.

So sorry for all the drama:( I suggest either getting out of the one group that's really bothering you or drop them all and just look for others. We don't really have a group that we do everything with. We do a sports program in the spring, but other than that my son is in classes, but we don't get together outside the classes. Good luck

We sorta kinda maybe sorta had a simmilar thing locally. That is an overstatment but, you know.

I find that I just hang with the one group. Lurk ie: no mail at yahoogroups on some and flat out dropped others.

When we have a FT that I need extra #'s to get the group discount then I post to the group I am most likely to get #'s I need from. Example: One of the groups is further north and ds wanted to go to the Queen Mary so I posted to that group since the FT was more local to them than to the group that is actually closer to me. Another FT we were able to get our #'s just by making a few phone calls.

Point is, go ahead and evaluate what your needs really are at this point. You may find that you don't need all of them, and you may not need any of them right now. I'd advise to lay low for awhile and do your own thing before really opting to kick the groups out of your life kwim?

I miss out of stuff because of groups that I've opted to drop or go no mail on. I get some of it 2nd hand from friends who think I might need to know it. Like a GS thread from a mutual friend that occured on a list I'm no longer on.

I hope I made sense. I'm super tired. And off to bed.