Pagan or Secular Support Groups?  So, Where Are They???

by Reverend Kurokami

Finding a truly inclusive homeschoolers support group has been a well-nigh impossible task for my family.  The groups who claimed to be inclusive ultimately turned out to be quite Christian, but the members apparently hoped to "Witness" to non-Christian members and make good little Christian homeschoolers out of them.  Imagine my surprise when in the latest edition of their newsletter, there was an editorial that read, in part, "...since we are all Christians here...".  I called the editor of the newsletter, who was also the author of the editorial.  When I asked her about the claim that they were inclusive, she replied that yes, they were inclusive, and people of other faiths are welcome to join in their activities, but they were making no apologies for being Christian.  I told her that I found her editorial offensive, as her statement was patently untrue.  Again, she said they would make no apologies for being Christian.  I didn't hang up on her, but found a way to gracefully say goodbye and get off the phone.

So, our family's search continues.

I've found what have purported to be homeschool support groups, but when I call for more information, I discover there is no support group at all.  They simply have a local contact person who kindly and patiently tells you that they are all actually a loosely knit group of homeschoolers in that particular area.  But there is no actual support group available there.  What a bummer!  Just when things seemed to be looking up, too!

It may very well be that we will have to start out own secular homeschooling support group.  We'd have to make it more than simply District or County-wide, to try to reach more people. Perhaps put up notices throughout the Tri-County area, in those wonderful repositories of knowledge, the Libraries!

I haven't given up.  I run a Pagan homeschooling email support group on the Internet.  There is a wonderful group of people on that list.  And because I know there are so many Pagan homeschoolers in this Country, I'm sure there more than just Christian homeschoolers out there, in a relatively local area if our family is any barometer of homeschooling choice.  I just have to find them.

As the bumper sticker says:  We are everywhere!