...because I think I find a group we can mesh with!  Woo-hoo!

We met a wonderful homeschooling family last January, when we were first contemplating taking this journey.  We met through the homeschool message board for the city we live in, and the mom very generously loaned me their curriculum for a few weeks, so that I could see if we were interested in purchasing it (Five in a Row - we liked it, but aren't using it for now).  Through that meeting Michael made quick friends with her two sons, one who is a few months older than him, and the other a few months younger (her children are all about 18 months apart, three boys).  Unfortunately, because of conflicting schedules, we've only been able to meet up a few times, the last time being before the summer began.

Anyway, today, I received a message from a homeschooling board in the area just west of our home, telling me we are welcome to join their group, but we are technically out of their "area"... which is the problem I've been running into everywhere in my area.  We live on the border of several areas, but we aren't close to the nucleus of any of them, which is frustrating me right now.  Thankfully, this family came to mind, so I emailed the mom and asked if she could direct me to any groups up in this area that would welcome a new family (they live about 15 minutes from us, so I knew she had probably done the research herself already).

Lo & behold - she has formed her own group!  Because she couldn't find one that they fit into perfectly, she just made her own - and she has invited us to come check it out.  I feel very confident that it will be a good match, because she & I instantly hit it off, as did all of our kids (did I mention she also has a third child, her youngest, that is right about Emily's age?).  They are having a pool party on Monday, and we are hoping to make it so we can meet everyone in the group.  They meet every other week, and although that isn't exactly what I was hoping for (I wanted a weekly group), I'm sure we can manage a different activity during the off weeks on our own.

So, WAHOO!  I'm definitely feeling better about things now, not so worried I'm going to be travelling this road alone this year.  Funny how even though I don't want my kids to feel like they have to "belong" to a group (besides our family, of course!), I've been struggling to find just such a place to make us feel welcome.

We humans are social creatures, aren't we?