contemplating friendship, community, my naval....

(A few random photos for your enjoyment. This was the sky this week -- the weather can't decide what to do. We're up 20 inches of rain for the month, which is really saying something, given that our normal August rainfall is about 3 inches....)

This isn't one of those posts where I come to tell you some great revelation that I've had, or some conclusion that I've come to, or some great idea that someone has given me. This is one of those posts were I just sort of lay out my confused jumble of thoughts, hoping that perhaps in writing them down, they will somehow gel and reveal some hidden inner truth or understanding that has thus far been beyond my grasp.

(Zoo Boy performs the 'bent fork' magic trick -- the fun here is for me to appear horrified that he's bending up my silverware, then act ultra-relieved when he shows me that it was all just an illusion.)

Besides my head swimming with curriculum thoughts, school year planning, stories, field trips, projects, art supplies, and daily/weekly/monthly rhythms, I have also been somewhat preoccupied with my never-ending quest to seek out and/or create a sense of community and connectedness for my kids, in an environment where true friendships can blossom.

(J doing the vastly complicated, yet entirely impressive, Ace-in-the-Orange trick.)

Shouldn't that be easy enough? Creating a community? I mean, this state is just TEEMING with homeschoolers. They are everywhere! There are multiple local internet groups set up for homeschool families to get together, there are events posted, attended by gobs of homeschoolers, ever day of the week. Everywhere you go, homeschoolers are practically (and sometimes literally!) hanging out of the trees. Yet, all of the available options actually make it harder to establish a consistent community. There's no way to be everywhere at once, and because there are often several events going on each day, it spreads the homeschoolers out. Add in the cost of gas (oy yoy yoi....) and you could drive yourself both crazy and to the poor house trying to hook up consistently with any one set of kids. Even with our local Monday Homeschool Classes, the participants tended to change each semester, so that consistency I'm searching for winds up lacking a bit.

(A garden behind the CT Valley Historical Museum in Springfield, MA.)

I tried. Last year I REALLY tried to piece together a community of great kids with equally great Moms. I bent over backwards to try to accommodate schedules, to pick interesting places to meet, to arrange for private classes and programs. It didn't work. Everyone else was just too busy, or it just wasn't a priority for them, or their schedule were just impossibly in conflict with what was possible for us, or it was just too far to drive. More often than not, despite regularly inviting 4 or 5 other families to join us, it wound up just being me and my friend T, only 3 boys amongst the two of us. Not that I mind just getting together with them, it's GREAT in fact, but 3 is not the number I had in mind. Especially when 2 of them live together anyway. I admit, I got discouraged. And this summer I pretty much dropped the ball. I'm just too tired to keep trying without results.

(Zoo Boy holding one of his baby Parakeets from his recent clutch.)

Fortunately, T has picked up my dropped ball and is trying to make a go of it. Hopefully she'll have more success than I did and I can happily ride along on her coat-tails and energy. Meanwhile, I've talked our Monday Homeschool Classes into holding a Community Circle where we can hopefully all come together weekly and foster a sense of community celebration. Of course, I had to agree to plan and lead the circle in order for it to happen, but that's OK, if it works and families actually participate, it'll be well worth the effort. I'm going to weave the songs and activities we do in Community Circle into our own daily circle at home, to bring an air of consistency and hopefully a feeling of connectedness for the kids and me.

I guess there's not more that I can do, other than to keep making opportunities available to get together with other families and hope that they can find time in their lives (and change in their pockets for gas!) to join us. And I still keep wishing some homeschooling families would buy some of the houses that are for sale nearby....