How Homeschooling Is Changing My Friendships
Growing up, I never struggled making friends. As an only child who moved a lot, it was necessary to be a social butterfly in school. All that changed when I moved to the Upper Peninsula. My first year here I struggled. You see, I was an adult now and wasn’t in school, it wasn’t until this point I realized how much I relied on school to meet people. I owned my own business so meeting people at work just ended in me talking to myself. So where do I find like-minded people? I had no idea but, over time, I did find them. I found some of the most amazing friends!
We would meet up for coffee in the middle of the day to discuss “business”. Which is a huge perk of having friends who like you, own businesses.
Before marriage, we would meet up for coffee in the middle of the day to discuss “business”. Which is a huge perk of having friends who like you, own businesses. These “business” coffee dates, usually turn into us chatting about life. Turns out that many of my friends got married around the same time as us, which I think is common. So, after marriage but before children we still had the luxury of meeting up for coffee in the middle of the day, and again we would usually chat about life. Trying to get pregnant was a big topic and how we were going to parent, because everyone knows before they are even pregnant EXACTLY how they will raise their children and what they will NOT be doing! Haha oh how naive we were!
Now, as business owners, wives, and mothers trying to juggle it all, I think we all rely on each other for support. It’s so awesome to really understand each other’s joys and struggles.
Then we all started having babies! Yay…. babies!!! We traded the coffee shop for playdates at our houses. We would have weekly playdates where our children would play, interact and we would chat about motherhood and life with a little business mixed in. Now, as business owners, wives, and mothers trying to juggle it all, I think we all rely on each other for support. It’s so awesome to really understand each other’s joys and struggles.Now that many of my friends are sending their children to preschool, kindergarten and even a 1st grader, I’m starting to see that they have more free time to go back to coffee shops.
We traded the coffee shop for playdates at our houses.
Not all of my friends have school age children and we do still have playdates, but looking into the future – ALL of my friends will be back to coffee shop dates without kids. Then what? I know that they will still love me and we will of course still be friends, but in reality how much are we going to get to hang out? Are they going to want to come over in the middle of a school day when their children are in school and mine aren’t? I don’t have all the answers, but a few things I do know. I will make new homeschool friends, and I will always love my current group of friends.
Looking into the future – ALL of my friends will be back to coffee shop dates without kids. Then what?
Do you have any experiences like this? Did you lose friends because you chose to homeschool your kids and didn’t have time for those friends any longer? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear how you overcame this, or your current struggles.
