I am new to this board and just searching for information for our upcoming move.  I have home schooled my two children, ages 8 and 6 for 3 years.  My husband is active duty AF and is currently deployed for a year.  The children and I will be moving to New Mexico by ourselves and then re-connecting our family in July.  Just trying to plan a few things out.
Thanks for all the info,
mmmommy

Which AFB will you be going to?  We've been to 2 and are now at our 3rd in NM so let us know.
Sandy wife of newly retired AF hubby and long time homeschool mom

We will be going to Kirtland, our 12th base in 15 years.  Obviously the biggest reason I home school is stability for our children.  Their heads would be swimming at trying to change schools every two years.  Any suggestions on where to live for a short commute for my husband.  AFter being separated for a year we are looking forward to family time after his 14 hour days.
mmmommy

Seems like so many want to live in the Rio Rancho area but it would be an ugly commute in my opinion.  I think the east heights area and really almost anywhere east would be the easiest reach to the base.  Will you be renting or buying or do you know?  Buying got terribly expensive here in the past year or two.  I only just got over here the day before Christmas myself so I'm still "adjusting" and will be for a good while yet.  We're just starting the retired life stage now, but have many homeschool kids to go yet.  Do you know when you'll be getting here?  There's a state homeschool conference here in April every year and I've loved them in the past when I've gone.  I'm still trying to hook up with some of the various support groups all over the city (I believe there's even a base one) to get kids with other kids but it'll come.  The holidays slowed that down a lot!  Anyway, if you want to talk one on one, you can email me at woffards @ juno.com and I'll answer any questions you might have.

Best wishes,
Sandy

We are AF also, and in live in brand new on-base housing.  I don't know if that is what you are looking for, but I can tell you from experience this is probably the nicest on-base house we will ever live in.  (It is all privitized now on Kirtland!)  The commute will be easy, even if your husband ends up working on the west side of base.  There is an on-base group that has play group time set up, and field trips, parties etc., but they tend to stay closer to the base area.  We wanted to get out into the greater Albuquerque area with our kids. You may want to attend a few of their activities before you make the decision yourself, it just was not what we were looking for...

We do belong to this group as well as two others, believe me there is more to do with your kids here than you have time for!  Good luck with the move and e-mail me if I can help you guys in any way.  

Welcome to fellow military homeschoolers!  We are a recently-transitioned to the Reserves Navy family who chose Albuquerque to settle down.  We arrived stateside from Japan in August, drove across the country from Maine [where we had some goods with friends] and checked into Kirtland's TLF...which I have to say we preferred over the corporate apt. that was available to us.  It has nice space for the kids to play in a yard, and was convenient to getting settled in the area.  

As for househunting, we like to drive all over a new area to check out traffic patterns.  We've lived in enough metro areas to know that distance and time may not always be what they appear to be.  We like a more rural, quiet place to live, so we chose to live in the east mountains.  My husband commutes to the airport for work and has a 45 minute commute...would be about 30 to the base even in fairly heavy traffic.  It seems to us that just about anywhere in Alb. is no more than 45 minutes to us because once you're on the freeway you can quickly get to major surface roads.

I concur with the "expensive" label for buying a house here...if you don't see yourself staying here beyond this tour, I'd highly recommend base housing if you would be in the main housing area.

Having come from northern Japan [Misawa], we are thrilled every day to see the sun!  We chose this area for the four seasons and the sunshine to be outdoors and we have not been disappointed!

Good luck with the move--we know what deployments are like--have spent too many years apart ourselves.

There's so much to do here in New Mexico you should have plenty to keep busy until homecoming!  I have a 10 yr-old daughter and a 6 yr-old son, and we'd love to meet you when you get to town.

Deb

How did you get in contact with the local homeschool groups once you did get here?  I know the holidays have had me at a disadvantage but it seems like they haven't been as easy to find as I've found elsewhere?  I'd love to hear from the others who've been here longer on that so I can get connected better.  Also have to decide on Dr.'s and have no clue about any of them so total confusion there.  

Sandy wife of newly retired AF husband, homeschool mom to grown dd 20, and dd 18, ds 16, ds 12, ds 9, dd 7, dd 5, ds 3 and we also have seen too many times apart.

Sandy,

I've only contacted two groups here...this one, and OLE which is an east mountain group.  Haven't actually met anyone from the Alb. group, but will have the chance during the Explora classes.  It will come, even if slowly!  Meanwhile we're busy enough just settling in...don't know much about doctors either, and need to find a dentist too!  Any help out there?

Thanks,
Deb

Deb,
We were stationed at Misawa before coming to Florida, also had a tour at Yokota!!  I loved Misawa and would love to get in touch with you when we arrive.  I feel as if I am still more connected with friends from Misawa then most of my friends here.  Most everyone here is civilian and although they are great, they have a hard time understanding me this year.  I have felt pretty much on my own for the year.  
Can anyone tell me what kind of church Desert Springs church that was mentioned by Monica???  I currently work in children's ministry at our church so getting involved in a church will be one of our first priorities.  After reading all the posts here, I am definitely feeling a little better about our move, even if it wasn't Europe like we were promised.  My husband informed me this morning that we would probably only be in Albuquerque now for 2 years so renting seems to be an option as well as on-base housing.  
My children are 8 and 6, girl and boy respectively.  I am looking forward to more chats with all of you.  
thanks,
Tonia (a.k.a. mmommy)

We maintain a list of homeschooling groups at http://www.abqhomeschool.com/suppgrps.html. It isn't complete, and some of the info needs to be updated, which I hope to get to soon. But that may be a starting point in looking for groups.

The thing is, many groups prefer to remain small and so don't advertise actively for new members. The best way to find out about those might be to get involved with one or two groups, go to some activities, and meet other hs families. Many homeschoolers belong to several groups, so once you start meeting families, you'll find out about all shapes, sizes, & flavors of groups so you can work to find one (or a couple) that fit best with your needs.

Can anyone tell me when signing up for Explora classes, museum classes, etc., do you do this on-line or have to go into these places to sign up.  We are moving to NM sometime between April and July as my husband is being re-assigned there.  My fear is that if we wait until July to move, most of the fall classes, activities will be filled and my children will not have the opportunity to join these activities and make new friends. My husband is currently deployed for a year and we have the option of the children and I moving early as we are currently just hanging out in Florida.  I know that a lot of our activities here start registering in the early spring for the fall school year and usually fill pretty quickly i.e. blended school, art lessons, dance, etc.  If I can register on-line for these activities and not necessarily need a NM address, I can guarantee my children spots even if we don't get there until the summer.  I'm just a planner by nature, can you tell?????

I believe that Desert Springs is a non-denominational church.  If you sign up into Yahoo, there's a program for homeschoolers called net-Calvary.  iT can tell you alot.

Monica