Hello everyone my name is Marcelina I have been homeschooling my children for 3years now.  I have a daughter who is in the 4th grade and a son with minor special needs who is in 2nd grade. They are both my heart and soul. I just moved to albuquerque and everything is still so new but, the best thing I have found was there is support here for homeschooling parents and that is great.  Through the whole process I have been alone. I have been looking for other parents like me, and let me tell you it has been hard I have gotten more negative feedback than I have positive. I have been told many times that it is not a good idea to homeschool my children and it is better for them socially to be in a public school.  I love homeschooling my children I believe I may put that one on one time that they need more than the schools and I am able to be more supportive of their learning needs.  I just want to say Thank you I believe being homeschool parents support is the best thing, due to so many different views.
Thank you for your time,
Marcelina :

Marcelina,

First off, I commend you for your efforts.  Home schooling our kids is a choice we as parents must make on our own, for our own reasons.  Nobody has the right to judge our choice.  In fact, I'm sure that a lot of negative feedback comes from people who are critical only because they are not fortunate enough themselves to be in our position.  Besides, if someone doesn't have something positive to say about what we loving and caring parents do for our kids, then they shouldn't be worthy of our time or attention.  I am brand new to home schooling and so far have been met with nothing but compliments for my choice and expressions of jealousy from those who wish they had the time to give their children the experience we are giving ours.  I have yet to meet with negativity, although I'm sure it is out there.  I hope you continue to receive good vibes from those of us here in Albuquerque and I look forward to the opportunity to meet you someday.  Until then, hold your head high for your choice to home school is giving your children opportunities they would NEVER get if we left the school system in charge.  Besides, Albuquerque Public Schools are horrendous...at least in my opinion.  
Sincerely,
Jessica

Great to meet you Marcelina      Sending you lots of TLC for your journey!    

Welcome to Albuquerque and bless you for homeschooling! I was home-schooled 4th through 12th grade, and have no regrets. But my parents met with a lot of negativity as they did it. They were some of the early pioneers in the process, and the "social" issue was raised more than a few times. It's hard when people ignorantly criticize so willingly. I often put it that my kids are getting "positive socialization" rather than negative. In my experience, home-schooled kids are generally more socially adept at communicating with people of all ages, including adults, while public-schooled children tend to relate mostly to their own age group. I think the former is better and more like the real world! Also, the peer pressure and meanness of kids can be pretty unhealthy in the public school situation. I'd rather my kids learn to socialize with the support of loving parents, rather than being thrown out on their own to figure it out alone.  I hope you find some supportive friends for both you and your precious children

I have been fairly lucky that I have not been exposed to much negativity outside of our community. I did have a lady tell me recently when talking about the Andrea Yates case ( which seems to  have been her only knowledge of homeschoolers) " nothing against you, but if it wasn't for homeschooling those kids would still be alive" I was totally thrown for a loop and politely suggested that she easily could have waited until they returned home had they been in school, or on  a Sat.! and that the majority of us don't murder our kids~" she said "well I guess your right".......

On that note, WELCOME TO THE GROUP!~ I hope you find the support you are looking for and that your children will find many activities to engage them.
Tina

You picked a good place to land, the homeschool community here is large, hugely varied and extremely supportive. There is far less negativity here than in many other places.

Marcelina,

I have been homeschooling my son (9) for about two months now.  The ONLY negativity I have heard was from the principal of the school I withdrew him from.  (Not that her opinion counts for much in my book as she suggested I get my son put on antianxiety meds so he wouldn't care about the horrible environment in his classrooom that was totally unconducive to learning or that the other children were horrible to him.) >

As for the socialization issue, my son's experience in school shows just how WRONG people are if they insist that schools are needed to learn social skills.  My son's social experience at school was so horrible that he doesn't want to be around other children right now.  He doesn't even want to go to a park date.  Hopefully at some point we will be able to get out and meet y'all.