Hello!  My name is Timaree.  I am homeschooling my 12 year old son.  He was in school before (public & charter schools), but as of October 2010, I pulled him out.  He was in 7th grade.  I really do believe in the philosophy of homeschooling, and I've always had so many friends who do it.   I have never agreed with the whole public/institutional school environment & approaches, but I was just undecided for so long on what to do and how to go about it.   I've felt like I've been on the fence and go back & forth for so long.
I actually homeschooled him for a few months when he was in 4th grade, and it went well, but when it was time for 5th grade, he missed his friends and begged to go back.  So he did.  But now, this school year, the problems were just way too serious, the bullying, etc., so I know it was the right thing to withdraw.  

I don't want to keep yo-yo'ing back and forth.  We need a permanent solution, but I feel like we need something more than what we're doing now.  

Right now I'm doing things just the two of us (his younger siblings are still in school, first I need to get him settled).  But I'd really like to get together with other families who have middle-school aged kids, so he can have some interaction, activities, and get some more subjects in.  I'd love to find out about any classes, groups, field trips, get-togethers, etc. etc.    I'm hoping that if we have more interaction with others, and group things to do, we'll be more successful.  

My son does karate, boy scouts, and he is very into reptiles.  He has many reptiles as pets and loves biology, herpetology, entemology, etc.  
Edit:  I forgot to add that he always loved Lego's, and still likes to build.  Also art.  

We live in the Corrales area.  
Looking forward to hearing from you all.....

Feel free to check out AHEC at http://www.homeschoolravens.com  We have a large population of middle-school aged boys.  

Welcome to homeschooling!!!!!!!

kari

Come on by the park day tomorrow too!  Info is at the top of the page.

I too have a middle school aged son and although he as been homeschooled from the start we haven't gotten really involved with many activities with other homeschoolers.  Most of the kids we've met have been really young.  He is 11 and we have 3 snakes because he too is really into reptiles.  (Unfortunately we are also breeding the mice for the snakes too!)  Anyway, we live on the west side of town and I'd like to have another family to get together for field trips as well.  We go to many of the schooltime series plays.  We are currently studying Shakespeare's "Midsummer Nights Dream" in preparation for the play later this spring.  We also like going to the museums around Old Town and going to the zoo.  We don't go to the park for family day any more because of time and schedule conflicts. We try to go to the downtown library every Friday afternoon and the kids enjoy looking for books while I do geneology research.

I will go to the website listed by one of the other homeschoolers to see what other families are doing with their mid-school age kids.  

We are currently using a curriculum from Kolbe Academy.  It's a literature based curriculum and has a higher level of reading, but he's really good at sitting down and getting his work done.  I was getting a lot of pressure to put him in school, but after discussing it over with my husband, we both agreed to keep him home for the reasons you stated in your note. Perhaps we (and the boys) can meet at a field trip or some activity.

Vivian

Wow I am so excited!  Such great responses already!  

Tracy-- yeah I think maybe we will try and go over to the park tomorrow to meet some of you.  I'll see if we can make it.

Kari -- I went and looked at the ravens site and I love it!  This is what I've been looking & hoping to find!  I will go check out the site some more to figure out what to do to join.  On my first look though, it said it is all full?  Is there any way to join in some of the classes?  I saw alot of things he would love, especially the robotics, engineering, etc.  

Vivian--- yes!  It would be great if we could get the boys together.  We have 1 snake, would love to breed the mice instead of having to buy them!  LOL.  But also many other reptiles, like an Iguana, etc.  I'll send you a message.

This is so exciting.  Thank you all for the great welcome!

Timaree

It sounds like my son Kenyan (12)  would get along really well with both of your boys, it looks like he has a few of the same interests. He used to have a snake but currently has a little sister who's 11 months old!  We're going to the park today and will look for you Timaree, and maybe at some point all three could get together.  It's nice to have older kids around, there is actually a few of them in our co-op right now and the more we schedule field trips and such, the more the older kids will come out and get together.  We live in the south valley but are willing to meet up all around town.  Looking forward to meeting you all!  Brandi

I have a 14-year-old boy. No snakes, though! We just switched to unschooling, but Chase may get interested in the AHEC classes. Do any of your sons play Yu-Gi-Oh? We're always looking for dueling partners. We haven't gone to many get-togethers because most of the kids were so much younger, too. It sounds like we just all need to go…and then the older kids will be there! We're in Bernalillo.

I have a 10 1/2 yr old son - hopefully we will get to meet you soon!

We are going to Beakman on the Brain on Thursday, Feb. 17.  Is anyone else going?  We are going to the 12:15 performance.  Then we'll probably head over to the sub or our favorite place  "Saggios".  Is anyone else going?  If not we are also going to Barrio Grrrl on Feb 22.
Vivian

That crazy weather we had, and then my whole family getting sick really took a toll.  Sorry I haven't gotten back to anyone.  I'm still here, finally healthy, and still interested in getting these boys together!