Hello All!  

My name is Tara Alder.  My family and I will be relocating with the Air Force to Kirtland AFB in July.  We are really looking forward to experiencing Albuquerque after being stationed on the East Coast , the South and overseas for our entire military career.  

We have 2 sons: 14 and 10.  I have been homeschooling for 4 years now.  My oldest will be attending high school and it looks like I'll be homeschooling my youngest again this year.  We have applied for the Family School, but have not been impressed with their communication skills or their ability to create a schedule and stick with it thus far.  I can't imagine what it would be like when school starts!!!  :o  

I'm really hoping to get my 10-yr-old involved in some kind of  brain-stimulating activities this upcoming school year.  He thinks "outside of the box" and has an "engineering" type of thought process unlike myself!  I'd also like to get him involved in more group activities.  

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.  I've checked out the clubs and classes forums too which look awesome! :D

Tara Alder

Welcome to The Land of Enchnantment!

When you get settled in please feel free to join us at a park day.  We have two per week and have a variety of ages, including 10 year olds.

Hope to meet you soon.

I went to the informational meeting for the family school last week and was very impressed.  They are very organized just a bit disorganized in their communication in a general aspect.  Each teacher is in control of how the class runs and without a placement  there are a ton of questions they cannot answer.  A good thing to know is that the principal is also a teacher so she is very hands on in making sure the teachers are well supported.  We will not be getting in for a few years yet.  We are pretty far down the waiting list.

Good luck with the move and welcome to NM.

Hi Tara!      Great to meet you!    Extending a warm NM welcome!    :D

Hello, Tara! I hope your relocation goes smoothly -- from the sound of it, you've had a lot of practice at it! NM is an easy state to homeschool in, and I think you'll enjoy the weather here. Will you be living on base? If so, you'll not be too far from our east side park day, so maybe we'll see you there. Also, the last I heard, Dawn W. had a homeschooling group on Kirtland that you might want to check out as well.

Family school is great at internal communication. But they are not if you're not "in" already.  I think they figure if you really want to be in their school you'll be persistent.  B/c they never followed up with me, I thought I wasn't on their waiting lists. But when I would call, they'd have me there and I'd get the meeting calls.  All the people I know that stay in FS love it.

I hope you enjoy ABQ. As a former AF brat, I'd love to hear where you all have been before here!

Thank you for the warm welcome! I look forward to meeting everyone in person when I get there!

Tara

Hi Elizabeth!

I don't think we'll be living on base this time because of the commute between La Cueva HS and back.  However, I do plan to get in touch with the Kirtland HS group as well.  

Tara

If you're on the waiting list for Family School, you might get in sooner than you expect.  People drop out all the time, I understand (we only stayed there three months ourselves).  However, if your son is very engineering-oriented, check out Explora, the local hands-on science museum.  They have lots of hands-on science classes including robotics, etc., geared at age-appropriate levels.  We haven't taken advantage of them yet, but friends' kids love them.  They also have summer programs, but I don't know how quickly they fill up or if they have waiting lists.  

Welcome to Albuquerque!

Katy

Hi Tara,

Like the other ladies, we look forward to meeting you, as well.

I agree with the other moms in saying that ABQ is a great place for home schooling.  There are so many opportunities for the kids and moms.  Also, I know a number of moms who have their kids in Family school and they just love it.  Apparently, it is very academicly oriented and does a good job of mixing home school in with their program.  Were you thinking of Family school for your 14 yr old or your 10 yr old?

I would encourage you to stick with trying to get them in.  Speaking as one who grew up here and is married to a husband who was born and raised here, we will do anything we can to keep our boys out of the public schools here.  I am sure there a some good schools here in the city but they are few and far between.  Over all, NM is known for its lousy school systems and ABQ is no exception.

As far as getting your kids into some stimulating classes, etc. I have had my son it a science class thru Explora science museum this last year and he loved it.  I will be signing up both my boys for next year.

They offer classes for kids up to 17 yrs and this is just for home schoolers.  If your interested in more info.  Their web page is http://www.explora.us, explora@explora.us.  They start reg. June 1.

In the mean time, blessings on you up coming move and we look forward to meeting you.  Robin

Hi Katy and Robin,

I much appreciate your encouragement with the Family School.  I've received quite a few "hang in there; it's worth it!" responses, so that makes me feel so much better.  Also, thanks for the Explora museum tip.  I read some info. about the classes in the "Clubs and Classes" forums and plan to give them a buzz.  Evan, my youngest, is already signed up for the RoboQuest I class at the Atomic museum, so we're excited about that as well.  

Thanks Again and Happy Homeschooling!

Tara Alder

Really enjoyed reading all the encouraging posts about family school - how awesome!   :D

Tara,


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