Homeschool Mom’s Night Out Ideas

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If I could identify the one thing that has helped me maintain my sanity over the last 13 years of homeschooling (and my husband and chocolate didn’t count), it would be mom’s nights out with the ladies in my homeschool support group. I can’t tell you how many times I didn’t want to go because I knew I’d be a downer, only to come home so refreshed and encouraged after spending time with ladies who truly understood.

Homeschool Mom's Night Out Ideas

I’ve also been blessed to be able to be the encourager many times. There is just nothing like that moment when you realize that you’re not alone and you’re not the only one who has ever experienced that thing that is driving you batty.

It’s so important to get out and spend time with other homeschooling moms – but what do you do? Following are some of my favorite homeschool mom’s night out ideas:

Dine out

I mean, seriously. That probably goes without saying, right? We used to close down some restaurants, y’all. We would typically throw out a few choices and vote to choose a favorite. Sometimes it was a casual dining place. Other times, we’d choose a place with counter service where we could sit and chat for hours without driving the servers crazy.

A few tips:

  • Check to make sure the restaurant you’re considering isn’t running a crowd-drawing special. A couple of times we made the mistake of trying to go to a Mexican restaurant unaware that it was $0.50 taco night. Not a good idea when you’re trying to seat a small crowd yourself.
  • Tip your servers well. When you’re taking up the majority of their station for an extended period of time, plan on tipping enough to compensate them for additional tables they would have served.
  • Most places don’t allow reservations, so try to arrange to have a couple of moms arrive a bit early to get your group’s name on the waiting list.

Pot-luck dinner

Pot-luck dinners were not our favorites because most of the time we all wanted a night off from cooking. That being said, we never regretted a quiet pot-luck dinner at someone’s home or a church fellowship hall. These gatherings allowed us to mingle more than we could at a restaurant and we could all hear one another much better. It also made it possible for the entire group to listen to one person – something extremely difficult to accomplish in a noisy restaurant.

Homeschool Mom's Night Out Ideas

Play games

Another benefit to meeting somewhere other than a restaurant is that we could play games. Some of our favorites were:

Non-musical chairs. I’ve heard this game called a number of things, but it is so much fun – and slightly dangerous! You start with everyone sitting in chairs in a circle with one person standing in the middle. The person in the middle states a fact about herself. Everyone who shares that fact has to get up and move to a new chair with the person in the middle trying to grab a seat, too.

Whoever is left standing becomes the next person to be in the middle. If I haven’t explained it well, click here for a better explanation. We laughed until we cried every time we played this game. Tip: Be careful when you play with pregnant moms. 

Pictionary. We always played this Win, Lose, or Draw style on a white board with two teams. Tip: Don’t put the Sharpie markers near the dry erase markers. That’s how I learned how to remove Sharpie from a dry erase board.

White elephant gift exchange. At Christmas time, it’s always fun to host a white elephant gift exchange (click the link for the rules and variations). Tip: This is an excellent opportunity for re-gifting items you’ll never use – and chances are, someone else will love it.

Considering the fact that I’m the introverted homebody sort, I’m probably overlooking lots of good ideas. The ones I listed are tried-and-true ideas from our group’s mom’s nights out. Some other ideas that might work for your group are:

  • Make something – Go to a paint-it-yourself pottery or art class.
  • Host a curriculum swap.
  • Arrange for dance lessons and make it a couple’s night out.
  • Go bowling.
  • Host an overnight or weekend event at a bed-and-breakfast or scrapbook/quilter’s retreat
  • Meet for ice cream.

Whatever you do, for our group the key to success was making sure there was a chance for moms to talk, commiserate, and laugh. Anything else is just a bonus.

What mom’s night out events have worked well for your circle of friends?

This post is linked to the Hip Homeschool Hop.

Photos courtesy of Deposit Photos.

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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7 Comments

  1. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t have the strength to take care of those you love. Homeschooling has its own unique frustrations and joys. De-stressing helps you cope with both.

  2. How often, and *how* did you manage to schedule the moms’ nights out? They sound like a brilliant idea, but in 4 years homeschooling I’ve managed to go out for dinner with other homeschooling parents exactly twice, both times for Christmas dinner. I love the idea of the games, too. I wonder if that could work with reserved Brits without copious quantities of wine being required first…. 😉

    1. When our group was doing this regularly, we had a regularly scheduled mom’s night out – the second Monday of every month at 6 PM. Since everyone knew when it was, it was easier to plan into their schedules. Hope that helps!

  3. I have a girl’s night out tomorrow night! Unfortunately I’m the only one who homeschools (I think a few of my friends try to make me “feel better” by telling me they’ll probably homeschool once their youngest kid knows how to read…I’m confused by this, but nod and smile). But I agree whole-heartedly that mommy time, especially when it’s with good friends, is SO NEEDED! Thanks for the post.

  4. I have hosted a Pinterest party before. It’s been a lot of fun. You advertise for everyone to make and bring either a dish they’ve pinned but haven’t made before, OR a pinned craft they haven’t made yet. Everyone came over to my house, we talked about our pinned recipe/craft, ate some nummy food, and then just chitchatted a bit afterward. The best part is just being together and getting to vent or lift each other up…It is very important to be refreshed sometimes!

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