Our Story
Our humble beginning consisted of a small number of families who supported
each other in the unique apostolate of home schooling. We preferred anonymity and
loose association because in the late 1980’s, home schooling was not a
mainstream educational choice and New York State’s legal position on home
schooling was still a work in progress. In later years, as our membership grew,
our children became older, and home schooling became more common, we decided
to formally organize under the name “Children of Mary Home Schoolers” after the
inspiration of St. Catherine Labouré. We sometimes refer to our group as COMHS,
which is pronounced with each letter separately and not phonetically
(e.g. C-O-M-H-S, rather than “coms” with a long 'o'.). We enjoyed a variety of
educational, cultural and faith-centered activities, such as field trips, Buffalo Philharmonic
concerts, All Saint’s Presentations, May Crowning, and others, many of which continue
to this day. As our group has grown, so has the scope and the availability of many
activities, including First Friday, history and science fairs, spelling bees, Soldiers of Christ
Youth Group (started in 1995), musical productions, celebration of the Sacraments, and
formal graduation ceremonies at the end of the school year. COMHS families can
look forward to such activities and others as our families continue to share their talents
and interests with one another. In 1998, the remaining original members of our group
initiated a “Service Board” for the organizational needs of our ever-growing and
vibrant group.