Ok, I've found a work around solution that I'm comfortable with. I'll post here in case anyone else may find the information helpful.
In your form's design view, lay the subform over the tab control--don't put it in the tab control--you will have only one subform control for your whole form, not multiple of the same as I started out with. Then on the tab control's (not each page, the tab control) change event you'll configure the subform with the appropriate data.
This works for me!!