Starting a Homeschool Co-op

Many of us are finally into our school routine for the year. It's great to have a routine, but sometimes it can get rather dull. Perhaps you can't squeeze in all the subjects you would like to or maybe you just have a hard time getting yourself to stick to the plan you have laid out for the school year. It may be a good time to shake things up a bit, perhaps you should start a home school co-op.

There are many ways to run a co-op. You can start with 5 or 6 families and build from there. We currently belong to a co-op with over 100 kids! Our original co-op met for one day a month, but you can also meet on a weekly basis, or perhaps on a weekly basis for a short period of a few weeks.

Kids can be divided by age groups and rotated into different classes. Co-ops in our area offer such things as Art, Drama, Music for all ages. Older children may enjoy choir, apologetics, book club, biology or chemistry labs in a group setting. We have also done classes such as manners, elocution (public speaking), state history, photography, civics, cooking, sewing, pottery, literature studies, community service and world geography. The sky is the limit.

There are two schools of thought on how a co-op should be run. One is having your co-op completely led by parents. Mom's participate in all classes and do all the teaching and planning. The other school of thought is to hire professional teachers so moms can have a day off from teaching and concentrate on the administrative tasks of running the co-op. Both work, depending on your groups needs.

We enjoyed our co-op experience for many years with the same group. Our oldest children have since graduated and moved on. They are like family to us. All our kids loved having a day with friends outside of our regular school regime. A change of teachers is a good thing too. Looking back it's amazing how much we covered over the years. One day a month doesn't sound like much but we learned TONS.

So how do you start? Send out an email to your local home school group and find interested families. Our group all started from a home school gym class at the YMCA. Invite the moms to bring all their ideas to a planning meeting. You may want to look ahead at renting a space to use, perhaps in a local church or a community center. Find out what sort of costs you are looking at before your first meeting. You may be required to carry an insurance policy for your group. Brainstorm for possible classes, curriculum or available teachers if you choose that route. Investigate other co-ops in your area and see how they are run, the likes, the dislikes and the amount of time involved.

Time to shake things up!

Designer Mom

P.S. The pictures on this post really have nothing to do with my content. I was hoping to come up with some clever verses on seeing through the fog, or change your home school like the leaves on the trees. I just don't seem to have the brain power for it today. Ted says I need to take more ginkgo, perhaps he's right.