If you've been around the world of homeschooling very long you've probably heard of homeschool co-ops. If you have, you might be wondering just what are they and if it is the right fit for you. Homeschool co-ops are groups of homeschoolers who get together for a common purpose. Types of homeschool co-ops vary from academic oriented programs to groups that meet just for play dates. You will find various outlooks as well among homeschool groups from strictly secular to specific religious groups. Each group will have a general goal or area they seek to meet for homeschooling families, and most often some type of mission statement or rules that the families are expected to abide by. So how do you weed through all the options to determine if a particular homeschool co-op is the right fit for your family? Let's break down some of the common options for homeschool co-ops so that you can decide what works best for your family.
Flavor: Or Types of Co-ops
Academic Co-ops
This is the place for you if you want to farm out some subjects or reinforce learning happening at home. Classical Conversations would be a classic example of this type of co-op. They hold classes, where students are expected to learn material and continue their studies outside of co-op time. They are building then both on what is learned in the "classroom" and the "homeroom" so to speak. Many parents look for these types of co-ops particularly as their children reach late middle school and high school levels, in order to cover classes that they aren't comfortable teaching on their own or that might be better taught by someone with a greater passion and knowledge in that area. I have known families to farm out high level math for college prep or various science with labs that they don't want to take on at home. Co-ops might be small and offer only a single class such as Latin for all level students, or large and offer multiple classes for each age/ability level. Additionally, they might meet anywhere from daily to biweekly.
Schole Co-ops
These types of co-ops encourage deeper inspection on a variety of subjects, and foster a love of learning above a strict academic focus. These co-ops tend to challenge basic or traditional thought by inviting students to look at material in a new way. They also tend to be very hands on, learning through a variety of methods and materials. Lots of elementary and middle school parents explore this option to widen their child's horizons while encouraging joy in learning and giving them the opportunity to learn from and with others. They can meet anywhere from weekly to monthly.
Field Trip Groups
These types of co-ops tend to be loose groups of parents who plan field trip opportunities for their children. There are so many great ways to explore when you are a homeschooler, but sometimes places offer more specialized programs to larger groups. This is where it is great for homeschool families to band together for field trip groups. Often other types of homeschool co-ops will also offer field trip opportunities that you can participate in or not, but there are also groups that get together solely for field trip opportunities. There might be a specific field trip offered once a month, or they may just offer them as they arise.
Play Date Groups
These types of co-ops are especially geared toward younger students, and are a looser group. Almost always open to new members, these groups allow children to socialize with others of various ages while moms get together to chat and trouble shoot problems that they may be encountering as homeschool educators. They may involve specific activities like a chess day or some type of craft for preschoolers, or they may just by free play time for children. Sometimes these groups rotate meeting at various parks, bounce houses, pools, or other child friendly environments and sometimes they meet consistently at a particular location, or even rotate meetings between family homes. They might meet weekly or they might only meet monthly.
Worldview: Or Co-op Outlooks
Secular Co-ops
These co-ops take a non-religious stance with their program. Not espousing any particular religion or denomination over another, they do their best to stick to information that any one of any religious or nonreligious background would agree with. They also largely steer away from issues of morality that might be viewed differently by different religious groups choosing to focus on issues and encouraging behavior that everyone can support. Secular co-ops approach education as a contract between the co-op and the homeschool family.
Christian Co-ops
Probably the most prevalent co-ops in the United States, these co-ops take a general religious stance with their program. Not singling out any specific denomination, they do uphold general Christian worldviews with respect to subject material. They also adhere to behavior that the Christian world at large supports, and may require a signed statement of belief.
Religious Co-ops
These co-ops often teach religion along side of other subjects in accordance to which ever religion and denomination they are affiliated with. They may require attendance at a specific church or at least the understanding that everything will be taught from that particular worldview. They usually require a signed statement of belief.
Model: Or Parental Involvement
Volunteer Model
In this model of homeschool co-op, each parent is expected to teach either a specific class, cover a specific age group, or be involved and present in some way each session. This may look like supporting a single teacher for a group co-op or it may mean that you are teaching a specific class for the duration of the semester or school year. They operate on the volunteer system, and fees are normally nominal to cover supplies. This is the most common model for homeschool co-ops.
Buy-In Model
In this model of homeschool co-op, parents typically buy in rather than serve volunteer hours for the co-op. They also often drop off their kids rather than staying on the premises. These co-ops have a core of teachers that may or may not be parents who teach specific classes. Often teachers are compensated for their time and effort from the fees that the co-op or class charges. These co-ops have nominal volunteer responsibilities, that usually go to cover extracurricular activities such as planning field trips or park days.
Shared Model
In this model of homeschool co-op, there is a mixture of both volunteer hours and money required to make it work. Some classes may be hired out or conducted by non parents who are paid while others are conducted by parents. Some families may volunteer or teach more classes in order to support the co-op while other families opt to pay a larger fee to not stay or because they can't serve in a particular year.
Timing: Or Frequency of Meetings
When looking at co-ops it is also important to know how often you are committing to meet and so that you know whether or not you are meeting your goals in taking part of a homeschool co-op. You will find that most of your goals can be meet in a variety of homeschool frequencies.
Daily or Multiple Days a Week
If your goals for co-op are to primarily allow someone else to do the teaching for a particular class or group of subjects then you are probably looking for a coop that meets frequently, in order to completely farm out the work of that class.
Weekly
If your goals for your child are to partially farm out a class or support a subject you are teaching at home you are probably looking for a weekly co-op. Alternatively, if you are looking for a class that allows your child frequent learning opportunities from and with others you might be looking for a weekly co-op. Lastly, if you want to explore an extracurricular or just expose your child to a new area of study you might be looking at a weekly arrangement.
Bi-Weekly or Bi-Monthly
Again if you are looking for a class that allows your child frequent learning opportunities from and with others you might find a bi-weekly co-op to be a good fit. Lastly, if you want to explore an extracurricular or just expose your child to a new area of study you might be looking at a bi-weekly arrangement.
Monthly
If you are looking to explore a new area of study and want your child to experience learning from others a monthly co-op might be a good option. Additionally, if you find that you are a busy homeschool parent but want your children to have a chance to learn with other children a monthly co-op might be an arrangement to explore.
Format: Or Where They Meet
Local
Most co-ops meet in person, locally. Only you can decide how far is too far for your family to drive to take advantage of these opportunities. These give your children lots of opportunities to both learn and interact with others.
Online
Especially since the outbreak of covid more and more opportunities are popping up for online classes, academies, and co-ops. These allow you to take out the travel time and learn again from the comfort of your home, but they also lesson the ability typically for interaction with both teachers and other students.
Putting it All Together
After narrowing down your goals with attending a co-op, considering your preferred worldview, frequency needed, and format desired you are ready to look for co-op. As we have tried a few different co-ops with less than optimal results, I've gotten far more selective in what I am looking for. I will use my own family to take you through the process of how we have evaluated co-ops. Our first co-op was the closest co-op I could find, and I found in practice that it met too often and despite being a Christian co-op was too narrow in their religious affiliation and world view for what I wanted. Furthermore, I didn't feel like it really had any academic focus. Then, I also didn't connect well with most of the moms so it wasn't a good fit for me as a mom. The next co-op I tried was perfect: met bi-weekly, and was a shared model, so it was a great fit. Christian but more encompassing, more academic without being too academically focused, and I clicked with several of the other moms. Ultimately, it proved to be too long of a drive.
Our current co-op is a perfect fit in almost everyway. It has a schole approach to learning,
meets monthly, isn't overbearing in time or money commitment, and I love the group of moms, all of who have a very similar world view to me. It meets both our primary goal of allowing the children the experience of learning from someone other than me and enjoying time with other kids, as well as the bonus of giving me a support network of moms.
Currently though I also have the need to farm out a subject or two. I'm now schooling four children and have a huge workload at home. Gary also typically needs work related help at least once a week, often more often. So looking across the subjects that I teach the decision was made to either farm out a subject I didn't enjoy teaching or that I was finding it difficult to teach. We settled on writing. I enjoy writing, but have struggled with finding a curriculum that works for the kids; and I find it a little challenging to explain why certain things are done certain ways when it just comes instinctively to me. I knew for this subject I needed an academic approach, but wasn't interested in driving daily or even weekly for classes, with everything else that needs covering each week. So I began looking for an online option. I found Open Tent Academy, which we are now using for our 4th semester. The classes meet online, once every week or every other week depending on the class. They have a secular outlook which is my preference, and a very academic focus. It's a buy in option, so that other than homework I don't have to volunteer or serve in any way, which works great for my busy schedule. It in effect takes something off my plate rather than adding too it. The kids love and really get their teachers, and their teachers know them individually. They also have the opportunity to interact with their classmates.
The goal is to find out what you are looking for in flavor and worldview and then find a co-op that meets most of your needs for frequency, format, and model. If you are new to homeschooling and are just starting out, I have found internet searches, especially on state wide homeschool pages on facebook to be helpful, but even better is your local librarians and 4H offices. They can typically get you in touch with someone or a group in your area where you can find more information. It is rare to find something that fits everything you are looking for, especially without going out and starting your own group, but if you can find a co-op that meets most of your needs they are fantastic resources and support groups.
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