Thank you! Yes the OP was more about getting our co-op off the ground and I feel the mention of why we’re leaving has kind of side railed the post. word of mouth is what I’ve been leaning towards so I think you’re right!

We aren’t southern Baptist but it’s also common among varied forms of reformed Protestants. Presbyterians, even non denominational, etc.

It may have more to do with denomination than region. I’m aware of it outside of American anyway.

Referring to types of doctrine in Christianity. Foundational are non negotiables. Then there are secondary issues, while still important we can agree to disagree, then tertiary issues. Lastly issues of Christian liberty.

For some clarification, we are leaving because of disagreements on foundational issues. These aren’t secondary issues. I’m not sure how to take some of these replies but I’m going to assume the best. we met with our pastor last night to get his advice and he agreed and said he would be leaving as well. I have no hard feelings against the majority of the people there, they are wonderful and love the Lord. I have no doubt we will still be friends long after. we are starting a new group that will be casual and small at the start, but United on foundational theological points. If it grows organically then we will take other things into consideration, but preserving the theological integrity of the group will be our priority. Again I am *not* talking about secondary issues. I’m mostly looking for tips on how to plan/structure that. I will decide on a schedule of meeting together, but need to plan our events/what we will be doing those days. That and how to best go about finding likeminded people was my main questions.

We’ve belonged to the same co-op for about 12-13 years and I’m considering leaving it and starting something else. One of the main issues why we are leaving is that leadership is not drawing a hard line theologically on some extreme issues popping up with new members. Starting out we will need to be small, just getting together for things like field trips, projects, maybe some parent led classes etc. I just feel confused on how to start it. One of the main issues being how do we get the word out to *likeminded* people. Our county has had a huge homeschooling boom with the only current co-ops having long waiting lists. So I know if I were to make this a legit co-op right off the bat I’d have no problem getting a ton of new members. But I really want to be more intentional and selective. Problem is many of the people I’d like to have are already invested in another co-op. And I worry about opening the doors to new people just yet. also when you’re planning on having your co-op be a little mix of everything, how do you go about planning that. Do you recruit people and then plan it together? Do you start with some form of an idea/plan and then invite friends? The prep I’ve done so far: decided on a name, made a Facebook group for easy communication, made a list of possible members, field trips, subjects, class ideas etc. ideally I’d like there to be a membership. An agreeing to certain foundational points of theology, but with something starting off this casual it seems like membership is more formal. I’m overthinking a lot of this 😆 so any tips/advice/experience? Dos and donts? *(also I wouldn’t even require everyone to be of the same denomination, I’m absolutely fine with disagreeing on a wide variety of secondary issues, but there are some big concerns with our current co-op so I’d draft a statement of beliefs to protect against that.)

For some reason I’ve not been able to ever find these forums… like for the last SIX YEARS. I’ve missed them. (I used to live here😂) so imagine my surprise when a Google search for homeschool co-op name ideas let me here. And wow has my life done a 360 since being here last. My last post was about leaving our terrible church. God has blessed us by leading us to a wonderful theologically sound church since then. In 2017 we had three children and now we have six! i doubt anyone remembers me🤣 but I loved this page and the daily to do lists. I’ve thought often about you all over the years. Makes me so happy to see these boards are still active!

Thank you to everyone for all of the replies! I’m at a manor in the woods for a women’s retreat and the WiFi is a bit spotty but I’m looking forward to reading all the replies when I get home tomorrow. And please, if anyone starts spinoff threads let me know! :)

I would be VERY interested in a s/o thread especially since the church we visited last week was Reformed Baptist! A wonderful friend of mine has been such an influence on me as of late and she is Reformed Baptist. I am so so intrigued with the family worship at home and the family integrated services. I have also been enjoying sermons she has suggested to me via sermon audio. Some of their beliefs are so wonderfully refreshing although some I do not think I can agree to. I understand there are also folks that are not full 5 point calvanist but 4 point or so on. I struggle with the limited atonement and the idea of only certain ones being chosen to be saved. Although their perseverance of the saints is quite a nice change when coming from a legalistic/threatening you with loss of salvation church. Can’t tell you how many years I’ve spent praying to be saved every other day because I messed up yet again so it must not have been real. Their view on sanctification was that it did not happen over time but it was a second work of grace that when you prayed to become sanctified it would remove your temptation to sin and you would sin No more. As a child I was always scared that I wouldn’t be aware of a sin I committed and I would die before I could ask for forgiveness and therefore I would end up in hell. I won’t give the name of the church but it was a non denominational Wesleyan Church. Again sorry if these replies are a mess. I’m nursing my youngest.

They claim he has always been here. Since the beginning. Just like God.

I have gone to the same church my entire life and we are now leaving it. I realize how damaged my thinking has been by this long time exposure to bad teaching. Long story. Skipping to the good part! I am so excited for these changes. I am having to basically relearn everything but it is so refreshing. We are free. Now for the questions.. What is your denomination and what differentiates it from others? I realize this can be pretty lengthy but if you’re able to give a simple answer, the jist, if you will. Also (may seem odd) but do you/your church believe that Satan was never in heaven? Also if you have any similar personal experience with leaving a church or having to totally relearn everything, I’d appreciate advice/encouragement. (Growing up from a child to an adult under this same bad teaching you find how really deeply ingrained this is,and how damaging. Which is why when the Lord removed these blinders we have taken our children and RAN.) Note: we aren’t necessarily using this info to “pick†a new denomination. We are simply curious as to the distinctions and plan to do further research. During our search for a new church so many different denominations pop up and although we are feeling pretty good about the church/theology we are hearing, this is just an interesting topic to us. As for the second question, I am realizing just how different from most churches our doctrine was. This is one example and I’m curious if anyone else was taught this. I feel angry and frustrated of so much time being wasted and being taught such damaging untruths, but also as we are relearning everything I am feeling so excited and so free. And praising God for being so so good. Sorry if this is a mess, I’m holding a baby!

Okay, after placing my order I have to switch some things around.. ​Math:​ Horizons 5 ​Science: ​Apologia Swimming Creatures w/Lab Kit and notebooking journal. Creek Edge Press Task Cards-Life Science ​History: ​SOTW 1 with SWB 5th grade instructions to beef it up a bit ​Geography: ​Knowledge Quest Map Trek, Unit studies and Culture studies ​Vocab: ​Doing our own thing. (Pulling words from our different readings) Writing/Grammar:​ Treasured Conversations ​Also have some things leftover from last year that we are going to try to fit in (French, Art, Music, Bible) plus reading lists, field trips and a bit of nature study. I've yet to hammer down on a complete plan but the above curriculum has been ordered so... Happy dance :hurray:

Thank you! Getting ready to order now so I really appreciate it! :hurray:

Ds won't be 5 until August 3 and we will have another ds joining around the same time. So we are keeping it simple and he is following along with dd for a lot of stuff. Whatever sticks, great. Whatever doesn't, no biggie. We didn't really do anything formal for Prek but we will be finishing up our Bible program over the summer and into next year. I'll be using: Bible Nuggets Horizons K Math Zaner Bloser Handwriting K OPGTR He will be listening in (and joining for labs & crafts) with dd for SOTW 1, Map Trek activities, and Apologia Zoology 2. Lots of read alouds and some informal nature study. Also gonna throw in some country/culture studies. And LOTS of playing outside :thumbup: A little of everything and loosey goosey sums up our K style.

For those who have ordered, what are they printed on? Cardstock, regular paper, etc? And approx how many cards come in a set?

In the middle of planning so this could change at any minute. Math:​ Horizons 5 History:​ SOTW 1 with more reading, projects, and deeper study this time around. Geography:​ Tying in with SOTW and thinking about doing some unit studies on other countries/cultures with ds. Science:​ Apologia Zoology 2 w/Notebook and Lab. Still trying to find something to cover Plant & Anatomy. I was considering Creek Edge Press Life Sciences Task Cards for this. But that adds up to a lot spend on Science alone. :glare: Grammar:​ Hake 5 -Grammar only Writing:​ Heh. Trying to decide between CAP W&R 2&3 and IEW Ancients. ​Spelling/Vocab:​ Dd has requested we keep "doing our own thing" for this. ​Art/Music:​ Discovering Great Artists and Meet the Great Composers. Both of which I bought for last year and never used :closedeyes: Misc:​ The Easy French, something for Bible, Co-op, Poetry teatime (and other bits of Bravewriter), Reading list and maybe some Lit guides.

I'm torn between IEW Ancients and CAP W&R (Narrative 1 and 2). Notes: I have never used anything from IEW or W&R (and we would be skipping fables after looking through the samples) DD will be studying ancients this year with SOTW1. I'll be simplifying it for younger brother and beefing up for dd. I've looked through samples and IEW looks great and challenging. W&R looks fun, less complicated, and I notice both Narrative books still have stories to tie in with Ancients theme. Ideally I would love to do the first narrative AND IEW but I notice the latter is a full years writing curriculum not a semesters. I'm thinking we will use Hake for grammar if that makes a difference.

Thank you!

Looking ahead to next year and my dd will be starting fifth grade and DS will be starting K. DD is due to begin the SOTW rotation over again so we will be doing Ancients. My question is should I include ds or wait until he's in first? Pros: both kids in the same book in the same year from here on. Not having one kid in middle ages and one starting in ancients (next year) Cons: he'll only be in K and so far we have done very little formal lessons. And by very little I mean VERY. LITTLE. Baby #3 will be here before the school year begins so I'm just trying to keep it simple. Any thoughts? PS sorry if anything is wonky. I'm posting from my phone.

Thanks again Ladies! Loving all the advice and personal stories.

Thank you everyone. I love reading all of your birth stories,advice, and encouragement. I have committed to trying for a natural birth. I've told my husband, best friend, and even contacted my doula friend (she was super excited and encouraging, and suggested all the books and methods you fine ladies did). So I guess we're really going for it! Thank you all so much. You ladies rock!

Thank you all so much. I'm loving reading through all of these replies and I'm so thankful for the encouragement.

Thank you. My midwife is very supportive and understand although she warned me that nurses may be pushy with the epidural. They like to be prepared for worst case scenario. So doula/husband dealing with them would be helpful. Also, forgot to add, midwife said they allow me to go to 41 weeks. I can have trial of labor as long as I have one contraction on monitor no matter how small, and then they can call it labor and "help me along" with pitocin if needed. With my old OB he admitted me and induced with pitocin right away which I always read shouldn't be done with vbacs. So I guess all of this is for nothing if I don't go into labor by 41 weeks.

Thank you cjzimmer1 it makes me feel so great that someone else was unsure and anxious as well and went on to have successful vbacs! I'm definitely a pushover which is another reason I feel I need a doula. If my midwife is there, sweet deal. But there's a chance she might not be and I don't trust myself to stand up to pushy nurses and doctors.

Wow, I am so thankful for each and every response. So encouraging. I thank you ladies so much. A lot of you are reaffirming what I've been thinking /feeling. I do need to work on a birth team. My husband will support whatever I decide, but he really gets nervous with anything medical related involving me, so I'm not sure how he would do under pressure ;) My best friend thinKS I'm totally crazyfor wanting to go natural. I would love to hire a doula. Cost is an issue. I have a friend that offered her services for my last baby, she charges $300 (which I know is great compared to most) but I don't think she's ever assisted a vbac and I don't know how I feel about someone I know, but am not THAT comfortable with being there for that. I'm already using a midwife from our homeschool co-op, lol. I'm VERY introverted and private. I'll most likely be messaging "doula friend" though. I know I need the additional support. I'm feeling very encouraged. I think I'm ready to really commit to a natural birth. (Although, I thought the same thing yesterday until I woke up at 3am LOL.)