bbmom Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 A small group of friends and I are considering setting up a small group homeschool program. These are all women who I trust with my children and whom I know to be fabulous teachers (we have all taught groups of children in everything ranging from dance to elementary school.) We all have children going into Kindergarten or 1st grade in the fall and for various reasons are considering homeschooling. Ideally, we would wind up with 5 children and each mother would teach one day a week. We would work out curriculum, schedule, sick policies, discipline issues, etc. ahead of time. We are all excited about this idea and think it would work for us. Has anyone had success with a set-up like this? Any huge pitfalls or major (or minor) concerns that we are missing? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Sounds like you could have fun... You could do one day a week... or... one week every five... I would want more than just one day in a row, but that's just me, perhaps.... If you can all agree... sounds doable. Let us know how it goes... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbmom Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 The one week out of 5 suggestion is a great one-especially if we don't wind up with 5 kids. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I have thought of doing this also. We came up with (but did not do) that each parent would teach math and language arts in the morning. The kids would then meet at one parent's home for lunch, recess, and the extras. We were going to do science twice a week, history twice a week, and art one day a week. I think we said that we would meet from 12:15 - 3:15 for the above to allow the kids lots of time to work on projects and play. Let us know what you work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinmom Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Sounds like a great idea! Do, however, carefully check your state hsing requirements to make sure that it's okay for you all to teach each other's kiddos. I believe here it would not work out as a full time program but could be possible in a co-op sense if the parents were individually teaching the core 3Rs. Let us know how it turns out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 It would work better for non-skill areas, like history, science, and art. With five dc that age, there will probably be huge differences in the skill areas - math, reading, writing - and being together all the time will negate one of the big benefits of homeschool, individualized instruction. Also, even if you all get along very well, set out very clear guidelines up front. (The ones you listed are a good start.) What happens when someone wants to quit, when someone is unhappy, when children don't get along, etc.? Who pays for what? Who decides ultimately when there is a difference of opinion among you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I think it might work out better if each mom takes a subject area. The flow might not be smooth if you each take a day and teach all the subjects. What if, for example, the kids just don't understand the math lesson you've planned out for the day, and in order to do the next day's math lesson (taught by another mom) they need to understand the concepts you're teaching them? It could mess up the math lesson plans for the entire week. If one mom was in charge of one subject it would be easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Me Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Sounds like a great idea! Do, however, carefully check your state hsing requirements to make sure that it's okay for you all to teach each other's kiddos. I believe here it would not work out as a full time program but could be possible in a co-op sense if the parents were individually teaching the core 3Rs. Let us know how it turns out! That was my first thought. Also, this thought - my family likes the flexibility of being able to take a last minute trip if we decide, or even just a day away (beach, museum) from time to time. What are the expectations in this scenario, ie. making up work, etc. Otherwise, it sounds like a lot of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I think it would be really tough to do it that way, honestly. I prefer the idea of each mom taking on a subject (or a few). Rotating like that requires *so* much communication and given the challenges that are bound to come up, I think it would end up being more like babysitting than schooling. Others have already pointed out the challenge of working with young ones whose skill levels are *bound* to vary by quite a bit as well... Personally, I'd be more open to 1-2 days a week where content (not skill) subjects are covered. Let's say there are four moms. Each mom takes on two extra-curricular subjects, say: geography, science explorations, cooking, history enrichment, art appreciation and activities, handiwork, music... And each does two days per month on her topic. Mini unit studies, whatever. Then each mom gets 6 days off per month and 2 days teaching all of the kids. I'm doing some combined schooling with another family this year for two days a week and it's working great. But we have five school-aged kids between us, roughly divided into Bigs (two sixth graders) and Littles (doing first through third grades). We do memory and art history / appreciation together, then we trade off so I can do Latin with the Bigs while my friend does a literature unit-study with the Littles, then I do Latin with the Littles while she does logic with the Bigs, then Greek and poetry with the Bigs for me, while the Littles have study-hall or educational games together... The Bigs do science lab together as well, but the Littles generally have recess then. The other three days a week, we school at home. The two oldest have identical assignment books for the year, so they've got the same algebra assignments and literature and papers to write and history, etc, etc. The three younger ones are so different academically (the oldest is a math whiz, the middle one is a far stronger reader than the others, the youngest is still working out the basics of how to read) that working with them together is actually *very* challenging. I do love the community of working with my friend. My younger one loves the social aspect. My older one is really benefitting from doing the same work as his friend, so they can discuss what they're reading or commiserate over a challenging assignment, etc, etc. And it takes some of the pressure off of each of us to teach fewer subjects overall. I just don't think that having five women teach and trade-off all subjects (*particularly* skill areas!) is going to work well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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