Thinking about co-ops/enrichment etc. Are you willing to shell out $450 per class and

[imeverywoman]

still have to be the one "proctoring" and grading tests, papers, etc.?

 

As much as I would like to avail myself of the opportunities near my home, I cannot justify paying the $$$ and still have to do most, if not all of the admin work.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[ma23peas]

Absolutely NOT!!!

 

I am teaching in a co-op, I do all the grading and I've spent weeks pulling together the year's coursework and syllabus (day and night!)..I am charging $50 a semester. I ask that the parents, support, encourage and make sure their children are doing the assignments.

 

Our science teacher does a complete year's science in 6 months and we pay $280, she does all the grading/tests/assignments/labs and we buy our own texts (usually around $40)...

 

I see where AP classes are running around $400 for the year and that is reasonable if they are certified...but to do a co-op class where you're doing the grading and additional work besides making sure they're keeping up with assignments is too steep. I'd pay myself the money and put it in a savings acct for when they need it in college..:)

 

Tara

[Ellie]

No way.

[Halftime Hope]

Local co-op: "tutors" teach the classes for pay. Classes range from $30 - $50 per month, for 7.5 months (32 weeks per class year) This last year I paid $32/month for an Apologia physics class in which I corrected everything, but the instructor lectured and supplemented and ran all the labs during class times. When I taught Spanish, I charged $40/month for two weekly classes and graded everything; lots of work and not worth the money, but I had two of my own kids in class, so I was doing it anyway. (I think I figured I earned about $2/hour--so not worth it from that one vantage point.) I haven't paid more than $42 for any co-op class.

 

Pre-AP English with a local tutor $54/month. (not worth it, IMO.)

 

Biola Youth Torrey online classes ~ $300 per year-course, in a "unit study" approach, so lit/history/bible would be combined for a total of 3 or 3.5 credits, costing ~$1000K per year. Worth *every* penny!

 

Alexandria tutorial online Church History two years ago $54/month. Also worth every penny.

 

Local university dual credit (honors only) ~$50/credit-hour, discounted from their usual rate, to enable them to compete with the local CC for students. Quite a bargain as well.

[MomsintheGarden]

I wouldn't!

 

GardenMom

[Chris in VA]

IDK--maybe if I didn't have to grade/critique papers, just multiple choice type tests. I think it depends on the subject.

[imeverywoman]

It seems as though we're thinking along the same lines. :)

[Harriet Vane]

In a word, NO.

 

For that price I expect everything to be provided. I would also expect an extremely professional level of instruction and attention.

[Brigid in NC]

There is no way a $450 class should require you to do anything, other than to be the responsible parent who gives smiling encouragement, and peeks over her ds/dd's shoulder from time to time "just to be sure" all is well. :001_smile:

[angela in ohio]

I wouldn't pay that much for a local class, even if they did all the grading.

[Grace]

Local co-op:

 

Pre-AP English with a local tutor $54/month. (not worth it, IMO.)

 

 

Local university dual credit (honors only) ~$50/credit-hour, discounted from their usual rate, to enable them to compete with the local CC for students. Quite a bargain as well.

 

 

Hi Valerie,

 

Sorry about the thread-jack here but I tried to PM you but your box is full.

 

Are you by chance in Ft Worth? I have heard lots of good things about an AP Engish class taught by a lady named Melody but have heard nothing about the pre-AP. Was just checking to see if this was the same class you had taken. I was considering the pre-AP for 9th grade so would love to hear about your experience if this happens to be the same tutor.

 

Also was wondering if your "Local University dual Credit" happened to be UT in Arlington? I have looked into this some but do not know anyone who has done the honors program through UT.

 

I know these both are a shot-in-the-dark because Texas is a pretty big state but thought I would give it a try.

 

Thanks,

Grace

[Brilliant]

My kids take classes at Biola's STAR program. It is not a "co-op" program as there is a real, paid teacher. The high school classes are about $450/year. The parents have to sign up and sit in class as a parent helper 3x a semester. As far as grading goes, for most classes, the parent is responsible for grading the daily homework but not the big assignments. For math, for example, we'd have to mark the daily homework but the teacher would grade the in-class quizzes and the take-home tests. For English, the parent would have to mark things like vocabulary homework, and review the first draft of a paper to make sure there are no glaring errors. But the teacher grades all final drafts of papers.

 

My dd took the second semester of Algebra 2 there. I decided to sign her up for it, because she was finally at that point in math where she was running into some things that it was hard for me to help her with. The teacher was great. And although I had to mark the daily homework, if we had questions on something that dd didn't understand, or for which her answer differed from the answer key but we didn't know why, I just circled it and didn't spend any time trying to figure it out. The teacher took questions on the homework at the beginning of every class so dd could get it explained by an expert. It was great.

 

All that to say - I wouldn't pay the big bucks for a true co-op program. But I am willing to pay for programs in which the teachers have some expertise, and provide value that I can't at home.

[homeschoolally]

No, unless is is an AP High School class, a class with expensive labs, or something along those lines.

450 is a LOT in my opinion.

[TravelingChris]

I think I paid somewhere between 300-450 per class when my daughter was attending homeschool academy. But I didn't grade or have to do anything more than a regular mom of a school kid would do except three times a year the parent would have to be a study hall monitor/lunchroom monitor type thing. The classes my daughter had were excellent and I was very happy to have them. THen the economic problems hit, the academy closed down and fortunately we moved to an area with a great co-op (cost 75 a year).

[Kathie in VA]

I don't like it but I have paid and do pay about $450 a class. However usually these are high school level, fully taught by the teacher, they do all grading and most labs. One class had us giving the tests at home but they collected it and graded it.

 

I have one dd who seems to get more work done for an outside class and easier than I can get her to do the work. So in this case it is well worth it.

 

I did do one online writing class for about that much. They did all teaching online, lead discussions, set assignments, and reviewed/discussed the homework. Turns out they read the papers and basically checked to make sure they were basically on target. However if we wanted them to grade any of the papers then that would be an additional $10 charge per paper. Since it was a means to combine two years of that curriculum into one I found it helpful. However I wouldn't pay that much for it again. Also, my kids didn't seem to do well with the online aspect of the class.