dakarimom5 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I was thinking about doing a co-op next year for my 8th grader. But the one I have found so far wants $110 + $95 for HSLDA +class fees. Does this sound resonable? Instead of paying $110 I could pay $145 and use them as my cover school but I am really happy with the one I use now. And they don't have any core classes available for my DS except something on the christian perspective on The Lord of the Rings. Mostly it is cooking and sewing and "hang-out" time...and yes "hang-out" is a required free class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I think the fee is reasonable IF your child is getting something out of it. If the classes are, say, sewing and cooking, and your child really wants to do that, AND would enjoy the other children, it is reasonable. Paying for hang-out time is bit excessive, BUT if your child does not have any other outlets for "hanging out" with other children, then perhaps it is worth it. It sounds to me like this co-op is purely social, versus academic. I would pay that fee if my child 1. was eager to go, and 2. other social opportunities were limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trying my best Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I was thinking about doing a co-op next year for my 8th grader. But the one I have found so far wants $110 + $95 for HSLDA +class fees. Does this sound resonable? Instead of paying $110 I could pay $145 and use them as my cover school but I am really happy with the one I use now. And they don't have any core classes available for my DS except something on the christian perspective on The Lord of the Rings. Mostly it is cooking and sewing and "hang-out" time...and yes "hang-out" is a required free class. We had to pay $80 but that is also the most inexpensive. Normally they charge $100 or $120. We quit. It was small co op. The reason it didnt work our because it was taking about 4-5 hours out of the day (with travel) and kids learned nothing pretty much. So a whole day we can use for school was gone. We had PE class (my kids take gymnastics and tikewando on the side anyways, so they are not required to have PE. but coop had PE - so thats a whole hour of nothing for us. Tehir PE was just a free play). Other classes also looked like "just to hang out". We were supposed to start at 10... but everyone but us were late badly. So classes were starting at 11. I hated to waste our time for almost nothing. I hear there are some good coopes out there too though. Our good ones had about 1 year waiting list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 If it were me, making me join HSLDA would be a dealbreaker... but that's just me. :D I think a lot of people feel like that's expensive for "hanging out" but keep in mind you're not really paying for "hanging out" which is a free activity - you're helping pay for the space to facilitate that for a group. Of course, only you can say if it's really worth it, but I think that's a reasonable charge to be able to use a space, if that makes any sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Although I strongly recommend HSLDA membership, and required it for the families who enrolled their dc in my umbrella school, I fail to see any reason whatsoever for HSLDA membership to be a requirement for a co-op. That alone would be enough reason to not do it. And to pay that much for hanging-out time? No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakarimom5 Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 At first I was thinking all these fees were for space rental but they meet in a church or one of the church buildings so I don't think they pay for space. I guess my biggest concern about the whole thing is it would be $200 or more to do this and that's before I buy curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trying my best Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 At first I was thinking all these fees were for space rental but they meet in a church or one of the church buildings so I don't think they pay for space. I guess my biggest concern about the whole thing is it would be $200 or more to do this and that's before I buy curriculum. $200 is way too expensive. They'd better be good for that price. Our coop was horrible and luckily we haven't payed yet before we realize its better just to quit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_JWM Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Our co-op rents space from a church, and it costs us over $600 a year. We clean the areas we use in exchange for a discount because the market rate for what we use would be twice what we currently pay. It saves the church money because they don't need to hire a custodial service. We would never require members to join HSLDA, but maybe this co-op doesn't have liability insurance, so they hope that everyone being in HSLDA will take care of liability issues? Also, the class fees may or may not be high depending on the length of the co-op. Our co-op meets 30 weeks out of the year, and a student can take up to three classes during each session. My daughter takes about 10 classes a year; classes cost $10 per six-week session. Teachers in our co-op receive vouchers to cover their children's classes, so I teach and cover the cost of her classes. She started with two periods of preschool the first year that we did it, and now she's taken Lego Engineering, Junior First Lego League, American Girl Craft class, cooking, electricity, literature-based math, and Magic School Bus science. Some, like AG crafts, she's taken multiple times as they focus on different historical periods. I would say our co-op isn't purely academic, but it's definitely not just social, either. We have recess and lunch together, but we expect the teachers to be providing an academic experience. Maybe there are ways you could help improve the co-op. You may have more people get involved if there were more core classes. Our co-op evolved out of an unschooling group that was purely social; some of us wanted a little more, so we got together to create something that offered what we wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 One co-op here offers lots of classes (academic, art, gym) and costs about $400 per class, plus materials. It fills up fast! Another co-op offers 5-6 classes, requires all parents to either teach or help with one class, has a real gym teacher, offers devotions/parent time, and costs about $120 or so a year, for everything. Guess which I'll be joining if we homeschool next year? :D (Plus MariannNova goes there...) If the co-op offers something you can't get at home, it may be worth it to you. If not, don't go--simple as that! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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