Has anyone homeschool without doing co-op ?

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We are very rural and are not part of any co-ops. There are none for alteast 2 hours away. We would not use one (unless something major happened and we had to) if there was a good local one.

 

 

However, my oldest daughter is part of the band and choir with the public school. The band for grades 6-12 (which is how they do concerts) is smaller than the band I was in when I was a 6th grader though. ;)

Edited February 3, 2012 by wy_kid_wrangler04

[missmoe]

On my 13th year of homeschooling without a co op! Just doesn't appeal to me or meet our needs.

[KarenNC]

We haven't done a traditional co-op, by which I mean a group of families who come together and the parents are required to be the teachers, all kids taking all the classes. We have always done some sort of outside classes, but they are almost always enrichment/activity like PE, gymnastics, aikido, art, etc. There are a lot of traditional co-ops and university model schools in our area, but they are almost exclusively extremely Christian-focused, which would not work for us. The closest we've come is participating in a day of enrichment classes once a week with our group for the last 2 years. It's set up on an a la carte basis, so folks take the things in which they are interested, and it's open to the entire homeschool community, not just our group members. Even then, we don't take a class each hour, which can be challenging to our overall schedule.

 

I would like to find something where my daughter could participate in classes that I would like to outsource---logic, lab science, language, art technique, eventually AP classes, etc--but that were secular and used secular materials. Unfortunately, I don't think that's likely to happen around here.

[tammyw]

We tried one when we first moved here. It was okay (science) but it wasn't anything special and it just took a great deal of valuable time away from school work we could do at home. We get our socialization in other ways (martial arts classes, musical theatre, etc.)

[Sugar Fly]

I clicked on this thread to find out what a co-op is...:001_huh: There is nothing of the sort where I live. It doesn't sound like something we would like to do, particularly the "statement of faith" bit...:scared:

[dragons in the flower bed]

I live in an area w/an abundance of co-ops. I will not join one. Let's just say that academics is pretty much a topic I avoid when I am around other homeschoolers. Groups for fun are one thing, but teaching my children is another (and the reason I homeschool in the first place.)

:iagree:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I hope this doesn't sound silly but I was wondering if there are people out there who just basically keep their kids at home at least 5 Days a week to do school work without joining "school-like" co-op? This excludes piano lessons or enrichment classes.

 

Our homeschooling community seems to be big on having a day where kids get together for a day or about 5 hours a day and have some kind of planned instructions.

 

I am not against that at all as I realized that it does work for many people but I am curious to know if there are people at the hive who have NOT done any co-op and felt that it doesn't affect the well-being of their homeschool? What about needing to be with others for "public speaking or oral presentation skills?"

 

This is not meant as a debate. We have many invitations to join co-ops. While I know my child might enjoy the socialization and learning with friends, I am hesitant because I personally want to teach my child and spend time with her. I am also selective as to whom my child associate with.

 

Thank you.

 

Absolutely. My oldest is 8th grade and this is the first year they have done any coop classes. We used to get together twice a month with other homeschoolers to bowl, but that was really so I could chat with the other moms.

 

There are many reasons for picking a coop and many reasons for staying home. I think the worst situation is when your goals for a coop don't match the goals of the other families. In other words, if you want a fun social get togther but others want hard core instruction. Or if you're looking for academic instruction and the others want to socialize.

 

But you're not going to ruin a child by keeping them home if the local coop doesn't fit your needs. Nor will a coop "patch over" too many holes in your at home time. Neither will some social time ruin your kids, as long as academics are happening at other times.

[redsquirrel]

Of course! There is a great secular one in our town, but we do not participate. We tried it for a year, but our actual homeschooling went to hell.

 

I think they can be great for some things. There are TONS of cool social activities, like contra dancing, family cooking classes, the occasional family movie night, that we don't get to do because we are not members. I have considered rejoining, but you have to offer to lead a class in order to take a class so that means I would be on the hook for two activities a week right there. I simply can't do that.

 

My friend has been leading a SOTW class for a couple years and it sounds really good.

 

If you are more eclectic I think they can be great. I have a long term plan and it isn't compatible with the nature of a co-op . OTOH, I know my about to be a teenager is missing out on LOTS of connecting with other homeschool kids. So, I might have to rethink this. I have many friends whose kids are going to ps for high school in part due to feeling lonely and disconnected from their peer group. If that happens with my son, I would try the co-op first.

 

Now, all that said, I do make a real effort (and spend a lot of $$) to make sure my kids have opportunities outside the home. They take dance classes, martial arts and are in community youth theater. We may spend all workday at home, but they do get out of the house.

[RoundAbout]

I don't do co-ops. I want to teach my kids their academics, then let them go play.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

We were briefly part of a science co-op and it was horrible. Bad traffic, the hosts son melting down, etc. The only reason I joined is a friend was running it and she was desperate for people to keep coming - it took some delicate work to extricate myself from the situation. The lessons were age appropriate but the kind of stuff you could discuss just as easily at home in everyday life and the kids were distracted by each other.

 

I kept thinking "Why don't we just get together to have the kids play?"

 

I can see outsourcing stuff like foreign language and doing stuff like science camps run by experts, etc. College classes of course when they get older, but I have no interest in doing mommy run co-ops after this experience.

[mommy5]

We don't currently do a co-op. I think they can be good in some ways but it is really nice to be home and getting school and other (housework) done! I have many small children and it is easier for me to be home with them. I'm in favor of playdates, though, so they can play with other children.

[happypamama]

We do a co-op, but it's mainly for social reasons, rather than academics. We do get some academics from it, but it's mostly just icing on the cake, as opposed to major core subjects. The kids get to do some fun stuff, and they get to play with other kids (there aren't many kids around our home), and I get to socialize with other like-minded adults. There are very academic co-ops here, which would cover all major subjects, and those have not been what I want at all. (Our co-op is also not every week; it will meet a total of 12 times this school year, for about three hours each time.)

 

We live 20 minutes from everything, and so on co-op afternoons, we go grocery shopping on the way home, so it's not any extra traveling for us.

 

But no, I don't feel that I *need* a co-op for academics at all and would feel completely comfortable teaching all subjects here at home.

[Guest]

We have never participated in the local co-op. I have thought about it, but complications with my last two pregnancies, and having two babies have made if rough for us to ever go. My kids do church activities, boy/girl scouts, and other sports we get them into so I don't feel they are lacking anything.

[2cents]

The coops we have now are IMO time-wasters. The classes are generally dumbed down and over-priced, and there is so much clique drama that it is better to find classes offered by professional organizations.

[WeeBeaks]

We do not do a co-op, although we do a park day just to play. Academics are done at home.

[alpidarkomama]

I much prefer easygoing learning days + after "school" playdates. The less complicated, the better! :)

[RockstarMom]

We have an abundance of co-ops to choose from but I haven't found one I really clicked with so we're going without. My problem is that I have one child in public school preK and we were busy foster parents with many obligations until recently, so with naps and busses and other issues, it just doesn't work for us. And we're good with that! My 8yo takes TKD and gymnastics, he's happy.

[Ohdanigirl]

We do. We live in Baja California, so being around other home schoolers means driving across a US border. Not really something we want to be doing very often. Maybe a few times a year we do a field trip in the US.

 

I am not too concerned about the social aspect of it. My kids have more than enough friends banging down our doors every day. There was a time when I wished we had the option for co-op classes, but that has changed over the years. Most of the home schoolers I meet are very relaxed, or even unschoolers. Although it seems to work well for them, I am simply not attracted to it. The other group I've met are Charter school families. They get classes free at the school, so no chance of a co-op there.

 

Danielle

[MinivanMom]

We live in an area that is brimming with co-ops, but we choose not to participate. The religious co-ops require statements-of-faith and the secular co-ops emphasize socializing over academics. Honestly, I'm not impressed with the offerings of co-ops in general. I teach my kids at home, because I know I can do better than the local teachers. I homeschool them at home, because I know I can do better than some other random homeschool mom.

 

We belong to a support group to meet other homeschoolers, but we only participate in park days and the occasional field trip. I don't want to limit my children to a social network of only homeschoolers. We deliberately sign up for classes in the afternoon and evening (rather than the daytime "homeschool" classes) and we do community sports, so that we can meet a broad array of kids in our local community.

[Paintedlady]

We've never been a part of academic co-op, but do belong to one that is purely for social and emotional support. Once my kids get into highschool they may want join something but I have no plans to join one at this point.

[AmyinMD]

If it was up to me we would not do one. There has only been one year we didn't do one and it was the year my kids were really asking to go back to school. I think if they had more outside activities at the time it would have been another story. Right now we do a co-op Wednesdays and we've been there a few years now so my kids don't want to switch. I hate being gone that day and it is such a bad day of the week. We are just getting going for the week and then Wednesday is a bust and it's hard to get back into the swing of school on Thursday. Plus I'm required to teach each term so usually on Tuesday it is crazy trying to get supplies together for the class.

 

I have several local friends that will not do co-ops . I totally get why.

[Ellie]

We've never been a part of academic co-op, but do belong to one that is purely for social and emotional support. Once my kids get into highschool they may want join something but I have no plans to join one at this point.

That would be a support group, not a co-op.:)

[hmschooling]

No co-ops here! We aren't always home all week, but nothing besides church is a regularly scheduled event. We have a homeschool support group that we pick and choose when to meet and what events we want to go to. We will be moving near orlando and I will have way more options, but still won't join one. It's just too much pressure for us and I don't want any part of it. A fun group that I can come and go when and how it suits us and can converse with online as well is all I need. And my kids do have plenty of friends ;)

[hsmom2011]

We don't do co-ops, or support groups here. The last thing I want to talk about when I get an evening out of the house with a bunch of moms is homeschooling. I love to hs my kids, but there is plenty more to talk about. :tongue_smilie:

[momto2Cs]

We did the co-op thing for a couple of years, but dropped it this year, as the kids just were not that interested.

[usetoschool]

We did a couple field trips years ago but that is the extent of our co-op experience.

 

One of the bigger reasons we homeschool is to do what we want, when we want. Co-op stuff interferes with our schedule. I don't think there are any really academic ones around here anyway. I think we do better and focus better and learn more just on our own.

 

That is just education though. Outside of educational stuff we are pretty busy with soccer and scouts and church and friends.

[tammyw]

We love to do field trips on our own, but kind of hate group field trips. Most of the time seems to be waiting around for everyone, and it's just not easy to be in such a large group. We like to do our own thing and come and go when we please. I just don't like group events.

[rieshy]

Tons of co-ops in our area. We don't do them until h.s. and even then we use a co-op that will let us choose to take as few as 1 class a year. Usually it's a lab science or math that I want to out-source.

 

$ is a big factor, but also in the younger years I really don't feel like I need any help with academics. Socially- my kids are involved in our community in other ways.

[DaffodilDreams]

We belonged to a very small co-op for a few years. We met once a week for about 2 or 3 hours at a time. It was really lovely while it lasted, but as the kids got older, we all seemed to be going in different directions with the goals we had for our children and families, so it fizzled out. This is our first year w/o co-op, and while we miss some aspects of it, it's also nice to be able to use that time for catching up if we need it, for meeting friends for social time, or for using our local museum memberships. We still maintain friendships with our former co-op members, though we don't see each other as regularly as we did.

[sagira]

No, and I am not keen on joining one either.

[Rikki06]

We do not and that's rare around here. This thread has made me feel a bit better! :)

[Mama Anna]

I've judged that the time spent away from our objectives probably won't be worth the possible expertise of outside teachers until at least middle- or even high-school. Of course, I'm pretty protective of our school time anyway. I've no desire to join a co-op at this point.

 

Mama Anna

[SweetandSimple]

We don't belong to a co-op and probably never will. We like to be at home. I think an extracurricular activity or two is important, but I limit those fairly strictly, too.

[kalanamak]

No (they do go to a YMCA program during the day for hs kids).

All of them around here are religious in nature.

[LibraryLover]

Yep. We have hsing friend group gatherings, as well as some sharing of crafts. We've never done a full academic program/class. We have done social art & music.

Edited February 4, 2012 by LibraryLover

[GoVanGogh]

I hope this doesn't sound silly but I was wondering if there are people out there who just basically keep their kids at home at least 5 Days a week to do school work without joining "school-like" co-op? This excludes piano lessons or enrichment classes.

I have zero interest in joining a co-op, but we are hardly home five days a week. We do quite a bit of outside enrichment classes - golf, tennis, music, art, science. It depends on the season and what is being offered at the time. I do try to keep 2-4 outside activities on our schedule most of the year, as we love to get out and go.

[PollyOR]

This year we accidentally became involved in a co-op. Someone asked my girls if they were interested in taking a Shakespeare class. Next thing ya know we've lost an entire day each week. The co-op folks are great people, but I struggle with the loss of time.

[Embassy]

No co-ops here. Never have and doubt I will.

[happycc]

My first go around I tried to get some kind of coop going but the kids just wanted free play. My older kids now tell me that they hated homeschooling because they just didn't have enough free play time with their friends. So with my second set of kids I have planned out an entire afternoon of just free play with their friends. They just come to my house and play and eat. Anything goes.

[Shellers]

There aren't any co-ops where we live.

[BatmansWife]

We've been homeschooling for about 15 years. We've never done a co-op. I don't think there's ever been one available where we've lived. My kids don't have a problem with public speaking. :001_smile:

[Radish4ever]

I really wanted to join a co-op this year but didn't because we moved here mid-August and many were full or too far away, or seemed like they would require a HUGE commitment on my part. Honestly, I don't feel like we've missed out!

I *did* start a homeschool playgroup on Meetup and that has filled our socialization needs MUCH better. We keep it secular and open to anyone because I don't want other people guiding their education and I don't want to be responsible for theirs.. ;-P

[jhockley]

We don't do a co-op exactly, but dd is part of an alternative learning experience through the public school. It doesn't require anything from me other than driving her there and I don't do anything academic there, it's just extra-curricular type stuff- pe and art.

[crazyforlatin]

If there were one here, I wouldn't do one for academic reasons since I'm not sure if I would want to commit us without observing how it's conducted. The teacher would basically have to do a better job than I for me to enroll DD. I would have to feel confident that the time spent at a co-op is so well spent that I could not but join. However, if it were just to play, get together for field trips, or teach public speaking, or provide an audience for any kind of performance, I would not hesitate.

 

ETA: Not true on second thought - I would in fact hesitate because I need to know who the kids and parents are and have the option of backing out if I see it's an uncomfortable environment for us.

Edited February 4, 2012 by crazyforlatin

[desertmum]

No co-op where I live. Some share learning activities for older children, but that's it.

[KrissiK]

We don't do co-op. We belong to a group, but it's more activity based -we do field trips, parties, we have a track-meet in the spring, that sort of thing.

[miracleone]

Wow, I can't believe how much response I got from this thread. Thank you so much every one for your insight. I am so relieved to know that I am not the only one :)

[cagirlintexas]

No coop right now but am hoping for something in the spring for a few weeks. Currently there is nothing.

[MerryAtHope]

Yes, although there are times I have wished there was something like this for my child to do. But most of the options we've had haven't been a good fit for one reason or another, so we look for other ways to provide social opportunities. I find it much easier to complete curriculum if they're home with me!

 

Merry :-)

[IanSebast]

I think it takes too much to do it. The time traveling and the time wasted is not worth all the cons. The idea sounds great, however, in reality, they don't learn much at all, academically speaking. In my opinion, and as for the socializing aspect of it, they get a more well rounded social circle when they hang out with a mixture of adults and kids. We go to a co-op right now, and I don't think I'll be doing it again.