"Old school co-op" for a homeschool mom just starting out

[hs03842]

Is anyone part of what I'm calling an "old school co-op" which is really just a group of friends that you regularly get together with to do fun educational things?  (I've heard people describe that as what original co-ops were back in the 80s/90s--maybe I'm wrong.)  How common is that sort of thing among moms schooling young students these days? 

Edited December 9, 2020 by JoyKM

[medawyn]

I think what you are describing is more like a support group.

 I’m a member of a HS hiking group that organizes 2-3 hikes/month and a HS Park group that hosts weekly play dates at four area parks.

I had interest in a small book club for 2nd/3rd grade boys for this upcoming school year.  There were five families total, and we were going to meet every other week.  For the time being, we’re holding off until January, but we might start a monthly park play date for the boys to get to know each other if everyone is comfortable with that this fall. I have no idea if the group will gel or not, but I’m willing to give it a try.

[hs03842]

22 minutes ago, medawyn said:

I think what you are describing is more like a support group.

 I’m a member of a HS hiking group that organizes 2-3 hikes/month and a HS Park group that hosts weekly play dates at four area parks.

I had interest in a small book club for 2nd/3rd grade boys for this upcoming school year.  There were five families total, and we were going to meet every other week.  For the time being, we’re holding off until January, but we might start a monthly park play date for the boys to get to know each other if everyone is comfortable with that this fall. I have no idea if the group will gel or not, but I’m willing to give it a try.

Awesome!  I'd really like to get a group of people that are kind of not tied to some formal group together--just people who like doing the same sorts of things and everyone having fun.  I know that's normally just friends!  I'm with you about things for the fall being shaky.  I don't think we'll be able to really dig in until at least January, either.  Kinda of sad because we've been somewhat (or totally) isolated for so long already.  Oh well.  

[Lori D.]

Back when we started homeschooling 20 years ago with grades 1 and 2, we started off with a small homeschool support group like that which was perfect. About 6-8 families, with children mostly in the kinder and early elementary grades. We would meet at the end of the summer to plan and schedule our year, with each mom responsible for 1 field trip and 1 other event/activity in each semester. We rotated through 4 different things each month:
- field trip
- student presentations; a few times we brought in an interesting guest speaker with hands-on items
- play day
- activity (science or art usually)

At the end of each semester we would finish with a jointly-planned big event. Several years we did historical-themed events such as: a Thanksgiving feast (with colonial crafts and making foods); a Roman feast; a Medieval feast. One year we did a Japanese culture day.

It was a perfect support for those early elementary years. By grade 5-6, my DSs had outgrown it, but by then we had also joined the big homeschool support group (roughly 165+ families, with kids of all ages) that has a weekly PE/Park day, but also lots of specialized events such as an annual Spelling Bee, Geography event, family Historical dance event, monthly mom's night out, etc. Plus regular activities planned for the different age groups, and esp. support for the youth (grades 6-12), including things like:

- a student council (grade 6-12 students who plan/execute the 2 monthly youth activities)
- youth activities (board game night; hikes; bowling; parties with food and group games; venue such as trampolines, rock climbing, mini-golf, laser tag, etc.)
- community service projects
- field trips esp. for the youth 
- annual careers day event for the youth

While the small homeschool group eventually dissolved a few years after my DSs were too old for it (all the kids were beyond it), the big homeschool support group is still going strong. It has been running for somewhere between 25-30 years! 😄 

Key to all of this is that you are meeting with like-minded people who are willing to also contribute time and effort to make special things happen. Over the years, I have seen a big decrease in people wanting this type of homeschool group (because they are doing either Classical Conversations or a hybrid schooling option), or because they don't want to put in the work -- they just want to drop off kids for a few hours each week. 

I hope you will be able to find like-minded families, as both of the support groups we were a part of were fantastic. Great mom support/mentoring of one another; great social time and making friends for my DSs; and some awesome opportunities to do field trips/events in the community that were only open to school groups.

BEST of luck! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Lori D.

[Ellie]

21 hours ago, JoyKM said:

Is anyone part of what I'm calling an "old school co-op" which is really just a group of friends that you regularly get together with to do fun educational things?  (I've heard people describe that as what original co-ops were back in the 80s/90s--maybe I'm wrong.)  How common is that sort of thing among moms schooling young students these days?  That is the sort of group I am most interested in developing during our home school year.  Drop off co-ops are not a good fit for us even if there isn't a pandemic going on.  Before we moved I had actually been a part of such a group--it developed organically as a bunch of moms who were friends and also interested in outings, culture days, and other fun activities together.  One of us would come up with a cool activity and invite the others over.  It was not exclusively homeschooling moms--in fact i was able to plan some cool stuff during the day while my oldest was at public school and the younger ones napped, then we would schedule it for times everyone was available.  Several moms had only preschoolers, though some were four.  I'm willing to fish around for like minded people and build such a group again (I miss my old adventurous friends!).  Just wondering if other people have made such a group themselves.

Co-ops as we know them really started in the early 90s; where I lived, they tended to be KONOS co-ops first, and then classical stuff took over, and now it's everything.

If you are dropping off your dc, that isn't a co-op. All the parents stay and teach at a co-op. We've started calling the drop-off classes "tutorials." In a co-op, everyone teaches something. 🙂

In the early 80s, it was support groups, not co-ops. I loved my support group: relaxed monthly park days (because southern California), field trips twice a month (always on the second and fourth Fridays, so people didn't have to continually rearrange their own schedules), a relaxed monthly Moms' Night Out. People might do some sort of classes or activities, but mostly we were free to teach our own dc at home because our support group didn't suck the life out of us, lol.

[hs03842]

1 hour ago, Ellie said:

Co-ops as we know them really started in the early 90s; where I lived, they tended to be KONOS co-ops first, and then classical stuff took over, and now it's everything.

If you are dropping off your dc, that isn't a co-op. All the parents stay and teach at a co-op. We've started calling the drop-off classes "tutorials." In a co-op, everyone teaches something. 🙂

In the early 80s, it was support groups, not co-ops. I loved my support group: relaxed monthly park days (because southern California), field trips twice a month (always on the second and fourth Fridays, so people didn't have to continually rearrange their own schedules), a relaxed monthly Moms' Night Out. People might do some sort of classes or activities, but mostly we were free to teach our own dc at home because our support group didn't suck the life out of us, lol.

This all sounds very nice!