Explaining homeschool co-ops to non homeschoolers

[Terabith]

I’m starting a job teaching swim lessons at the Y a few hours a week, to earn a bit of spending money and a reduction on our Y membership.  I was meeting with the aquatics director when a teenage lifeguard came in and whispered to the aquatics director. 

After she left, the aquatics director said, “We have a lot of lifeguards and swim instructors here who are teenagers who are homeschooled.” 
 

Me:  Oh, that’s awesome!  And makes total sense, since they have a more flexible schedule.  
 

Aquatics director:  Yeah, there’s a lot I really don’t understand though.  She just said she’s not sure when her co-op will start back up.  Do they…do they grow their own food, too?  
 

Me:  Umm, well, maybe some of them do, but a homeschool co-op is when you get together with a bunch of other families once a week or so and usually the parents take turns teaching different classes. Gives you a chance to play games and socialize and do science experiments and have a parent who is better at teaching writing or what not lead that class. 
 

Aquatics director:  Oh, and the rest of the time they do their work over zoom?  
 

Me:  Well, maybe some of them, but that would not be the usual way.  That would usually be an online school.  Some co-ops, especially with high school kids, do assign work for the rest of the week, but in many cases you do your main work on your own at home and the co-op is for extras, but rarely does it involve growing food.  

[fairfarmhand]

😀

[ScoutTN]

🙄😆🙄

No ability to think outside the standard school paradigm.

[wintermom]

It sounds more like the term 'co-op' was a concept this specific person had a background with, and it involved food? Out in the Canadian prairies, there is a grocery store chain called "Co-op" and you can get a membership to shop there (but you don't need it to shop).

[Terabith]

2 minutes ago, wintermom said:

It sounds more like the term 'co-op' was a concept this specific person had a background with, and it involved food? Out in the Canadian prairies, there is a grocery store chain called "Co-op" and you can get a membership to shop there (but you don't need it to shop).

Yeah, we have both little grocery store co-ops and like farm share co-ops here.  They’re pretty common, so honestly I’m not blaming her for not understanding what it is. None of us know what we don’t know.  It’s just a different paradigm.  It hadn’t occurred to me before that people might not know what a homeschool co-op is, but it makes total sense. 

[mommyoffive]

Just now, Terabith said:

Yeah, we have both little grocery store co-ops and like farm share co-ops here.  They’re pretty common, so honestly I’m not blaming her for not understanding what it is. None of us know what we don’t know.  It’s just a different paradigm.  It hadn’t occurred to me before that people might not know what a homeschool co-op is, but it makes total sense. 

Now I am wondering how many people I have talked to who are out of the hs world who thought the same as her that my kids were growing their own food.  I can totally understand it.

[TheReader]

Yea, one of the guys at fencing insists on clinging to his initial belief that it involves a religious cult of some type, despite having had the truth explained to him. 

It's ridiculous now but he was legitimately confused at first.

[Janeway]

I just explain that it is private school only held 1 or 2 times a week. That is an accurate description and worded the best way for others to understand.

[SKL]

"It's a co-operative part-time schooling option.  Different families contribute different types of instruction based on their talents and interests."

I think your explanation was fine though.

I too have experience with the food co-op concept, not the homeschooling co-op.  Being on WTM means I am aware of the educational co-op concept, but I wouldn't assume everyone is.

And I don't think it's crazy for lay people to think maybe homeschoolers are growing food.  It's what is shown in the media, and it does happen IRL for many families.  Though, around here, many b&m kindergartens grow food too.  😛

[Terabith]

On 7/27/2024 at 4:45 AM, SKL said:

"It's a co-operative part-time schooling option.  Different families contribute different types of instruction based on their talents and interests."

I think your explanation was fine though.

I too have experience with the food co-op concept, not the homeschooling co-op.  Being on WTM means I am aware of the educational co-op concept, but I wouldn't assume everyone is.

And I don't think it's crazy for lay people to think maybe homeschoolers are growing food.  It's what is shown in the media, and it does happen IRL for many families.  Though, around here, many b&m kindergartens grow food too.  😛

Yeah, I feel absolutely zero judgement towards this woman for not knowing what a homeschool co-op is. I just have been in that world for so long that it didn’t occur to me that someone wouldn’t, but when I thought about it, why would she?  And growing food is probably known more widely, and it definitely makes sense with the media images. I mostly just thought it was funny!

[catz]

That is so interesting.  I would describe our previous co-op as one day a week school.  For us, sometimes it was covering core subjects.  But sometimes not.  Our co-op had hired and paid teachers, many with degrees in their subject area.  The co-op part is the board, leadership team, monitors, any fundraising, etc.  So even in the range of "a homeschool co-op", things can vary.

I don't judge that person for not knowing.  That said, as a secular homeschooler that had kids in PS for a while, I admit I am probably too quick to dispell any stereotyping or assumptions.  In these parts at least, if you've met one homeschooler, you've met one homeschooler.  If my kids were old enough to lifeguard, a lot of kids in that age range at least in our corners would have been taking advantage of free dual enrollment.  

Edited July 30 by catz

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, catz said:

That is so interesting.  I would describe our previous co-op as one day a week school.  For us, sometimes it was covering core subjects.  But sometimes not.  Our co-op had hired and paid teachers, many with degrees in their subject area.  The co-op part is the board, leadership team, monitors, any fundraising, etc.  So even in the range of "a homeschool co-op", things can vary.

I don't judge that person for not knowing.  That said, as a secular homeschooler that had kids in PS for a while, I admit I am probably too quick to dispell any stereotyping or assumptions.  In these parts at least, if you've met one homeschooler, you've met one homeschooler.  If my kids were old enough to lifeguard, a lot of kids in that age range at least in our corners would have been taking advantage of free dual enrollment.  

Oh for sure, but the whole thing started when a high school aged lifeguard said she wasn't sure about her schedule for August because she didn't know when her co-op started.  

I've seen a zillion different types of co-ops, but I was mostly trying to get across that they aren't necessarily like zoom online school.  There's tutorial type schools and there are enrichment type schools and lots of other iterations.  When we were homeschooling, I mostly wanted my kids to have recess, so they could have free play with other homeschoolers, and do some "school skills" work where they worked with groups and such.  Any academics were just a bonus.  I didn't really WANT my kids doing academics at the co-op, because honestly I didn't really approve of the way they did them.  We were liberal both in terms of politics and religion, but at the time, there were no secular or liberal co-ops, so that was a factor, too.  

[Shelydon]

I say something like--

We have tutor-led classes. For elementary, those classes are fun enrichment style. They can include something like Hands-On History, Duct Tape Warfare, Dr. Seuss. For that age group we also have parent-led classes, which are free but parents take turns teaching. For older kids, we have academic classes that are tutor-led, and you pay monthly for those services. This is things like chemistry, Algebra 2 and Java. We also so offers sports, dances and field trips activities.