Co-ops

[apond]

I am looking to set up a co-op with a couple of other mom in the fall. We are still in the planning stages of this right now. What I am wondering is have you been involved in one. What has worked and not worked. Do you have a copy of the schedule of classes and ages. I would love anything and everything relating to a co-op that anyone might have.

 

Thanks

 

Annmarie

ds (10) dd (8), dd (6), ds (3), ds(3)

[sheryl]

I am currently setting one up now myself. I started last August or so and it didn't take off. It wasn't God's timing.

 

Last month in Jan I tried again, reposted to the local homeschool online group and I've had 25 responsed so far of families who want to join this co-op that is currently unnamed. It has been VERY TIME CONSUMING and I can honestly say I haven't done much homeschooling in the last month. I'm not going to let it consume my time anymore it's ridiculous. With that said, the big part is finished...finding a location in which to meet. Discussing their monthly rate and so on.

 

Hope it goes well. Sheryl <><

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I haven't been directly involved in a coop. But I have read with interest come of the discussions here in the past. It sounds like they can be lots of fun or cause lots of stress.

 

I think that my suggestion would be to decide what you (the organizing moms) hope to get out of the group. Then be very clear when you put the word out that this is what the purpose of the group is.

 

Some possibilities off the top of my head

 

-focused on a curriculum, with families keeping the same schedule and meeting for projects or discussion

-enrichment

-co teaching of academic subjects

-special projects (science fair, geography night, spelling bee, robotics, National History Day)

 

I suggest that you decide ahead of time what obligation other families will have.

Does everyone stay on site?

Does everyone teach or supervise nursery or study hall?

Will you charge or require a leadership role?

Do families have to be members of any group and/or sign a statement of faith?

If you charge, how long will the sessions be (in other words, how often do you pay and how much)? Is there a refund policy (or a trial period)? Does tuition cover class materials?

Will families apply or will you accomodate all comers?

What policies will you have for problems (non-payment, inappropriate dress, problem behavior)?

If you charge, will instructors be paid or receive a discount on tuition?

What expectations will there be for homework assignments?

How will you resolve problems between teachers and students/families?

 

I think that in some circumstances, co-op situations can be very powerful. I also think that conflicting expectations can cause a lot of hurt feelings and conflict. If you are very clear at the beginning what this particular group is for, maybe families with different desires will just keep looking instead of joining and sharing their discontent.

Best of luck.

[Soph the vet]

I direct a co-op of 34 families that has been in existence for ten years.

My suggestion would be to first gather a "board", like who is chairperson, secretary, treasurer, etc. Decide on a meeting place and whether you will share teaching duties or hire teachers. You will need a budget for teachers and rent and maybe liability insurance (this is something new that we are facing this year). Decide your membership requirements. Write by-laws: these should be your "constitution" including the name, location, description of board officers, membership requirements, reasons for membership denial or dismissal, etc. It should be a document requiring some difficulty in amending. Everything else can be placed in a policy manual. Will you have a statement of faith? Who had to adhere to it, just teachers or all members?

There is a good book written by a CPA called something like "Homeschool Co-ops: How to Run Them and Not Burn Out", it has a green cover, sorry I am blanking out on that now.

[Harriet Vane]

I freely use two co-ops right now, and have used other co-op situations successfully in the past. I also teach a weekly Bible class to a small group of girls.

 

What I like about co-ops:

 

--There are some things that are learned more efficiently in a group. A foreign language is one. Doing science experiments is another.

 

--I am so appreciative when those who have knowledge or talent in a specific area are willing to share.

 

--I think it's important to learn group manners and expectations.

 

--It's an opportunity for my kids to see friends.

 

 

 

What I find frustrating in co-ops:

 

--There have been many, many times in group learning settings or also field trips in which the moms present were willing and happy to shortchange the learning goals in order for the children to socialize. As far as I am concerned, there is a time for learning, and a time for playing, and what was agreed on for those times should be respected.

 

--Even more upsetting, in every. single. group learning endeavor I have EVER done as a homeschooler, there have been parents who don't care if their child completes their homework or even does ANY of their homework at all. They treat outside classes more like social enrichment. This seriously hampers a teacher's ability to move forward on anything. It also trains their children to not respect deadlines--this WILL be a factor in every traditional school setting (college!) and certainly in every job. This factor will derail even the very best classes or co-ops.

 

--Well-organized co-ops are a joy and a blessing. Disorganized ones suck my time and energy.

 

--Communication is key. I am involved in a co-op where communication is haphazard at best, and I find it inordinately frustrating. Between the disorganization and the lack of communication, I have considered leaving many, many times. I stay because this co-op offers a skill I cannot personally give my daughter nearly as well as the co-op. I have however specifically chosen to NOT involve my son in this co-op. I intend to give it one more year to accomplish our goals and then walk away from all its frustrations. Get some sort of fail-safe communication plan, and make sure ALL changes in schedule or upcoming assignments/projects are clearly communicated with a good amount of advance warning.

 

--Make sure to spell out expectations on the parents' involvement ahead of time, and get each individual's specific agreement to their specific jobs. Otherwise you end up teaching a class for free for a bunch of people who do not require their kids to do their homework, willingly derail class so the kids can play, and leave you with ALL the work. (Yes, I've BTDT.)

[Lisa R.]

involved are like-minded.

 

I would not participate in a co-op where other moms didn't share a similar educational philosophy.

 

We have a small co-op that followed the model of another larger, successful co-op. Here are the characteristics:

 

Co-op members share a similar educational philosophy and work-ethic. For example, home expectations are respected.

 

Co-op members are hand selected or invited by other co-op members. In other words, this is a closed group. This sounds exclusive and snobbish, but I think it's the key to making a focused, like-minded group. The families that join must personally know someone within the co-op. This helps keep the odd, contentious family out.

 

Parents do not have to say on site. Requiring parents to say on site for all of co-op is a pet peeve of mine. Once you teach your class, you can go home or do some errands. There isn't any school in the country that expects parents to say on-site. Allowing parents to leave makes co-op more freeing and less of a burden. In our co-op, we schedule the moms with little ones at the same time, so we only run a nursery during those classes. Staffing a nursery for all of co-op just requires more work.

 

We've had a co-op for a few years now. Here's my advice: start simple for the first year. Ask a couple other moms to help you that are reliable and have a personality different from yours. This will help balance things out. Make sure costs are clearly stated as early as possible. Even though costs may seem minimal, many families need to save and plan for them.

[mom2att]

There is a good book written by a CPA called something like "Homeschool Co-ops: How to Run Them and Not Burn Out", it has a green cover, sorry I am blanking out on that now.

 

It's by Carol Topp. She also has a website: http://www.homeschoolcpa.com. Very helpful info.

[Kari C in SC]

 

--Even more upsetting, in every. single. group learning endeavor I have EVER done as a homeschooler, there have been parents who don't care if their child completes their homework or even does ANY of their homework at all. They treat outside classes more like social enrichment. This seriously hampers a teacher's ability to move forward on anything. It also trains their children to not respect deadlines--this WILL be a factor in every traditional school setting (college!) and certainly in every job. This factor will derail even the very best classes or co-ops.

 

--Well-organized co-ops are a joy and a blessing. Disorganized ones suck my time and energy.

 

--Communication is key. I am involved in a co-op where communication is haphazard at best, and I find it inordinately frustrating. Between the disorganization and the lack of communication, I have considered leaving many, many times. I stay because this co-op offers a skill I cannot personally give my daughter nearly as well as the co-op. I have however specifically chosen to NOT involve my son in this co-op. I intend to give it one more year to accomplish our goals and then walk away from all its frustrations. Get some sort of fail-safe communication plan, and make sure ALL changes in schedule or upcoming assignments/projects are clearly communicated with a good amount of advance warning.

 

--Make sure to spell out expectations on the parents' involvement ahead of time, and get each individual's specific agreement to their specific jobs. Otherwise you end up teaching a class for free for a bunch of people who do not require their kids to do their homework, willingly derail class so the kids can play, and leave you with ALL the work. (Yes, I've BTDT.)

 

While I agree parents need to help, I wanted to point out that some co-ops are mainly for socialization. I have done many co-ops over the years. I have found that for our family - the best ones are the ones that are not extremely academic. My kids do academics at home. They did co-op to be with other kids, have some fun and maybe learn something along the way. I think if the OP plans to start a co-op, she probably needs to decide just how academic she wants it to be. Again, I am fine with co-ops that focus on academics and expect participants to respect that. I also just know that their are co-ops out there that are more about kids getting to be kids with other kids.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I think that the biggest problems with coops and other homeschool groups is when one set of families sees it as academic and another sees it as social. Or as happened with one of my support groups, one set saw support as an opportunity for parents to share experiences and frustrations and resources and another saw support to mean lots of group classes and programs (and then saw the first group as not pulling their weight because they didn't want to join the lapbooking/Spanish/PE class).

 

A group should be whatever it is, but clearly communicate that. Then families with other needs/goals can just keep looking.

[LaxMom]

I am finishing up my second year on the board of our co-op, founded four years ago. There are a number of things we have learned from trial and error over the past four years...

 

 

 

• Work with a board (3 works for us). Decide what your vision for the co-op is, and write it down. Otherwise, you will find yourself having to constantly work against other people's perceptions that conflict with your vision.
  
• Last year, we started a Yahoo group (unpublished, so we have to give the link to new families) for group communications and class sign-ups, etc. It has really streamlined our communication tree, not just for strictly co-op business, but people sending out invites for play dates and field trips, trading resources, etc. It also means that we don't have to depend on people to mail their class ideas or sign-ups, and we get the schedule done before the beginning of the session, so those teaching can plan for x kids.
  
• A schedule of four six-week sessions, with breaks between, works best for us. We have three, 50 minute periods on Friday mornings.
  
• Everyone must stay on site with their children. We are not a school. If somebody needs to be off-site, they make direct arrangements with another parent to be their kids' go-to person.
  
• Everybody helps. They either teach a class, help in a class, or act as "hall monitor", just keeping an eye on kids who come out of their class for whatever reason. Pregnant moms, and those with babes in arms are excused, but generally wander about lending hands as they can.
  
• We have found that flexibility is a real plus in class offerings. Last year, we started "rotation" classes for our (huge!) pre-K group. Moms sign up for one week, rather than taking on the whole session. This year, we added a rotation cooking class and experimental science class. It is so much easier to plan one science experiment, cooking menu, circle time, story and craft period... and nobody burns out from taking on session after session of planning-heavy classes. We also encourage people to team up to teach a class, if they feel less confident about teaching for six weeks, will be away, or would just prefer to share the planning and teaching.
  
• Do not get stuck in the "the way we've always done it" mindset. Look at the value of each operational item on its own terms and make changes where they will work for you. None of the rotations or class sharing were in our original mode of operation, but were suggested by new families. We also decided before the beginning of the current session that, if we didn't have enough classes for three periods, we would simply start later and have two.
  
• Weigh your age groups and space limitations in deciding how many classes you need per period. We make sure each age group has at least one offering, but many of them overlap and they are flexible. For instance, I am teaching a character values class, using Dr. Seuss books, that was slated for 3rd-5th grade. I ended up with 2nd and 3rd graders, but they all read and write, and have had excellent discussions about character analysis, etc.
  
• Book discussions, art, science, Lego Learning League, music, foreign language, cooking are all popular because they are more fun in a group. We have also had crafting classes - general crafts, knitting, crochet, hand sewing - that were successful.
  

 

I have a copy of our "rules of participation" document that everyone signs. PM me if you'd like to see it.

[Harriet Vane]

While I agree parents need to help, I wanted to point out that some co-ops are mainly for socialization. I have done many co-ops over the years. I have found that for our family - the best ones are the ones that are not extremely academic. My kids do academics at home. They did co-op to be with other kids, have some fun and maybe learn something along the way. I think if the OP plans to start a co-op, she probably needs to decide just how academic she wants it to be. Again, I am fine with co-ops that focus on academics and expect participants to respect that. I also just know that their are co-ops out there that are more about kids getting to be kids with other kids.

 

I am totally fine with the idea that some co-ops are social and some are academic. I should therefore clarify that I have always specifically chosen co-ops based on academics. The problem I have encountered, over and over again, is that often even when the expectations are specifically communicated, there are still parents who choose not to comply.

 

I personally have experienced this. I taught a Shakespeare class for a week long Winterim wherein I listed the requirements by phone with each parent before class, AND in a meeting, AND in written form. Each and every parent agreed to my requirements. Yet, when it was time for the final exam (take home), only TWO students turned it in (and they happened to be the two special needs students, for whom the written exam represented a monumental effort). One other family turned in their exams more than a month later--I did not respond to that. I gave an official transcript summary to the two students who completed the work and refused for everyone else--and some people had the nerve to be upset with me for it.

 

I also have personally seen this in two other group learning situations my kids are in. Teachers have spoken to me bluntly about how frustrating they find this dynamic, and how impossible it is to do anything about it when the parent refuses to acknowledge the problem.

 

If a co-op is social, then that's a whole different ball game. Either way, any expectations should be stated clearly up front, and repeatedly.