Tips On Planning A Homeschool Co-op

We have a great group of 7 families. If you are thinking about venturing into co-op land, here is what has worked for us.

1. Everyone contributes based on their area of expertise. We were fortunate enough to have three musical parents and they gave the children music instruction the first half of the year. We have a couple of other mothers who are very interested in science and they have thrilled the children with science experiments. One mom is very organized, she was assigned to be our treasurer and field trip planner and the person to keep us on 'time' during our co-op day.

2. We each paid 10.00 per child into the co-op kitty. We have used this for materials for classes and for paper products for parties. It has worked out very well.

3. We tried to pick families with compatible adults and children. We all had belief systems that were along the same lines. We all wanted to teach science the same way. We had children that had enjoyed interactions in the past and while we have a variety of ages, we also have compatible ages so children have someone near their own age to play with.

4. We decided what we wanted to teach for the year. We chose to teach science all year, creative writing/reading club all year, art for 1/2 the year, music for 1/2 the year. We do a different elective each month. We have covered basic sign language, basic cooking skills, basic embroidery and knitting, gardening, and world cultures. Still on tap are life skills, U.S. geography/culture, and pond studies. We have p.e. time each week. We celebrate birthdays once a month with cupcakes. We take one of our meetings each month and schedule a field trip. We have been to a zoo, to a local artist's studio and children's museum, we are setting up a multicultural fair, we intend to visit Williamsburg, dig for minerals at Moorefield Mine and a science museum.

5. Be flexible. We have rearranged our daily schedule several times. Our latest change looks like this:

10-10:30 PE (this gets the kids a chance to get some heebie jeebies out and to see their friends at the start of the day, while teachers prepare)
10:30-11:15 Science
11:15- 12 Reading/book club/writing
12-1 lunch
1-1:15 show n tell . This gives the children opportunities to share neat items or news
1:15-2 art/music
2-2:45 elective of the month
2:45 - 3:15 playtime
3:15-3:30 clean up and leave

6. Come prepared to learn and to have fun!

We have been truly blessed by our experience this past year. We are uncertain what next year will bring, but we are all thrilled to have been part of our co-op this past year. If any of this information is useful to you, that is great! Good luck!