How to Start a Homeschool Co-op

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to Start a Homeschool Co-op. This post is running concurrently on Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.

How to Start a Homeschool Co-op

The homeschooling community is famous for co-ops! What are co-ops? They are simply families homeschooling together in some format (co-operating on education).

Homeschool co-ops take lots of formats:

• 2 families getting together to do fun learning activities
• Huge co-ops that have 50 families with structured studies
• 1 topic co-ops
• There’s not ONE right way to homeschool co-op

What are the benefits of homeschool co-ops?

• Experiencing other teacher’s styles, grading
• Responsibility of a group setting
• Fun of some subjects that are delightful in a group
• Downloading teaching of subjects mom doesn’t like to moms who do like them

Here’s how to start a homeschool co-op you and your teens will enjoy:

• Start with prayer together
• Clarify expectations and goals (believe us it will save LOTS of storm and stress later on). Decide the goals co-operatively. Your goals might look like:
  • Aimed at middleschoolers and highschoolers that are science experiences and labs
  • Aimed at mostly reading and writing projects for highschoolers
  • Aimed for multi-subjects and multi-ages
  • Aimed at multi-ages as field trips to historic sites
  • And ENDLESS other goals
• Decide here you’ll meet
• Decide when you’ll meet
  • How often
  • Length of school year
  • Breaks
• Choose class period lengths
• Will you have a hard start? (Do we wait for everyone to show up? Do we start right on time? This determines who teaches what.)
• What has God given us to work with?
  • Moms’ interests, gifts and needs
  • Teens’ interests, gifts and needs
• Determine the costs per family or student
  • Facilities costs (even if you’re in someone’s home, there are expenses to the hosts)
  • Curriculum
  • Course resources and materials
  • What limitations are families experiencing?
• Clarify logistics
  • Are set-up and clean-up chores assigned?
  • Are moms only involved?
  • Do teens help?
• Clarify whether there will be a lunch break
  • How will that be organized
  • Beware everyone using the microwave (there’s TOO long a line)
• Set group check-in times (evaluate yucks and yahoos of the co-op)
  • Also set your own checkins with your teens and yourself

Join Sabrina, Vicki and Kym for a helpful discussion about starting your co-op.

Also, check out these episodes:

• How to Start a Homeschool Organization,  Interview with Carol Topp CPA
• Healthily Handling Homeschool Mean-Moms with Dr. Melanie Wilson
• Authoritative Guide to Homeschooling Co-ops for High School 
• Ideas for elementary and middle school co-ops.
• For more practical planning tips for teaching homeschool co-ops, check out this post.
• How To Get Started Starting Things, Interview with Natalie Mack

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Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 109: How to Start a Homeschool Co-op