help with starting a co-op

A friend and I began a new support group/co-op in January (classes being in Sept.). A good starting place is HomeschoolCPA.com for the legalities, etc. If you have other questions related to the actual group, maybe we can chat via email.

Blessings,

Christie Groff

Well, MJ, lets see…

Background info…

We’ve been part of a co-op since my oldest was 2. My initial reason for going was to check out these homeschooling people to make sure they were “normal people”. LOL. I had 2 friends homeschooling at the time and they are normal, but what about other people? We went on a couple of field trips to get to know the very nice normal people and then I dropped out when my daughter was 3 and my son was born. We rejoined when dd was 5 and son 2. We enjoyed the outing and doing something different, but the classes were just fun stuff for dd 5 – science experiments and show and tell with manners. She enjoyed it. The pre-k class my son was in was what I imagine a preschool to be like (we’ve never sent ours, so this is remembering my experience as a kid) – glue paper together, listen to a story, sing a song. It was ok, but not fabulous in my book. This year, I am teaching the 4-5 yo pre-k class that included my son. I made it clear from the beginning that I am not a cut and paste here type of mama. We read great books and acted them out or did some type of activity with it. For example, I read Caps for Sale and brought in about 20 caps and our screaming monkey toy and the kids took turn being the peddler or the monkey. It was a hoot! Their favorite was probably when I read Katy and the Big Snow and brought in packing peanuts for pretend snow. They tossed it and rolled in it and it crushed to bits and stuck all over the kids b/c of the static! It was hilarious, but took me well over an hour to clean up not including vacuuming the kids. 😆 I don’t think they will forget that one!

Fast forward to now…

Our group has over 250 kids and 120 families. It’s huge! We’ve exceeded the capacity the church allowed (you know how homeschoolers have so many babies in comparison to the general public). The leadership practically begged someone to start a new group or groups. That group has a waiting list of over 40 families and they no longer take names. So there is an obvious need. So…I prayed about it and decided to jump ship so to speak.

Some of my thoughts during the process…It would be great to have a group closer to my house as I’m a homebody by nature and the other group is 30 minutes away. It would be nice for my kids to form friendships w/ kids whom they might actually have a chance of getting together with sometime. I coerced 🙂 a dear friend and neighbor into jumping ship to help lead the new group. She and I are both CMers and decided to flavor our group that way. We aren’t requiring members to be CMers, but just to abide by our statement of faith. However, our classes will be very CM friendly when they begin in the fall. We’re starting w/ science w/ experiments and art.

Right now we meet on Tues. afternoons at the park to play and we have Mom Chat evenings once per month to encourage and get to know each other away from the kids. We have 1 fieldtrip per month, too.

Pros…

I like for my kids to have friends from like minded families. Now this doesn’t mean that everyone’s standards in the group measure up to mine or vice versa, but it is a better starting pool so to speak.

This way my kids get to have some kid only fun running around at the park w/ friends, but still they are under my supervision.

Being in charge means that I can greatly influence what is taught in the classes. We take everyone’s suggestions into account, but the other leader and I decide how it will be carried out. ie. we’re thinking of using one of the Apologia Elementary books, reading at home and experiments together. This will take care of science for our own children and others, too. During our assembly, we hope to include hymn/folk songs and poetry readings. We want our art class to use picture study as well as instruction.

I enjoy meeting with the other moms once per month. Many are newer to this than I and really need encouragement and sometimes direction. The Lord seems to be sending them my way. Recently, one new mom whose oldest will be in K this fall said, “as long as I focus on reading, writing and math, we’ll be fine, right?” It was a wonderful opportunity to say, “slow down, work on habits, read good books, go outside, look at beautiful paintings and don’t worry so much about the 3 Rs and you’ll be much better off in the end.” For us as leaders, we want to minister to those newer to this homeschooling journey and show them the beauty of doing it the CM way. (Keep in mind that our oldest are 8 and 9, but they’ve always been home and schooled CM style, so in essence that makes us the veterans.)

Cons…

There is work involved. 😮 Right now, I’m managing the group, the website, formulating the policies, etc. However, it should be a bit like a jet, a lot of work to get off the ground, but not to much to hold it steady. We’ll add to our leadership team as we get to know who is needed and capable of meeting that need. We’re praying about this.

It is a morning away from home, but for us, I find it can be rejuvenating to do something different 1 day per week. We come home and have our group lessons – picture and composer studies, etc.

It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m sure some conflicts or complaints will arise. Not always pleasant.

There is the possibility of a child who is a negative influence becoming involved. However, as leaders we reserve the right to restrict anyone’s access to our group at any time.

My biggest advice, pray about it and WAIT on His answer before proceeding.

That’s all I can think of right now. Time to get back to our school work.

Blessings,

Christie