Last year was our first as home schoolers. Having no idea what we were doing, we spent three months reading everything we could get our hands on. We found good curriculum, set up a classroom in a spare bedroom, the whole works.
We did make one significant mistake, though. We didn't join the local co-op.
That was not a mistake we repeated.
The support groups in this area are great. But the best thing they've got going for them is on Tuesdays, when all the kids come to a local church for a day of enrichment classes. This fall, the girls are taking biology, art, history, and PE, all from veteran home school parents (and Laura, but still). Even better: there are other kids in the classes. We're trying to break them of the "clingies," and having other kids they're comfortable with helps.
Of course, they call it a co-op because everybody is expected to contribute -- and not just financially. I teach high school quiz bowl, and Laura teaches elementary art. So there is a little bit of extra work involved.
The icing on the co-op cake is the socialization -- and not just for the kids. Being a preacher's wife living in the middle of nowhere makes it hard for Laura to make friends. Now she has a group of other moms doing what she is doing, people she can relate to. What's more, most of them are experienced home school parents, so they can help her when something comes up she hasn't seen before.
Are you part of a co-op? Are you trying to start one? What are the plusses and minuses you have experienced?
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Good questions! Our support group initially started a parent-involved "Activity Day" program that was very successful. As the kids aged, more parents wanted academic classes and the program became less of a co-op and more of an a la carte program. www.whheprep.org
ReplyDeleteWords of advice? Stay true to your vision and mission and don't try to be everything to everybody. Work with your leaders to share the load while allowing each member to "shine" in their area of strength. Gee...this is probably what any successful pastor already knows! :-)
-Renee
Ben, The greatest advantage outside of friends for my daughters is the experience of having them learning from another adult. These people became mentors, encouragers and character references for college applications!
ReplyDeleteIn my book, Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them Run Them and Not Burn Out, I have a chapter on the advantages of co-ops and then a longer chapter on the disadvantages (Ha, ha!)
I'm glad you had such a great experience. I believe that co-ops, like marriage, are a tremendous blessing if you go in with realistic expectations.
Renee is also right on target by saying you cannot be everything to everyone.
Carol Topp, CPA
author of Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them, Run Them and Not Burn Out.
www.Homeschoolco-ops.com