Do you go to a co op?

[thegracelife]

For the past two years I have been in the Pre-CC room at Classical Conversations. My kids have been young enough where it wasn't an issue, they just stayed with me. Now that my oldest will be 5 this upcoming year, I started to question what we were going to do. Was she going to go to CC? Was I going to continue to work there? My husband would still like me to work there. I bring in a little extra money around the holidays, and then again right before summer hits.

We will be starting Little Hearts For His Glory this fall, so, how do you work in co-ops and things? I'm nervous, but I just can't give up this small job, it would upset DH very much I think.

Any advice? Thank you. Sorry if this was a little confusing!

[LovingJesus]

I am listening in! I have the exact same question. I can see how it might work with Preparing and higher with the 4 day schedules, but how does a co-op fit in with the lower guides? We did one last winter and I was thinking of doing it again this winter, but we weren't using HOD last winter and the program we were using was 4 days a week. If I may add a question to the original: I have also wondered how it fits in with being worth it. HOD seems to cover everything, and I have wondered if it is worth taking classes when everything is covered.

[thegracelife]

That is my delimma. I don't really feel strongly convicted to be using CC academically, but I feel like I'd be doing her a disservice to be there all day...but away from the children her own age. And if she's going to be there all day anyway, she might as well be doing something worthwhile...right? :

eta: I should say that I don't feel led to necessarily start CC yet. I would most definitely like to do so by 3rd grade (or so) I had just planned on taking the first few years a little more slowly, and really soak it in.

[psreit]

We had a co-op in the fall which was once a week for 7 weeks. It was not a problem because we were basically doing Bigger half-speed or three days a week at the most. I was doing it more for being with other kids dd's age. You can always do HOD 4 days a week. It would just take you into the next year a little while, but, there are many who don't get the guide finished in a year. We will be taking probably a year and a half to do Bigger. I pushed with Little Hearts and Beyond to get them done in a year, but it made things a little stressful. I made up my mind I would not do that with Bigger. I am not going to put a timetable on it. I need to use days for field trips, out of town doctor appts. that take the whole day, life skills, etc. So, it's up to you. If your dh wants you to be involved in CC, then do HOD 4 days a week. Since your dd will just be turning 5, taking more than a year for Little Hearts is not a big deal.

[thegracelife]

We had a co-op in the fall which was once a week for 7 weeks. It was not a problem because we were basically doing Bigger half-speed or three days a week at the most. I was doing it more for being with other kids dd's age. You can always do HOD 4 days a week. It would just take you into the next year a little while, but, there are many who don't get the guide finished in a year. We will be taking probably a year and a half to do Bigger. I pushed with Little Hearts and Beyond to get them done in a year, but it made things a little stressful. I made up my mind I would not do that with Bigger. I am not going to put a timetable on it. I need to use days for field trips, out of town doctor appts. that take the whole day, life skills, etc. So, it's up to you. If your dh wants you to be involved in CC, then do HOD 4 days a week. Since your dd will just be turning 5, taking more than a year for Little Hearts is not a big deal.

I thought about going 4 days a week with it all; I guess it is just a personal hang-up of mine to worry about somehow feeling behind, or like I'll always be playing catch up! I think I need to go repeat Matthew 6:34 over and over right now. We also talked about starting a little earlier in the year, which I suppose could give us a "head start" with staying caught up...

[raindrops]

We do co op, and LHFHG. We started HOD in July. It was hot and miserable outside anyways, i'd rather have vacation days in fall and spring and co op days and 4H days and not have to worry about getting behind.

DS loves HOD and it is not uncommon for him to request to do LHFHG even after we get home from co op. LOL.

But co op is different than CC. With our co op, the classes are educational, yes, but the emphasis is on enjoying our time with other homeschoolers. It is more relaxed than CC. No extra material to go over at home, during the week.

[jer2911mom]

We had a co-op in the fall which was once a week for 7 weeks. It was not a problem because we were basically doing Bigger half-speed or three days a week at the most. I was doing it more for being with other kids dd's age. You can always do HOD 4 days a week. It would just take you into the next year a little while, but, there are many who don't get the guide finished in a year. We will be taking probably a year and a half to do Bigger. I pushed with Little Hearts and Beyond to get them done in a year, but it made things a little stressful. I made up my mind I would not do that with Bigger. I am not going to put a timetable on it. I need to use days for field trips, out of town doctor appts. that take the whole day, life skills, etc. So, it's up to you. If your dh wants you to be involved in CC, then do HOD 4 days a week. Since your dd will just be turning 5, taking more than a year for Little Hearts is not a big deal.

I thought about going 4 days a week with it all; I guess it is just a personal hang-up of mine to worry about somehow feeling behind, or like I'll always be playing catch up! I think I need to go repeat Matthew 6:34 over and over right now. We also talked about starting a little earlier in the year, which I suppose could give us a "head start" with staying caught up...

You actually have a "gap year" you can use with HOD and still finish all the guides. So there is flexibility built-in where you can do LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger 4 days a week and still finish all the guides if you start LHFHG in K. Otherwise, if you do one guide a year starting with LHFHG in K, you will finish all the guides the junior year of high school. So there is no need to worry about feeling "behind" or like you'll always be playing catch up!

[Tabitha]

I know it's different for each family, but a co-op isn't something I'm touching ever again. Did it once. Paid the price. Moving on. Our experience got me looking more into the local colleges and what they offer for dual credit shall I ever feel that something is needed in the upper grades. I don't plan on being in another co-op, but I also don't want rule out things for dual credit if that seems to be what is best for each of my girls.

We did a co-op for a year, about 2 years ago. It was not for us, and quite a nightmare for me. All my girls had work to bring home (grades K, 3 and 6 at the time), and they cared more about that then their regular work. I didn't want them to 'fail' in their work with the co-op, so time was spent on that when we needed it elsewhere. It was good to have them accountable to someone else, but the extra work load was more than I needed that year. When it rains, it pours. We did get 'behind.' It took us 18 months to get all our HOD stuff done that year, so it naturally pushed everything back.

Also, my required involvement at the co-op was more than was initially said because so many families left or either didn't show up in the beginning. I wanted to stop after the first semester, but kept on for the year. I didn't want the girls to see that you quit when it gets hard. My middle dd was bullied the entire year by one boy, and it got quite bad. We dealt with it in the end, when it was realized that the teachers weren't handling it as they implied. The boy started the next co-op year with strikes against him and he really had to tow the line. A nice outcome, though, was having this family over for all the children to play later that summer. The boy and my dd got along great. It was a nice for both us moms to have that happen.

Anyway, what I realized is that unless I am having the co-op work take the place of a class here at home, then it's not something for us to pursue. Many of the families used the co-op for their child's main schooling, carrying over the homework for their homeschooling at home. Then they'd add in English and Math, and that was it. There were even a few families that did 2-3 co-ops (and the majority of these children were quite poorly behaved).

Don't mean to be a downer, but that was my experience.

And since it is hard to stop something once you start, I promised the girls to do other things with them so we weren't just here at home. We have a weekly homeschool gym class on Thursday afternoon (we could go 3x week but that doesn't work out for us), and they do an art class that is held at a Baptist school Monday mornings (only homeschoolers are in this one). They took 2 6 week pottery classes last school year, and they are starting a session again next week for the first time this school year (again, all homeschoolers). One dd was taking piano before, and now all 3 are. This plan is much more fulfilling for all of us, and there is no extra work outside of piano practice.

[choochooboysmom]

Love! Love! Love our co-op! I don't feel the need to finish a unit per week, so I pick up where we left off the next day at home. Our co-op offers things like Karate, Ballet, Magic Tree House book club, Garden Detectives, etc. and my kids enjoy the break from our normal school day. I think you have to decide for yourself what is best for your own family. There is a season for everything!

[basesloaded]

We have found a coop that fits all of us and brings many benefits and blessings right now that we simply couldn't fill anywhere else. So it is currently worth any "at home" sacrifice we might need to make. On the other hand ... before this we had done many things and finally gave up on everything we were doing for a season because nothing we were participating in was worth the time we were giving it. I can say that in our lives coops have both been a blessing and a frustration at different times. I would never want to go back to the frustrating kind, ever! You really just have to find what fits you. Praying the Lord makes your choice clear.

[LynnH]

We do go to one, but I make sure my dc take enrichment type classes without much if any outside work. They take things like musical theater, singing lessons, drama, art etc. Sometimes my ds might take something that supports what he is doing in HOD just because the more he hears something the better he does learning it. He is taking a science class that is more about writing the lab report than doing the experiments so it goes hand in hand with what he is doing in Exploration Education. My dd graduates this year and she is the one that has wanted the social aspect of the co-op more than my ds. He and I have always agreed that if the co-op interferes in any way with his regular school (HOD) or his volunteer work at the animal shelter then we will drop it. Personally I would never do one that was all academic based because I feel that he gets more than enough doing HOD.

[mom23]

We had a chance to try one for the first time this year, and after praying about it opted not to join. I felt that anything the kids might gain from it would be offset by the stress it would add to their Mom! I just couldn't handle adding in anything besides school and my other responsibilities and still be the happy Mama I want to be for my kids.

[4Hispraise]

We don't attend a co op. We did for several years, but found that it interfered with what we were doing at home instead of adding to it or enhancing it. It was difficult to give up financially because I was a paid teacher, but it was the right thing for our family and our kids. I know that one of the keys to a happy home is submitting to my husband...and it was HIS idea for our family to drop out.

[luv2homeschool]

We meet with a group of families on Friday mornings in a co-op, we discuss a Bible story and do a character study together and just have fellowship, it's very enjoyable. Since my son is in Preparing, Fridays are Day 5 for us, so it's a day off of HOD. I decided to do Beyond with my daughter 4 days a week as well and it has worked wonderfully. We use Friday afternoons for projects or errands or catching up if we didn't get something finished that week.

I thought you had to pay for CC, so wouldn't the "tuition" for your 5 year old cancel out your earnings?

[my3sons]

We are not part of a co-op, but my sister Cindy was for awhile and enjoyed it for most of the years she was involved. For us, HOD already beautifully meets our academic needs, so we would only join a co-op for social reasons, or possibly for 1 day a week for fun academic activities. The co-ops around us are too heavy on academics for our needs - they would require too much time and double up on subjects/skills we are already covering well with HOD. So, we instead get together with cousins one afternoon each week for social needs. For extra fun academic type activities, we follow each of our dc's interests and invest in things that fit them. For our family, this has worked better than being a part of our local co-op. However, my sister Cindy (in Texas) has been part of various co-ops throughout the past 20 years and enjoyed some through the years, and dropped some through the years, for different reasons. Basically, co-ops exist for all different reasons. If you join a co-op with goals that match the needs you have, you have a good fit. If you join a co-op that has different goals than you have, it is not a good fit.

So,the first question to ask is, IMHO, is what is the purpose of the co-op?
*academic
*social
*both

The next question to ask is, what are you hoping the co-op will do for you and your family?
*fill an academic need
*fill a social need
*both

The last question is, will it interfere with your ability to homeschool your dc, or will it be a part of a balanced plan for them and for you? Considering HOD is written as a full, balanced, complete curriculum already, extra academics that extend beyond the one day off each week already planned for in the upper HOD guides, will probably tip the balance to the too heavy side of academics. Specific questions when considering joining a co-op might be...
*Will you or your dc's responsibilities in the co-op interfere with your being able to homeschool well? (i.e. Do you need to teach classes that may end up taking precedence over teaching your own dc well at home? Do your dc need to take classes that may have homework that ends up taking precedence over their being able to do their work for HOD well at home? Will funds be spent on the co-op that interfere with you being able to afford the books, resources, and materials you need to homeschool at home?, etc.)
*Can you still make homeschooling your dc as their teacher at home using HOD enough of a priority that you can complete about a guide or so a year? (Or whatever pacing best fits your dc's needs academically)
*Will the co-op have too much rigor that causes stress for you or your dc because your day is overloaded? And will you possibly then be skipping things in the HOD guide that really do need to be taught?
*Are you joining the co-op for social reasons, but really the co-op is also based on academics? Or vice versa?

The reason I pose these questions is because through the past decade I have seen many families join a co-op to fulfill social needs only to find out the co-op instead heaped on academics. This threw everything out of balance, and suddenly important things were getting skipped, stress was through the roof, and someone besides 'mom' was becoming the key teacher in dc's lives. On the other hand, other families LOVE their co-ops, are getting all of their HOD done consistently, and find the co-op to fill a need they have in a balanced, wonderful way!

So, I guess I would say, as with anything, it is pretty important to do your homework. Look at the kinds of activities, time commitments, and homework the co-op you are considering joining may require. Try to have realistic expectations going into it. In other words... Don't expect an academic co-op to fill a social need you have, and don't expect a social co-op to fill an academic need you have. On the flip side... Do expect an academic co-op that takes more time than you or your dc have to be too much academically, and do expect a social co-op that takes more time than you or your dc have to be too much socially. If a co-op is both a social and an academic co-op, try to weigh whether the 'extra' part of it that you don't really need is worth the added time and commitment it will add to your life. Or, see if you can choose to opt out of the extra part you don't need and only participate in the part you do need.

Co-ops can be a beautiful thing, can fill important needs, and can be something you look forward to each week. Or, they can be stressful, can be tough to quit, and can be what causes homeschooling not to get done. Only you can know which is the case for your family and for the co-op you are considering! Hope something here helps!

In Christ,
Julie