Yay! Starting a co-op! Your thoughts....

[Savoir Faire]

After one full year in another co-op, we're deciding to start one ourselves. (Actually, we're still participating in the other one-- I'm even teaching a class again.)

Our co-op is going to be on Friday afternoons....after our homeschool's game day.

I put out a message on our group board yesterday afternoon and we're already up to 14 children interested. I'm hoping to have the co-op offer classes from PreK to high school.

I've ordered a book about starting co-ops...but my only experience so far is what I know from our co-op. Luckily, I do know kids and having fun and I enjoy organizing!

I have some questions I'd like to throw out there and get other's opinions on the matter.

*Name tags? It seems a lot of the groups I've researched do name tags. I could see this being a good idea, especially for us Moms who often forget each other's names! Do you do name tags?

*What about snacks for the younger kids? The class would start after lunch... but I know how the little ones are always hungry

*What fees does your group offer?

*Any advice?

I'm very excited. There really seems to be a need plus an interest for this... and I can imagine it would be very fun for other families.

[ohiomommy1122]

what book did you get about co-ops

[phathui5]

Here's one in our area that's been around for a while. We've thought about using them, but haven't decided yet:

http://www.hlacny.com/

Their site has a lot of information.

[sbgrace]

That sounds fun! I'd like name tags personally.

I don't know some of your other questions but snacks would be tough for those with kids with life threatening food allergies. I know that seems "out there" sometimes but that group is, generally, over-represented in homeschooling because some parents find homeschooling ideal for a child with such severe allergies. So I'd be a happier mom in your group if, if you felt you had to do snacks, you kept them to things like fruit that are less likely to have potential deadly cross contamination risks for kids with allergies. My son is also fruit allergic but nuts or sesame could kill him and sesame particularly can be in almost anything. For some kids residue is a major issue.

[phathui5]

You could just have parents bring their child's snack if they feel like they'll need one.

[accidental_hs'er]

What type of co-op?

I started a co-op with another mom. I am familiar with a few that run in my neighbourhood. My co-op is purely academic and for kids school-aged (with younger siblings welcome). It is an opportunity for our kids to do group work together, present projects to each other and to do activities that are more cost effective for large groups. It runs twice a month and is pretty labour intensive. For that reason each family has to host/teach one or two sessions per year. Other than the cost of materials for the host day, the co-op is free. We managed to get a free community room next to the library and the library loans us a librarian to help with materials for the topic that day.

We started off with a list of rules and went from there. People would come and go, see if they were interested in our co-op. Since there is real commitment needed from our members it took nearly a full year to get over a dozen families committed to our group.

We don't offer snacks unless it is part of the plan for that day's activities.

Name tags are essential in the beginning. We have parents and kids use them. (Parents stay to help at our co-op.) I find it easier to interact with new kids by addressing them by name. I hate forgetting names and having to ask over and over again.

My advice, be very clear on what you want from the beginning. This is not to say that input from others won't help. A good co-op will grow and adjust. I have heard from other groups that problems can happen when you wind up with too many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone has their own idea and opinion about the details. Figure those out quickly and you will run into fewer problems along the way. Details such as money, time commitment and rules should be ironed out asap.

Michelle

[Savoir Faire]

Well, I'm looking at a mid to large size co-op....or that's what we want it to grow into. Obviously, I can't expect a bunch of people in the first month!

I'm using the Homeschool Co-ops book...though, honestly, too many chapters are devoted to "pros/cons" and such...and a lot of the info is free on the author's site.

Sigh.

I definitely don't have the desire to be in charge of snacks for such a large group...but my concern would be having a set time/place to schedule them in....

So many things are still up in the air (annoying!)....but I know once I can figure them out...it is going to be pretty grand.