Homeschooling Cooperatives?

[Becca's momma]

HI, I'm in upstate NY amidst a wealth of schooling options and am looking to form a cooperative/collective homeschooling (unschooling) resource group.

My daughter is almost five and we have many interests and hobbies. My hubby and I both work part-time schedules to share the parenting responsibilities. We have an organic garden, a golden retreiver and a love for travel. He is a nurse and optician and I am a former special ed teacher. We did the cloth diaper, extended nursing, co-sleeping, with much success and wish to continue to support our child in an AP group of like minded souls.

While there are a number of homeschooling groups, I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who has had success with some type of collective.

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

[gilnikche]

Hmmm, surprised to see no responses here. I would suggest to first look for a local homeschool group. Then network from there to find more info. Even though your child is not official school age, it is never too early to start hanging out with other homeschooler's. You can learn much from them! I found a local group through this site:

http://www.roserock.org/

Sounds like you already are homeschooling:cool:

[teastaigh]

Hi,
There is a co-op for preK through 2nd graders in my town. It was organized by one of the homeschooling moms. It meets one morning for two hours every other week, and it's for crafts. Moms (or Dads) take turns organizing, and everyone chips in for supplies.

I have a friend who is in a more intensive co-op. She and 4 other families have hired a teacher to come to her house 3 afternoons a week for 3 hours. They do all kinds of wonderful things. They've built looms. They've worked on discrete mathematics - like discovering Fibonacci sequences in nature which ultimately builds a foundation for the Calculus. They've studied French as a group. They learned parts of Handel's Messiah, and put on a concert. It's just amazing. The parents have worked together to develop the plans to harmonize with what they are doing at home. The teacher is paid well for the time. They keep things simple in terms of logistics but big in terms of dreams and impacts. I like "listening" in as I plan to organize something like this once my tiny boy sleeps at night for more than two or three hours at a stretch ... maybe in another year when he's two himself.