When we began homeschooling four years ago, I knew I wanted to connect with other Catholic homeschooling families.
As second generation homeschoolers, we wanted to raise our children within a strong, supportive homeschooling community, something that didn’t exist twenty plus years ago during my husband’s homeschool years.
There was one family we knew that homeschooled, but their children were much older than ours. Kindly, the mother of that family offered to introduce me to some other Catholic homeschooling families. What a gift she gave me! The mothers and children from several families gathered at her home. It was so encouraging to interact with others who were on the same journey!
Through that gathering, I met one mother whose family was at the same stage as ours-just beginning the homeschooling walk.
Several months passed and I realized if I wanted a strong homeschooling community around me, I would need to put some of my own effort into it. The ball was in my court! So I called up the other young mother I had met and asked if she would like to come to our house for supper and if she knew some other families we could invite. She knew of two other families and we ended up with four young homeschooling families at our house for supper and fellowship.
Through mutual acquaintances and word-of-mouth, our young homeschooling family group grew to seven awesome families. While getting to know these families, I always expressed my desire to begin a homeschool co-op. Many of the other mothers shared that desire.
After about a year of meeting sporadically with these young families, two other mothers and I stepped out and began creating a plan to begin our very own Catholic homeschool co-op.
After having gone through this, here is a simplified list of steps you can take to establish a homeschool co-op in your community along with some tips to help you along.
Steps to Creating a homeschool Co-op
1.Connect with other Homeschooling Families
If you want friends, you must be a friend. When you hear of a new homeschooling family, step out and invite them to your home. Your house doesn’t have to be perfect- invite others into your messy life! Chances are, they are a bit messy too! I know opening our home to others help forge important friendships. Besides, it is a beautiful thing to teach our children how to pour into others.
2.Gather your team
Our co-op would never have gotten off the ground if just one mother was working on it. The three of us who teamed-up each had a strength we used to get the ball rolling. Ask someone if they would be willing to help you get the co-op underway. Delegate and assign each person tasks. Have regular meetings (or playdates!) where you can flesh out some of the little details. Those friends you made in Step 1 sure come in handy!
3.Determine your Co-op Goals
Know what you want to accomplish with your co-op. Talk to other homeschoolers who may be interested in joining your co-op and find out their goals. If I could name our co-op’s top two goals it would be: building Catholic community and celebrating our faith together. Maybe you value a co-op that achieves some academic goals or service.
4.Choose your materials/projects/theme
Pre-arranged materials are a boost in helping your co-op run smoothly, especially in the beginning years. Our co-op has run for three years now and has done something different every year. We have used Classically Catholic Memory, Little Flowers/Blue Knights, and just celebrated liturgical events through activities. We also have done regular field trips. I would encourage you to keep things as simple as possible while you try to get things off the ground. Keep the cost of participating low.
5.How often will you Meet?
Will you meet weekly? Every other week? or Monthly? Our co-op usually meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month. The first Tuesday is devoted to our activities and the third Tuesday is reserved for field trips, service, practice for drama, and art class (taught through DVD).
6.Where will you meet?
Finding a good location can be difficult or as easy as using a local church. Depending on your location, you may need to look into insurance.
7.Who will lead or teach?
Will parents share teaching responsibilities or will one person be the teacher? Will you hire a teacher?
8.Gather all your information and send out
Whatever you decide, collect it all in a document and send it out to your fellow homeschoolers via email or snail mail. Our co-op also sends out email reminders the week before we meet to remind participants of what we will be doing the next week.
9.Pray
Our group covered the co-op in prayer and I think that was a HUGE part of the co-op’s success. We started planning meetings with prayer. We begin each co-op meeting with prayer. The first year, we had a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus rotated among the co-op families to encourage them to pray for our group. How can you pray for God’s guidance and help in establishing your co-op? Prayer is essential!
10.Relax and have a wonderful year!
You will not be able to please every homeschooling family with what you plan for your co-op. Accept that reality, don’t take it personally, and enjoy your year. It goes without saying to treat the other families with love and respect.
Our homeschooling friends we have made through our co-op are literally the hands and feet of Jesus to our family. If you desire to make a co-op a reality for your local community, step out in faith, pray, and you will be blessed in your efforts!
