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Sarah M
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Do you participate in one? Is it worth it?
What I want (for next year) is for both dd's to meet some other homeschoolers and develop some strong friendships with them. What I don't want is just something else that takes us away from home, or adds to our workload here (with homework or whatever). I'm trying to discern if I should go the co-op route or not. There are mostly protestant ones nearby, but there is one Catholic one about 35 minutes away.... truth be told, I'm leaning toward the protestant one because it's close, big, very organized, and they have a colorguard that performs in the parades--dd would just eat that up.
That said, any commitment outside the home that meets every week is likely to feel overwhelming to us. We spend *a lot* of time at home, and we like it that way... we know several homeschoolers, but my daugthers have yet to develop a strong bond with other h'sers their age...
Thoughts?
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JodieLyn
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for what you're looking for.. I'd look for a group that has a "play day" type of thing periodically and would let you just attend that.
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mom2mpr
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When we moved I found co-op the place we all could meet other people. My kids were able to connect with kids their ages, I was able to talk to parents, and get to know whole families. It was good. The kids were "captive" and had to get to know one another in their classes. During playground visits it was hard as kids who knew each other would hang with each other. My kids had a hard time "breaking in." Co-op did provide us friends and now we can hit any other activity with this group and know at least one other family. Even playground dates.
It was a lot of time. We did the 30 minute drive too. Our co-op was every other week(6 classes. If I had it to do over I would only do that activity. It was too much with baseball, piano and gymnastics. I think the only reason I survived was that every other week thing.
Personally, I would, if I had the option, drive to the Catholic one because I find it wonderful for my kids to have back up in my teaching of the faith. The examples of the other families and kids is so helpful for me. I would be wary, and a lot of that comes from my time down south, of other co-ops. I would read the statement of faith carefully and realize that some teachings might not be in concert with our churches teachings. There is also competition and recruiting that goes on. My neighbor's family(homeschooling) was trying hard to get us to change churches even after politely telling them that we were happy where we were. There were ramifications for months after from ds--wanted to go to C's church because it was so much more fun(we allowed him to go once with this family). Hard stuff, sometimes. I personally would go secular over a Protestant co-op due to my experiences(there is a little bit of everything there and we did meet many Catholics in our group). It may be different where you are but if I had the Catholic option I would spend my efforts and energy there. I am sure there are Protestant co-ops that welcome and understand Catholics. We have to be aware of the angle the co-op is driven from. Catholic co-ops are going to have Holy Hours and rosaries being said, a Protestant one may allow teaching about the bible being the sole authority. You kind of need to know these things.
Hope that helps. The bottom line is co-op was a wonderful social experience for my family and worth the time.
Anne
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10 Bright Stars
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Sarah,
I just purchased "Haystack Full of Needles" not really knowing what to expect in a book on socialization. Let me tell you, it was a VERY inspirational read!!! I would highly recommend it.
We belong to a co-op. I am blessed the my SIL is a teacher at the co-op and takes my co-op aged children with her when she goes allowing me to stay home with my two oldest boys who are too old for the co-op (our co-op is only for pre-k-5). This has worked out great for us, and whenever I can, I try to go and help teach a class etc. (Which is fairly rare unfortunately, but I do try to participate in prep-work nights that they sometimes have, and go to the planning meetings etc.)
So, I would highly recommend it, especially since you have such young children. Have fun while you can! When the kids get older, I feel at least, you become much more of a slave to the schooling due to their course load being so full. As far as the Catholic vs. the Protestant, I would agree that the Catholic one would affirm your faith, but can understand the attraction to one that is organized etc. I know of a Catholic lady in our parish that took her girls to all the Protestant co-ops functions/fieldtrips etc since there wasn't anything Catholic going on at the time. They went to plays, theaters etc. So, maybe pray about it and see what you think after that.
Good luck!
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
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William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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Connections
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Sarah-
After reading the responses it is obvious that this is a very personal choice dependent on your family's needs, etc.
For our family, we prefer not to have a weekly commitment to co-op. We tried it but it ate the whole day and was not the pay-off we hoped for. I love to see co-ops popping up and successful since I think it will be more beneficial when my boys are older and are looking for the regularity and challenges of a classroom setting. For us, for now, we prefer the game days and one-off opportunities our HS group offers.
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Tracey
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Sarah M
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Thanks, everyone!
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mrsmurphy
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Hey Sarah, I personally love the co-op/play group idea. I try to get out at least once a week to be with friends and purposely schedule a 4 day school work week to make this happen. I find that when my children are with other children who are also homeschooled and live in a similar home environment to ours they feel more motivated at home to get their school work and chores done cheerfully. I am part of a few different groups, and I believe it actually takes about 1-2 years of searching, "weeding through" to find families that are a right fit for yours to socialize with. They may be Catholic, they may not be. I am first part of a Catholic moms group, there are 4 of us! & we socialize around Little Flowers & Blue Knights meetings that we organize ourselves and rotate houses, we also do liturgical year activities etc. Another is part of the military base we are near, they do monthly roller skating and field trips and a monthly fine-art co-op. And finally there is a great group of moms just in my town, and our kids do hs open gym, sleep overs and now weekly park afternoons to just get out. This group is full of faithful women, but religion never comes up, its just not an issue. I feel I have finally found my niche and now we are going to move and I have to do it all over again!
Anyway, my point is, we love to be at home too, but the rewards of home shine brighter when you get out regularly, it's worth it!
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TracyQ
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We just joined one this year. It's purpose is for enrichment, not actual classes, though you can apply some of what they do to your homeschooling requirements. For instance, Sarah is taking an art class, a drama class, a sewing, and a baking class. So all of these can actually be applied to her requirements for this year, and that makes things somewhat easier on me in some ways.
However, it is a LOT of work for me to plan the classes that I have to teach, and a lot of stress every other Friday when we go. I wouldn't mind if both Sarah and I thought it was worth it. She told me the other day that she'd prefer not to do co-op next year, as she begins high school. I was relieved!   
We attend a protestant co-op, but our daughter is 13, and very strong in her faith. I think if we joined earlier, it would have been an issue. Sarah hasn't enjoyed the *worship time* before we begin with the screen up singing *worship songs* (we're big hymn people here  ), and the praying of course, calls attention to some of our differences. But that said, we have been immersed in protestant friends, some family, and one of our support groups for homeschooling, so it's not new, it's just frustrating at times.
And the ONE thing Sarah most wanted to do was to be in a play. She wants to act, and do some theatre stuff. She signed up for drama, which she likes, BUT they are doing a play where she said the *message* is the 'Salvation message', and she said she knows it's not the fullness of what we believe. I'm so glad she recognized that, and was able to articulate that to me very clearly. And the drama part is very good for her. But she is having to compromise her beliefs a bit by being in this play, but was already committed to it.
So I think all in all, it really does depend on many things. These are just our experiences this one year. She has made some friends, but is involved in lots of things, so I don't think it's imperative we're doing co-op for the socialization. There are plenty of other opportunities available to us.
I hope this helps.
Tracy
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Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Bookswithtea
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...Ummmm...it really depends on the type of coop it is. This is just my personal experience, but the big, highly organized ones with lots of bells and whistles have more problems associated with them than the smaller ones. They tend to act more like traditional schools, the expectations on you as a volunteer can be very high (which is fine unless you are chasing your own littles as well), and even the enrichment classes often give homework, which I hate. On top of that, there can be some of the same social pressures on your kids in these big ones that there are in traditional schools.
And a weekly obligation can be murderous on a larger family's natural rhythms. What do you do when the 3 yr old has a fever but the older ones are fine and want to go, and you are expected to go and be a helper in your 7 yr old's art class and having a sick kid doesn't get you out of your obligation? What that often means is you end up holding a sick 3 yr old on your lap who is dosed up on tylenol. And unfortunately, other moms are doing the same thing, too.
We belong to a very small, every other week coop. The atmosphere is familial, so people pitch in when someone can't come rather than expecting you to show up with sick kids. Our classes are clearly marked as "homework" classes or not. The costs are kept down. No one is making a profit off of anyone else. Small coops mean that kids play with everyone rather than developing cliques (this is a huge problem in bigger coops, imho). It works for us. But until I found this one, I had sworn off of coops.
Some protestant coops welcome Catholic members. Others are not as comfortable. Check to see if they have a statement of faith and if you decide to give it a try, just start with 1 class period and get a feel for the group. And if you are looking for next fall, it could be really helpful to you to visit both the protestant and the Catholic ones before the end of this schoolyear.
.02
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~Books
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melanie
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I have some kids older than yours, and they are the main reason we participate in a co-op. The youngers are happy enough at home with a park day here and there with friends, but the older two, especially the oldest, a very outgoing 12yo girl, *love* co-op day. For me, it is "one stop shopping" for socialization. It's a pain in the rear some times, it takes all day one day a week 20 weeks out of the year, but with a wide age spread of kids it works out really well. My 12yo feels a bit too grown up for park days, and the little kids get dragged to things for the big kids so much, but there's something for everyone at co-op. :) It also allows my older kids to participate in the fun school type activities. They get to have lunch and recess with friends, have school pictures, a science fair, pajama day, that kind of thing.
Ok, I hope this makes sense, I have been interrupted 247 times.
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Cay Gibson
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Our first day of co-op is tomorrow. Please pray. The children are excited. My foot is half in my doorway and half outside. It's a wild ride.
If it were just me, I'd stay home. The children always take me outside of myself.
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Cay Gibson
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Mary G
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We've landed in a great co-op down here (and some of the ladies in it are even lurkers here  ) ... but it does take up our day. It's an all-day (well 9:30-1:oo) but I've just done it so that co-op day is also our grocery shopping, library and other errand-run day. My 10yos loves the break from his Seton work ... altho we do tweak his Seton-provided syllabi to reflect a 4-day week and it seems to be working so far. The other two are doing "mom's eclectic education" this year, so they're good-to-go.
BTW, mater-et-magistra is planning to do the January issue on all kinds of co-ops, so that will be a great resource for you too.
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Bethany
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We just joined a Co - op and had our first meeting on Friday. It's 3 Friday's on,one off, for a total of 9 each semester. We have our first class at 11:20 then go to Mass, eat lunch, then have 2 more classes. My girls really seemed to like it and the ages are Nursery to HS. So far it seems pretty flexible and low key. All the moms help or teach, but if you need to have your baby or toddler with you that is fine. Which is good because my 21 mo old would not do the nursery. If your pregnant, they also give you a little more slack. It's not huge, maybe 30 families, 25 or so participating this semester, but well organized. Luckily, it meets at my parish, which is about a mile from my house. I don't think there's ever homework, but my oldest is only in the 2nd grade. Her classes are Ancient Greece, Advent/Christmas ornaments, and First Communion. I'm really excited about the FHC class because our parish is recognizing it and the kids will get to receive together and we don't have the additional Faith Formation classes. This is our only outside activity which is what I wanted so we could see how it went and if we wanted to continue.
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melanie
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We just started our co-op last week, and I am reminded again of my love/hate relationship with it.
It was a really long day. But they loved it so much. Ours works differently than a lot of them in that you can pay tuition, or you can teach to earn tuition credit. Well, with three kids, my tuition is $450. I'm teaching two classes, which earned about half that in tuition credit. So,,,it's not cheap. When I break it down per kid/per week, it is a cheap way to spend a day, but still, it hurts to write that check. And I can't imagine teaching when I have a newborn and a 2 year old, so our co-op days may be gone once this babe is born! Because I really don't think I'm going to pay $450 each term.
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Melanie
homeschooling Maria (13yo), Kain (10yo), Jack (5yo), Tess (2yo), and our newest blessing, Henry Robert, born 4/23!
slightlycrunchycatholic.blogspot.com
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sewcrazy
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I just formed a co-op at our parish this year. We meet on Wednesdays. We start with Mass, then 2 hours of classes: science, history and Latin, then lunch and end this half and hour of adoration. I needed someting like this for my family and all the coop around here were to big, too expensive and too time intensive, so I formed my own! We have 18 families and 39 children.
I hope you find something that works for your family.
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LeeAnn
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Paula in MN
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Not sure how I missed this!
We've been in a co-op for several years. It's Christian, but most of the homeschooling families from our parish are involved. We have class day once a month, along with 4H, mom's meetings, field trips and a family potluck. I'd love to see class day go to once a week, but there's a lot of resistance.
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margot helene
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Mary G wrote:
BTW, mater-et-magistra is planning to do the January issue on all kinds of co-ops, so that will be a great resource for you too. |
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Yes yes . . . Please any of you ladies who participate in co-ops that work well, would you consider writing up a little description of it that we can use in an upcoming issue of the magazine. We'd like to know how it's organized, how much time commitment is expected of each family, etc etc etc. I'm hoping that with all the contributions, patterns of successful co-ops will emerge and I think that will be very helpful to others.
SO, please do send me your information!!!
You can PM me.
Thanks
Margot
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Paula in MN
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margot helene wrote:
Yes yes . . . Please any of you ladies who participate in co-ops that work well, would you consider writing up a little description of it that we can use in an upcoming issue of the magazine. We'd like to know how it's organized, how much time commitment is expected of each family, etc etc etc. I'm hoping that with all the contributions, patterns of successful co-ops will emerge and I think that will be very helpful to others.
SO, please do send me your information!!!
You can PM me.
Thanks
Margot |
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Margot, when would you like to have the information?
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Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Topic: Homeschool co-ops
