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4 Secrets to Creating Your Own Successful Homeschool Co-op

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Savoring the food of the Amazon region in a banana wrapped leaf, dancing the minuet like George Washington, creating Native American crafts with beadwork and studying the healing power of plants like Lewis & Clark did are just a few of the adventures that my sons and I have participated in as I led a homeschool co-op.

4 Secrets to Creating Your Own Successful Homeschool Co-op

In my many years of homeschooling, I have seen numerous elaborate definitions of a co-op, but in its most basic form a co-op is simply a group of two or more families meeting together to share their collective efforts in teaching their children all together.

Depending on your personal experiences in participating in co-ops, you may conjure up in your mind a picture of your children engaging in awesome hands-on activity along with socialization or you may picture a mini-version of a very regimented public school that you probably fled not too long ago.

Understanding some basic facts in how co-ops are developed will help you to determine if a co-op is a good fit for your family.

Enhance Your Journey or Encumber It

There is no one set of rules for any co-op. Co-ops can be very informal without many rules or it can be as formal as public school.

Take time to ask questions after you determine if you want to meet for socialization or to meet strictly for academic purposes.

One note of caveat for new and struggling homeschoolers is that sometimes you may join a co-op to ease the burden of teaching, but actually create an environment where you may feel trapped.

Regimented schedules, turning in homework assignments and preparing extra-curricular activities are a few reasons why some homeschool families find co-ops more stressful than helpful.  They can feel a little too much public schoolish.

Do not leave the rigidness of public school to trade it away the freedom so quickly to a very regulated co-op.

Co-ops can spring up or shut down at any time. Realizing that most co-ops are ran by homeschooling parents like yourself, you will appreciate that rules are made by the homeschooling parents as they lead the group.

Most co-ops expect all the parents to shoulder some of the responsibility of running the co-op whether it is teaching, supervising toddlers, cleaning or making copies.

Unless the co-op is being ran like a small private school, most co-op leaders welcome the help. Normally it is the few doing the work of the many.

Because there is so much variety in classes like teaching crafts to preschoolers to preparing teens for driving in high school, co-ops can spring up and shut down each year or at any time during the year.

Most groups try to have their goals written down by the start of the school year, but even that can change.

Clear expectations by either a group you create or either join will avoid a lot of misery down the road.

Homeschool Co-op Conundrum

Avoid confusion of which co-op to join by having clear in your mind your purpose for participating. For example, I knew when I formed our private local co-op that my main purpose was for socialization and enrichment.

I was not interested in anybody teaching subjects like the 3 R’s to my sons because I wanted to do that.

Did I mention teaching my three at home was way more relaxing too?

The co-op serves as a refreshing break in our routine so I didn’t want a weekly co-op, but one that met once or twice a month. In addition, I wanted like-mind parents who have Christian values and a place where my sons could make lasting friends and memories.

Too, I purposely kept the co-op small because it is easier to make friends in a more cozier environment.
Activities like doing a lab, presenting a geography report to an audience and drama are better done in a group setting. It is nice to have an audience for projects.

My sons have benefited from doing those activities and have become more well rounded out in their education.

In one area I lived in we had a homeschool mom who use to be a high school Spanish teacher. My older sons took her classes which was ran more like a mini private school.

Though I prefer a more informal and hands-on setting, I took advantage of local resources for enrichment. It has only strengthened my sons’ skills in foreign languages.

4 Secrets To Creating Your Own Successful Homeschool Co-op @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When You Gift Others

I can’t hum a tune, draw a beautiful portrait or shoot professional pictures, but none of those things are required to serve others.

Sharing with other homeschoolers and teaching is a gift.

It’s true that when you serve in a leadership position it can have trials. But I have a secret to admit and that is I am the one that always feels blessed after leading the co-op.

Over the years I have learned that each homeschooling parent possesses a gift or two whether they admit it or not.

You do not have to be a former public school teacher to teach a subject, but you do need to love the subject you teach.

Instead of looking into joining a co-op, can you form one near you? Beginnings are important. So start slow with a just few of your like-minded friends.

Meet once a month and use forums like yahoo to communicate and set up polls.

Avoid the modern day quick methods of communication like texting that interrupts your day schooling your children.

In the beginning, it’s easy to communicate like this, but as the group grows, your time can be consumed by taking care of the needs of others.

Don’t neglect your own homeschool routine and family.
When you use something like an online forum or email list, each teaching parent can respond to emails after she has taken care of her family for the day. It also trains others in your group that your priority is your own family and to be considerate of your time.

There are a wide variety of curriculum resources to use from laid out lesson plans to unit studies that make leading a cinch. Unit studies are my very favorite in teaching multiple ages because there is something for all ages to do.

Serving others is a joy and your blessing in giving will be immeasurable not only to your children, but for all others that come your way.

Creating the co-op we had took time. My first attempts at meeting with others wasn’t a fit for our family because of either the scheduling or activities.

Forming a co-op after my previous failed attempts ended up being a blessing for our family because we then met with like-minded families.

Shared experiences and fostering friendships for a lifetime have heightened our homeschool adventures.

Have you been part of a co-op that has changed your life?

3 Homeschool Co-op History Resources Worth Exploring

5 Days of a Homeschooling Co-op Convert

Do You Want Me to Look Over Your Homeschool Curriculum Choices?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I am always trying to think of ways that can help you to keep on homeschooling.  We are all different and have different needs from blogs.

I want you to know that I truly care about you sticking around here and especially about you not just surviving homeschool, but really making the journey one that is a treasured memory while not giving up high academic standards.

So this blog post is really short, but one I hope you find helpful or at least encouraging.  Many times throughout the years, I would have just liked another set of eyes looking over my curriculum choices for my kids.

You know, sometimes you just want another set of eyes to see if you are covering the essentials in homeschooling or sometimes you want to take a different path and want somebody else to take a look at your curriculum choices.

I’m asking:

Do you want me to look over your homeschool curriculum choices?

I can say that I will try my best to look over them all and maybe use some of your choices here on my blog to share with others.

I have just a request or two.  Help me out in case I get overwhelmed because I would like to try to answer each email personally.

List these important things so I have a pretty good picture of your homeschooling situation.

  • Ages of children that you’re homeschooling and the curriculum that each child is using. Be specific about listing the curriculum of each child.
  • Ages of children that you are not formally homeschooling, but are taking care of this year.
  • If you’re working outside the house?
  • How long you have been homeschooling? And finally,
  • What your overall goals are or why you chose that particular curriculum?

Fill in the contact form on my blog form. One tip for forming your email is to type your email in a word document so you can see it, and then copy/paste it into the box on the contact form.

Yikes!!! I may be crazy for doing this, but this is one thing I wished I had in the beginning of my homeschool journey or just when I was struggling as the boys entered another phase or grade.

Hugs and love ya,

Tina 2015 Signature

Finding Curriculum for Unique Learners

What If I Choose the Wrong Homeschool Curriculum

How to Use a Boxed Curriculum without Giving Up Your Homeschool Approach

 

Accreditation Removing the Shroud of Mystery

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Let’s get a bit technical today.  My legal brain loves to go to details like this, but more than anything because I get a lot of questions about accreditation, I wanted to share a basic overview of what is accreditation and if it’s important to you.

Homeschoolers throw this word out and then stop to take a deep breath because they are not sure if they should be shopping for something that says accredited, running from it or just standing in place freaking out.

GETTING SMART WITH ACCREDITATION

Since I love layman’s language too and simple is always better let’s break down accreditation removing the shroud of mystery that seems to loom over it.

The first step in understanding whether or not you need to investigate more about accreditation is to grasp a basic meaning of it.

Accreditation. A voluntary process by schools to an agency that certifies that the school has met certain requirements and is an official school. 

In the United States, accreditation is an entirely voluntary process.

Can you see that right away the term official becomes a problem?  Why?   Because if you are legally going to need an accredited school, the next logical question is accredited by whom.  I’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s soak in this definition a bit more.

Homeschooling and Accreditation

In layman’s language, an accredited agency establishes guidelines saying that your child attended a real or legal school.

  Now don’t get your hairs bristled yet because I am right there with you, but key to understanding this is to understand it from a legal point of view.

It is a way of one educational institutional assuring another educational institution, usually an institute of higher education, like a four year college that the diploma meets certain qualifications or standards.

It is about establishing guidelines or standards.

Too, when accredited becomes a topic for discussion, it is normally during the high school years, but not always. More on that in a minute too.

If you live in a state or country that requires an accredited program, then understanding the big players recognized by the government is key to being selectively picky about a school that voluntarily goes through the accrediting process.

Goodness sakes, there is no need to memorize them, we have enough on our plates. Just be familiar with the agencies.

As you can see, if you need an accredited school, it’s just as important to be sure it’s accredited by one of these six regional bodies that are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
New England Association of Schools and Colleges
Northwest Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Western Association of Schools and Colleges

There are good accrediting agencies and bad ones, recognized ones and unrecognized ones, legitimate ones and phony ones. 

I don’t want to completely make your eyes pop out, because there are other accrediting agencies that I have seen through the years that are excellent, but the key is to understanding whether or not a majority of high learning institutes will recognize them.

Let’s separate the legal information now from what works for giving a child a superior education.

  A fine detail, but huge point homeschoolers over look when they get anxious about accreditation is understanding that accreditation has nothing to with the value of an education or the curriculum.

WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT ACCREDITATION

The two terms accreditation and superior education are not synonymous.

Schools throw out  that term as if attending one of those schools gives your child an edge in learning. It does not.

Helping new homeschoolers, I have seen some of the worst private schools accredited and I have seen some very small private school not accredited that offer an excellent educational program.

Accreditation may become important for these 3 reasons:

  • 1. It may be important in the elementary years, if you don’t plan to school longer than a year.  After putting your child back into school,  your local school may require proof that your child used an accredited school before they advance them to the next grade.
  • 2. Normally accredited is used more when your teen approaches high school and is deciding what path to take for their post high school years.  Helping homeschoolers whose children went on to the military is where an accredited diploma is important. This though could be a whole article on its own, but to keep it simple, please be sure you look into this if your child is planning a route that way.
  • 3. The next area where you need to know if your child has to have an accredited diploma is either if you live in a state that requires it or if your child is wanting to pursue a career that specifically asks for a diploma from an accredited school.

As you can see, thousands and thousands of homeschoolers have gone on to elite colleges with a mommy degree and without the need for an accredited school.

Homeschoolers may still be the minority in colleges, but it’s not the minority that understand how driven our homeschooled kids are and the superior value of their high school education without an accreditation agency can’t be denied.

Understanding that accreditation is not a mystery, but fulfills legal requirements and is used mostly when your child approaches the teen years helps you to understand whether or not an accredited school is something you need for your family.

What’s your answer when somebody asks you if your children attend an accredited school?

Hugs and love ya

Did you miss these posts?

3 Wrong Ways to Homeschool a Hotheaded Child

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When I started homeschooling my first son, Mr. Senior 2013, he was the perfect child to school or least I thought so.  Along came Mr. Awesome and I was humbled because all of the sudden I had a hotheaded and stubborn child on my hands or least I thought so.

I just knew he was going to be defiant because of the way he wouldn’t sit like I thought he should, quietly as I taught him to read like I did with my oldest son.

Fast forward a few years into homeschooling my middle son and after many days that ended with tears (mine), it was hard to swallow the pill that I was the one creating the havoc.

Growing a Renegade Homeschooler

Today in 3 wrong ways to homeschool a hotheaded child, I want to share what I did wrong.

1. Assume that all children learn the same.

Because Mr. Awesome was very young, there were some questions I had to ponder as to my parenting and homeschooling. I had to figure out if I was the cause or not.  Sure, it’s easy to blame it on the kid because self-examination is not easy.

He wasn’t old enough to articulate and even at that some teens who struggle with how you teach a subject can’t articulate it either.  They might feel like you are the teacher and are doing things “right” and so the problem must be the kids.

Sad to say, some homeschool moms feel that way too.  They don’t analyze their approach, they just assume they have a defiant child.  They may, but then again, do they create the child that way because a parent won’t move out of the way they think.

Do you think there is something wrong with your child because he learns differently than you?  Do you feel your way is the best way of teaching because it is the way you process information?

See, I figured out that my middle son’s personality was opposite of mine.

Instead of feeding his desire to learn, I was suffocating it.  I was given him no choice but to act out because he had no other way of telling me.

2. Expecting my middle son who had a passion to create, learn outside the box and seize the moment to stay in the box because it felt right for me. Ouch.

Inexperienced homeschooling teacher that I was, I was more concerned about proving progress to others instead of learning how my son progressed and learned.

Rebellion was my son’s only way of letting me know that the way I so defiantly moved ahead in what worked for my first son didn’t work for him.  Where did my middle son get his stubborn streak from?

I was afraid he was going to be one of those little boys who was always disruptive because he never sat still and didn’t want to learn at a desk because that is where I thought learning took place.

3.  Schedule his every learning moment. 

Though my oldest son thrived when he could check off things on his list, my middle son felt trapped and confined.  From my middle son’s need to have flexibility and my need to not give up a routine, I created what I call zones in our day.

The morning zone is school, the afternoon zone is reading and the evening zone is family or play time.  As he grew, I gave him boundaries, but within those hours of the school zone he was free to choose which subjects he wanted to start with first and where to do them at.  He just had to get them done.

Now that Mr. Awesome is close to finishing his high school years, I again have tears but for a very different reason.

I am grateful for his gifts and how he taught me to be the kind of homeschooling educator I wanted to be.  Not one that insisted on her way or the highway, but one that could embrace many different learning styles.

He is the child that shook me out of my comfort zone and into creating lapbooks.  He is my inspiration for every lapbook created as I think about those learners who live life with so much gusto and need to move to make things happen.

As he fell behind in spelling one year with many sleepless nights on my part that year and then moved two grade levels up the next year, I realized to relax and embrace the ebb and flow of his learning.

Continuing to put in front of him what I wanted him to learn, he would come grab it from the learning table and run.  My kid who ate on the run learned on the run and all I had to do was to be sure it was on the table when he came back.

Understanding too that I didn’t have to give up everything that I loved about the classical approach or what my goals were for him, I knew that I could alter any of the homeschool approaches and embrace the unit study approach too.
I could expand any approach to include activities that suited the way my son learned best, which is through moving and hands-on.

I bucked the norm or system thinking that if a child was having fun or moving that he wasn’t learning and the way he now attacks his high school curriculum with such care to his grades and what he is learning is way more thanks than I could ever ask for.

As I mentioned he is close to finishing high school years, but I am not sure I will ever be done telling you about the things I learned from my “hotheaded” child.

But what if a child is actually willfully disobedient? Check out Homeschool Rebel or Resister and But the Little Dear Doesn’t Want to Homeschool.

Are you struggling with teaching a hotheaded child?

What are some things that worked for you?
Hugs and love ya

Signature T

 

Look at these books that helped me to decide rebel or resistant learner!

Planning Homeschool When Drowning in a Sea of Ideas

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Sitting in my living room and deciding what we wanted to do for school next, I realized that planning homeschool when drowning in a sea of ideas can be daunting and energy zapping.

Like you though, ideas, projects, and lists are all made because we want to problem solve or craft ideas into projects.

However, my to-do list and ideas for everything from homeschool to personal goals to my blog was growing more detailed by the moment.
Impatient person that I am to meet some of these goals, I realized it can make you feel defeated before you even start planning.

Do you find that you just pull back and don’t do anything because you can’t find a starting point? Organized or not, this can happen to anybody and it has happened to me more times than I care to admit.

One top of that, a problem with most people who love organization is that we have our noses so buried in the details of homeschool planning we can’t see the big picture.

I focused on things that inspire me to find a starting point. Don’t let your brilliant or creative flashes harness you.

Look at these 4 steps for a starting point as you plan your new homeschool year.

STEP 1. Clearly Identify

Start by just writing all that you want to do, but don’t worry about organizing your ideas just yet.

I want to finish a book on homeschooling that I have started, get my youngest son caught up with where I want him to be, help my next highschooler finish and graduate this next year, lose more weight, blog more passionately, help new homeschoolers with more detailed articles, create more unit studies, spend more time with the Mr. now that we live in beautiful South America and . . .  and . . .

Pen your ideas and identify them as clearly as you can, but don’t separate them into categories just yet because that will stifle what is on your mind for now.

STEP 2. Slice And Dice

After you have mounds of ideas and things that you want to do, take your list and prioritize what is most important to you.

What I have found in this step of the thought process is that some ideas are not worthy of my time after I weigh them against other things I have on my list.

You need to either shelf or shave ideas that you can’t get to this next year.

I have been ask, but how do you know how many to delete or shave off and how many to keep? I have found that a simple way to accomplish more is to use the 12 calendar months or physical year as a strainer.

In my mental process, I limit myself to 12 ideas or things that I want to get done for a new year.  Some ideas or things will only take a few days or few weeks and other ideas may take longer.  Too, some things like my goal of spending time with the Mr. can be grouped with another goal.

I find that a base of 12 ideas is a good starting point because it allows one idea or project per month.

It’s a natural way to plan, but most of the time we over plan with no filter in place. The physical year is my filter.

Don’t give up any of the ideas you have if you see in looking over your list that there are more worthwhile projects to pursue right now.

Just put them back for now and save your list because you never know during the year when you have time to reach into your treasure trove of thoughts and get one more project done.

At this point too, I can see a clear picture of how many are homeschool related, personal related, and business related and I group them together now.

STEP 3. Arrange In Importance to YOU

We both know that clearly our homeschool planning takes a prominent place.  But so should your health and spiritual welfare.

If you have been homeschooling at all costs and sacrificing either your physical or spiritual health, your homeschooling journey may not survive.

Some years, I have added in workbooks for the kids or hired a tutor because I needed the break.  Balance has always been hard for strong-willed homeschooling mamas.  I’m right there with you too.

The homeschooling survivors are ones that are willing to change when something needs to be done instead of heading straight to burnout.

Too, sometimes you have to decide what is a want versus a need.  For example, I am so over the top giddy on wanting to finish my homeschooling book, but I won’t do it at the expense of sacrificing Tiny along the way.

Will there still be homeschoolers the next year or the next?  For sure. But my son’s homeschool years are fleeting so it maintains priority for me.

Priority is uniquely different to each of us and we need to not only dig deep to determine them, but be honest on what is something we need to do versus something that we desire to do.

Now the challenge – number each one from the most important to the least.

Can you see the plan emerging? Remember, you should have only 12 numbered.

You can have more on your list, but only 12 numbered. Remember, this is about getting them done, not dreaming about them.

Too, some things which are long term projects, like my homeschool book, can be worked on throughout the year as I accomplish my 12 tasks.

So leave one or two long-term projects on your list that can simmer on the backburner while you meet your other goals.

STEP 4. Make A Visible Plan of Action

The fourth step is the most critical and it is to write it all down.  Did you know this is where a lot of people stumble or just give up?

After going through the grueling process of planning, they fail to make it cement or concrete.

Get it off your mind and onto something that you can see and physically check off.  Put the plan into action by writing it down.

See the big picture by assigning it to a calendar month. If you shriek at paper planning (can’t imagine, just saying) then put it down in your digital planner.

It is not a plan – well until it is.

Sounds easy enough, but a major reason we feel trapped before we start is that if it is not put down in some action form, our ideas might stay as pie in the sky goals.

In an upcoming post, l will show you how I finally solved my problem and got my nose out of those details that I love to wallow in.

Keeping this process of how I arrived at homeschool planning for the year does me no good to keep it in my head and so I hope this 4 step process simplifies the planning process for you.

Follow the four easy steps of homeschool planning which are clearly identifying all that you want to do for the year, organize ideas by category and slim your ideas down to just 12 with a few extra long-term projects, arrange them in importance by using the cruel (you cannot start them all at once, I tried that one time. Stay sane, don’t try it) number system because you have to have a Number 1 starting point and then avoid using invisible ink by writing it ALL down.

I guarantee you will have success in planning for a new year if you try faithfully to follow those four easy peazy steps.

What about you? Do you see a new plan of action or are you using one that works for you?

You’ll love these other tips!:

Over Scheduling + Over Planning = Over Load

3 Easy Fixes to Recharge Your Homeschool Routine

How To Create a Homeschool Schedule That You Can Stick To    

Hugs and love ya,