5 Questions to Ask Before Joining a Co-op

Some registration deadlines for co-ops and homeschool classes are approaching already! And deciding where (or if) to enroll our students can cause a lot of anxiety. Between the well-intentioned peer pressure to join and our loneliness, it can be tough to know what's best.

For my family, we have always joined co-ops when we have moved to a new city and then stepped away after a year or two when we had established friendships and can focus on socializing in small groups rather than large groups or spending a lot of time in a classroom setting. We have a bunch of neurodiversity here, so I've learned to be very discerning about finding classes and activities which are not overwhelming to my children and thus create more problems at home. In fact, my previous post, 5 Problems with Homeschool Co-ops, highlights the reasons why a family might decide that co-ops are not worth participating at all.

You might be stuck in a place of indecision regarding your own family's needs for next year, and those classes are filling up quickly. So here are my 5 questions for discerning whether or not to join a particular co-op, hybrid, university model program, or other group offering homeschool classes:

1. What is your family's purpose in joining? Do your kids need to make friends? Are there subjects you're not able to teach at home? Do you want your children in a classroom setting? Is there some other way you could meet this need without joining?
2. What is the purpose of the co-op or program? Do they have a philosophy of education that matches yours? Are they focused on academics, enrichment, memory work, etc.? Is it faith-based or secular? How much social time do they allow?
3. What is required of parents? How much does it cost? What is the volunteer commitment? What about babies and toddlers? Will I need to help with or grade assignments at home? How will time there change what happens at home on those days?
4. Who are the leaders and teachers? What are their qualifications and abilities for leading/teaching? Are their families admirably living out their primary vocation? Do their parenting and teaching approaches generally match yours?
5. Who are the members? Do you all have to sign a statement of faith? Are the children overall well-behaved and would they make good friends for your children? How welcoming do the children seem to include new friends?

Remember that you don't have to join anything, and you can't join everything! I've found that two days a week with a group or activity is plenty for most children. Consistent time at home is essential for homeschooling to work well! It's perfectly fine to find other ways to see friends and/or take a year off from a group or program to give you some breathing room.

If you're going to join a co-op, especially in the elementary years, I personally have found the best experiences happen with a very small group of two or three other families that meets in someone's home and better echoes the beauty of homeschooling. In fact, the more a co-op looks like a brick and mortar school, the less likely it is to be beneficial, overall, as long as you can find other ways to build community.

This homeschooling gig can be lonely, both for us and our children! And it's natural for us to long for and seek out community wherever we can find it. We must carefully discern the best fit for our unique families each year rather than just doing what we've always done or what it seems like everyone else is doing!

Next post . . . 5 Ways to Make Friends without a Co-op!