Do you belong to a co-op? (Full Version)

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Mom24Blessings -> Do you belong to a co-op? (9/5/2008 3:08:05 PM)

If so, what's it like?
What do you pay?

The co-op (it's held at my church) I joined was to be a fee of $42 plus $35 for the class (pre-k).
Well our church is telling us our group now has to pay for the use of the building... $10,000 for the school year!!!!!!!!!!
The Pastor then felt bad, so he gave us 50% off for this year, since it was late notice.

So it comes to about $160 per family for the school year after it's been divided up among all the families.
That seems like a lot of $$ to me, but this is our first experience with a co-op.

What are your experiences with a co-op?



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/5/2008 3:12:06 PM)

No, we don't. Since I am usually working full-time it just isn't something that I can do.



joannepir -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/5/2008 4:34:18 PM)

We joined a co-op for the first time this year. We pay $65 per family plus art supplies or cost of field trips. I don't know too much about it since our first day is next Thursday. The kids take art, gym and an elective. I was told that I can't teach the first year while they get to know me. There are quite a few holes in their schedule though, so we'll see how long they keep that rule.



shadowspring -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/5/2008 4:52:50 PM)

We have something called Free Day where home schooling families meet at a park that has an indoor gym with classrooms.

I guess we are lucky because it's free for us.

Free Day has clubs, some organized art classes for the littlest ones, and free play in and outside of the gym. That is enough for me (too much most days!). If it were more often than once a week I would not go.

I have been involved in co-op classes before, with good and bad results. Mostly I found that I could teach it just as well and cheaper myself. Some things, like debate, need a crowd to work.



roligirl -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/5/2008 8:26:44 PM)

I looked at one for this year, basically to meet more homeschool families, but I just could not give up 5 hours each week for 12 weeks to outside studies that aren't really on our path. Maybe twice a month, or 6 weeks, or for 2 hours, but not that long of a commitment. So we decided not to participate.

The fees were pretty nominal, the church was free, classes taught by parents, administered by parents; therefore, no charge except for supplies. I think I would have been put off by those kinds of fees yours is charging.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/5/2008 9:36:42 PM)

We belong to a co-op, and the parents set their own prices for the classes they teach. Some of them are free, others are a little on the pricey side. It's to cover costs, although I didn't charge enough to really cover my costs. I'm teaching ballet, and I charged $10 for 12 weeks of lessons. It cost me $140 just to build the ballet barre, plus more for the ballet music, and I only had 15 students and 4 of them were my daughters so they didn't have to pay. It will make up the difference next time around, though.

For my six kids this year it cost me $92 to join the co-op. The most expensive class was probably woodworking, which was I think $25. There's also a $5 per family fee to join. It's three hours every Thursday. My kids really love co-op, and I enjoy it, too. It's a young co-op, full of new homeschoolers who are very excited about homeschooling. The one we used to be a part of, before we moved, was a dinosaur co-op that was old and going extinct. Those moms were tired and on their last kid, and didn't want to participate in anything.



amybreit -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/6/2008 12:35:58 PM)

We've never belonged to a co-op. We have a big one here in our town & many people use it. But it's only for Jr. & Sr. High & since my oldest is in Jr. High, I hadn't really checked it out. So I'm not even sure what they charge. I may check it out (if we still live here) for some high school classes that would lend themselves better to a group.

Sorry that the church has decided to charge such a large fee to use their facility!! Even the 50% off seems a bit excessive to me. Maybe you all can find another meeting place for next year. I hope the extra fees don't drive too many families to quit - because then the fees will go up for those remaining.



seekingmyLord -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/6/2008 12:47:26 PM)

I have tried the co-op route mostly because I have an extremely extroverted only child and I hoped to find friends of like mind. However, I over obligated myself to the first one, which was just starting and all inclusive. I think the thing that bothered me the most though was the lack of Christian fellowship with those families. Even though their were Christians, there were no open conversations on the subject within the group.

The second was Christian and had a cut off of 170 families, but I found it to be so structured/demanding that it just would not work for us. Besides that, my husband's career path changed unexpectedly and we only had one car, so I could not participate in most things and certainly could not filll my membership obligations anyway.

Even as I joined the second one, I felt the Lord was telling me not to do it; I wish I had obeyed and saved that money. He has promised me that He will provide what He wishes for my daughter to have, so now I just don't worry about co-ops or groups. There may be time that we are led to join one, but for now we are not. The Lord has led us to get more involved with our church at this time, and we are putting our efforts there.

With all that said, whenever a fellow Christian asks this question, my first response is "What is the Lord telling you to do at this time?"



macokjc -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/6/2008 6:35:29 PM)

I belong to a co-op that meets twice a month for about 8 hours total. Once a month they bring in special speakers, that rest of that time the moms teach the classes. We also normally have one scheduled field trip a month (completely optional), and we take turns organizing them. The academics - especially in the high school- are on the poor side; but the fellowship is excellent; so we go purely for the fellowship. The kids do get gym and art, things we might not always do at home. The ladies there are very encouraging, and during the hardest weeks, they help me continue on.

We pay $20 for the year.



wylyne -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/6/2008 9:21:49 PM)

We joined a co-op about 1.5yrs ago.

Our group holds 3 8-week sessions during the traditional school year. We meet on Fridays from 10am - 3pm at a local Church for up to 4 classes. (Although 2nd session this year we will be trying out a schedule of 3 classes and no lunch from 9 am - noon) There are classes for preschool through 12th grade offered. The parents teach the classes. We have everything from science to gym to art to music to Latin.

The church we meet at lets us use their building for free providing that once a year we help them out with cleaning tasks through the church and its grounds. While they do not ask for a cash fee, our committee gives them a gift each year of 10% of whatever they bring in.

It is normally $40 per session for 2 or more kids plus any fees for classes. Many classes have no fees...others like art have $10-24 material fees. Those like me, with only one child enrolled in co-op, have a $24 session fee.



lightshineon -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/7/2008 1:43:24 AM)

Yes, and a very good experience so far the teacher are wonderful, and it is my first year to homeschool, so it is good to hear other moms ideas. The co-op is at a Big Baptist hurch in town. It is on Mondays from 12:45 unti 3:40. They take from preschoolers to highschool, have a graduation, a spring formal though there is no dating within the co-op andonly dance with person one time, so everyone gets to dance, This year they said they may go to Oklahoma City to Brick town to eat in a Limo, instead of dance. They offer chior, Drama, photography, plus core classess. The parents stay ad help where they are needed. The cost is eighty dollars a semester, in which you pay 25 dollars a month, until you pay it off. They have other activities as agroup in which you pay seven dollars for. Thsy skate once a month, and go on varipus fiels trips.



Ellie-Mae -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/7/2008 10:34:03 AM)

I am not a part of a co-op.

Let's take a look at that price though...

There are approximately 36 weeks in a school year (sometimes 40 with all the presidents days and such). 160 divided by 36 equals about $4.45 a week. that doesn't sound so bad. If you do 40 weeks it would be a straight $4 a week per family. How many times a week do you meet and how many classes are being given? They may need funds for the different classes too.



karlie -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/7/2008 12:32:19 PM)

We were part of co-op for years. We didn't pay anything up front...no set fee to be part of it. We paid for supplies/fees as we went along. Ours worked on a different system. We had parents volunteer for the classes they wanted to teach and had knowledge of(we had chemistry, biology, sewing, cooking, choral group, music theory, automotive, construction, art, vocal, etc) and they usually set a recommended age limit, then we signed up for those we wanted to get our kids into. The meetings were held at the home of one of the parents and we would get a list of things they needed to buy and by which dates(like for certain sewing projects), or we paid a set fee to the parent teaching the class if he/she was taking care of pre-buying all the supplies, like for cooking or ordering chem/bio supplies. Our group scheduled 3 field trips a month(for various age groups), and if there was a cost, we took care of it individually, or got the money to the group leader for pre-ordering tickets and things. Some years it cost a fortune(like when mine were in chem and bio) because they had microscopes, dissection kits, etc, and other years it wasn't that high.

We only used church facilities on a very limited basis, like for ceremonies and recitals.



mpetit1 -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/10/2008 6:53:12 PM)

We just started our coop with 4 regular participating families. The coop is open to all hs families including those belonging to any of the hs groups in our area, or those participating in independent public or private school home programs.

We set the coop up to meet at my home by default as we have lots of outside (in CA we usually have pretty decent weather) seating on the patio and we have a 2 acre yard. We will also meet at other families' homes and at locations according to the activity chosen.

Our activities will be chosen and/or led by the children and facilitated by the adults. Children from two different families are chosen and will choose and collaborate on the activity or presentation for their assigned week. We also will have a round table, circle time, type Share and Tell, at the beginning of each coop day. During this time, children and parents will have an opportunity (or not) to share something they have done, are studying, are interested in, etc. We will also have collaborative cooking and food sharing times, usually with a theme.

Our common goal is to build relationship and communication skills. We plan to have plenty of fun.



Auben -> RE: Do you belong to a co-op? (9/12/2008 2:41:07 PM)

We have a co-op in the town 20-30 minutes away and that is comparable to their fees.

I just find that too far away to go on a regular basis. I did join the group for emails, science fair, history fair, fun outings but I didn't join the co-op (which is a sub-group of the other).

In the little town next door they do a science co-op and charge $1/per child/per lesson (students meet every other week). That goes toward materials and the teachers work with whatever they get. If you don't come, you don't pay.

Sometimes we do that if I remember what day it's on. It's like MOPs, unless I write it down I probably forget about it.



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