To Co-Op or Not
Back when I started to home educate, there were few, if any co-ops. The only one in my area met one morning a week. The moms had to either teach a class or help out with the pre-schoolers and babies. Now there are several co-ops in the area and they vary from the one-half day a week variety, up to two days a week. At two days a week, they border on being a school, and indeed, there is one such here that is called a school for homeschoolers. You will meet plenty of people who can tell you how wonderful co-ops are and how much they love them. In fact, you will hear more from them than from the likes of me. I just want to give you the perspective of someone who has never belonged to one so you can hear both sides of the issue.
I have never participated in a co-op, nor do I care to. I am content at this point (13 years in) to remain on my own. My philosophy on this you can read here. But to the mom starting out, who is already overwhelmed with choosing just the "right" books for her child, a co-op can either seem like an easy way out, or just more pressure to pick the "right" co-op. I do not think that co-ops are inherently bad, nor am I out to bash them or discourage people from considering them. But I do think that they can become more important than what mom is trying to accomplish at home, and can even dominate her home education. So you have to ask yourself at the beginning of your journey: "What are my goals and desires for home schooling?" And this is a question that you have to revisit often, because you are going to change and grow, as a teacher and facilitator, along with your children.
Are your goals chiefly academic? Do you want the absolute best in rigor and subject matter for your child? Do you want them to be able to attend a college-prep high school and get into a good college and be successful in their chosen career? Then maybe a co-op is for you, although your child can have those things without being in one. But what if you desire all those things and you are concerned about their spiritual life, peer dependency, being out of the home too much, or losing control over what your child is learning? Then maybe 2-day-a-week co-op is not for you, and a one-half morning-a-week kind is.
But what about socialization, you may ask (or are being asked)? That is a topic for another day, but all I can say is that I never get asked that question by people who have met and gotten to know my kids. Certainly you want your kids to have friends, and making friends with other kids who are home educated is nice, and a co-op offers ready-made friends for you and your kids. And if you don't go to a church where there are other homeschoolers, or you just don't know any in your neighborhood or in your circle of friends, a co-op can help with that.
While I am content with never having belonged to a co-op I did notice my circle of friends shrank as more and more of them joined up, but the friends that were near and dear have remained so. I have also noticed a certain amount of "cliquish-ness" among those who are in a co-op; simply being fellow home educators isn't enough to have in common now, nor do they have the time for friends outside their co-op. And the same is true in regards to the kids. My kids and I have noticed the same clique-type attitude when they are occasionally invited to a homeschool function, or to a friend's house who belongs to a co-op, and most, if not all of the other guests belong, too. I find that disappointing, but not enough to compel me to join one; nor are there hard feelings on my part. I guess it's just the nature of the beast, and I can accept that, but if you feel that you really need that sort of structure and social life, then by all means investigate.
You don't need to join a co-op for your child to have friends, succeed in school and life and be happy. Certainly, joining one won't keep your child from having these things, and they may contribute to them. From what I hear, the academics are generally rigorous, and usually biblically based, although if that does not appeal to you, I bet there are secular ones out there too. But don't join one because you think it will please others, or because of outside pressure. Don't join one because you don't think you are good enough to offer your kids a good education. It is possible that joining one has the potential to give you the feeling that you are giving your child every advantage, but whether you actually are, is not clear to me, and certainly open to debate. So just be sure of your goals and desires and what is required of you as a member of a co-op going in; if those things do not match up, then you may want to wait.
And a brief word to those who decide to go for it and join up: Don't forget your friends who aren't in your co-op. Make an effort to include them in fun events or family celebrations or activities geared to home educators. Just because they are on their own and not part of the co-op crowd, doesn't mean they don't want to still keep in touch and be friends. It doesn't mean that your kids can't be friends with non co-op kids. They just don't care to join a co-op, but they still care about you.
My goals in the beginning were to give my kids a good education at home primarily, and one that was centered on God; and that I would seek out other teachers to teach my kids things I could not. Over the years, I have found wonderful folks who have taught my kids how to sew, swim, play piano, sing, ride and care for horses, ice skate, play basketball and baseball, draw and paint; so it's not like we haven't left the house for the last 13 years. I have desired that above all else, they take possession of the faith that my husband and I have passed to them, and make it their own; that they can walk upright before God and have a right relationship with Him, that they see all knowledge and learning as incomplete without Him, and pursue knowledge for the rest of their lives. These things can happen whether or not you join a co-op.
I have never participated in a co-op, nor do I care to. I am content at this point (13 years in) to remain on my own. My philosophy on this you can read here. But to the mom starting out, who is already overwhelmed with choosing just the "right" books for her child, a co-op can either seem like an easy way out, or just more pressure to pick the "right" co-op. I do not think that co-ops are inherently bad, nor am I out to bash them or discourage people from considering them. But I do think that they can become more important than what mom is trying to accomplish at home, and can even dominate her home education. So you have to ask yourself at the beginning of your journey: "What are my goals and desires for home schooling?" And this is a question that you have to revisit often, because you are going to change and grow, as a teacher and facilitator, along with your children.
Are your goals chiefly academic? Do you want the absolute best in rigor and subject matter for your child? Do you want them to be able to attend a college-prep high school and get into a good college and be successful in their chosen career? Then maybe a co-op is for you, although your child can have those things without being in one. But what if you desire all those things and you are concerned about their spiritual life, peer dependency, being out of the home too much, or losing control over what your child is learning? Then maybe 2-day-a-week co-op is not for you, and a one-half morning-a-week kind is.
But what about socialization, you may ask (or are being asked)? That is a topic for another day, but all I can say is that I never get asked that question by people who have met and gotten to know my kids. Certainly you want your kids to have friends, and making friends with other kids who are home educated is nice, and a co-op offers ready-made friends for you and your kids. And if you don't go to a church where there are other homeschoolers, or you just don't know any in your neighborhood or in your circle of friends, a co-op can help with that.
While I am content with never having belonged to a co-op I did notice my circle of friends shrank as more and more of them joined up, but the friends that were near and dear have remained so. I have also noticed a certain amount of "cliquish-ness" among those who are in a co-op; simply being fellow home educators isn't enough to have in common now, nor do they have the time for friends outside their co-op. And the same is true in regards to the kids. My kids and I have noticed the same clique-type attitude when they are occasionally invited to a homeschool function, or to a friend's house who belongs to a co-op, and most, if not all of the other guests belong, too. I find that disappointing, but not enough to compel me to join one; nor are there hard feelings on my part. I guess it's just the nature of the beast, and I can accept that, but if you feel that you really need that sort of structure and social life, then by all means investigate.
You don't need to join a co-op for your child to have friends, succeed in school and life and be happy. Certainly, joining one won't keep your child from having these things, and they may contribute to them. From what I hear, the academics are generally rigorous, and usually biblically based, although if that does not appeal to you, I bet there are secular ones out there too. But don't join one because you think it will please others, or because of outside pressure. Don't join one because you don't think you are good enough to offer your kids a good education. It is possible that joining one has the potential to give you the feeling that you are giving your child every advantage, but whether you actually are, is not clear to me, and certainly open to debate. So just be sure of your goals and desires and what is required of you as a member of a co-op going in; if those things do not match up, then you may want to wait.
And a brief word to those who decide to go for it and join up: Don't forget your friends who aren't in your co-op. Make an effort to include them in fun events or family celebrations or activities geared to home educators. Just because they are on their own and not part of the co-op crowd, doesn't mean they don't want to still keep in touch and be friends. It doesn't mean that your kids can't be friends with non co-op kids. They just don't care to join a co-op, but they still care about you.
My goals in the beginning were to give my kids a good education at home primarily, and one that was centered on God; and that I would seek out other teachers to teach my kids things I could not. Over the years, I have found wonderful folks who have taught my kids how to sew, swim, play piano, sing, ride and care for horses, ice skate, play basketball and baseball, draw and paint; so it's not like we haven't left the house for the last 13 years. I have desired that above all else, they take possession of the faith that my husband and I have passed to them, and make it their own; that they can walk upright before God and have a right relationship with Him, that they see all knowledge and learning as incomplete without Him, and pursue knowledge for the rest of their lives. These things can happen whether or not you join a co-op.
Comments
Post a Comment