Homeschool Community and Co-ops

Informally gathering with other church or community homeschool families that share your values can provide social interaction and friendships for your children. It can provide support for parents through encouragement, planning group field trips, and possibly sharing the responsibility for the teaching and supervising children...

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Parents can secure a location for students to periodically study together in a home (or possibly rotating among the homes of those involved), church, or other suitable location.

A homeschool co-op is a group of homeschool families that join to share in the education of their children. Homeschool co-ops offer classes for students and usually require parent participation. In most cases, parents are actively involved in teaching classes, caring for younger children, or helping with cleaning and other tasks.

A homeschool co-op is a gathering of homeschool families for various academic and/or enrichment classes or activities. It can help both parents and students alike. They can help expand the knowledge base of an individual homeschool parent, allow parents to share their expertise with others, and provide student opportunities that would be difficult to achieve outside a group setting. All classes and activities are taught by parents.

Homeschool co-ops can offer activities or educational experiences such as art classes, missionary speakers, drama presentations, educational field trips and much more (i.e., group learning, opportunities to socialize, shared expenses for science equipment, classes that are difficult to teach at home, accountability). In some cases, parents may pool their financial resources to hire instructors or tutors for the courses offered by the co-op. This option can be more costly but can be a way to secure expert help.

Homeschool co-ops can vary in size from a small co-op of only two or three families to a large, organized setting with paid instructors. Here is a list of potential benefits from homeschool co-ops and through participating in regionally based homeschool associations.

Academic advice, support, diversity, or expertise in teaching
Socialization opportunities with same-age peers
Exposure to curricula, resources, and ideas from other homeschoolers
Extracurricular activity options
Emotional support from other homeschoolers
Social networking
“Traditional” schooling benefits such as experiencing a classroom setting, diplomas, dances such as a prom, and graduation ceremonies