A co-op is essentially a group of Mom’s working together to share, what is sometimes a wealth of information, with a group of students to make learning more enjoyable for all. In the late winter of last year the Lord worked on my heart to develop a co-op that would help solve the changing educational needs for my daughter. This also helped address the same needs of 6 other students and Mom’s.

With the wonderful help and input of my good friend Teri Emerson we set to work. With planning, meetings, and prayer we ended up with a group of 7 girls that meets together on Tuesdays each week to study, learn, share ideas about what they learned, and to do this utilizing their creativity and their desire to be with other girls. It has been a tremendous success and will continue in the fall.

Anyone can use this idea from pre-school to high school. It will work for boys, girls, or a mixed group. It can take many shapes according to what the moms and students want. I know there are other successful co-ops happening within our area.

A few guidelines I would recommend:

1. Make sure the workload is divided as evenly as possible. We have each mom facilitate 2 units through the year and plan an equal number of additional activities.
2. Put your calendar, assignments, and guidelines in writing to help avoid confusion. As you start there will always be some confusion and doubt of abilities. Don’t worry this is normal. Doing something a different way can be a challenge and even scary.
3. If it is in someone’s home make sure that the house rules are in writing and explained.
4. Meet a need for your family and you will meet the same need of others. Our choices were made based on the ages of our children and the needs we wanted to meet.
5. Invite and select carefully those who you ask to be a part of the co-op. If you try to meet the needs of too big a group or needs that are too diverse it may not be successful. We chose to ask those who had girls in 6-8th grades, had home-schooled at least 2 years, and had a desire to learn with the Bible at the core.