Co op classes can be any number of things, but they boil down to homeschool kids getting together to take classes. They can be very informal – a few families getting together to do a unit study – or they can be pretty formal, with teachers getting paid to teach the classes. I teach at one that I get paid for, and I help teach at another that my son is involved in (I don’t get paid there, all the moms teach or work in some way and our kids get the benefit.)

Basically, it’s anywhere from “you teach my kid science and I’ll teach yours history” (depending on the strengths and interests of the moms and kids) to “I’ll pay you to teach my child Latin or Geometry”.

A co-op class is a basically a group of homeschoolers getting together to study some things together. Some are very involved with lots of different classes going on every week. Some are more low key and just get together once or twice a month.

At the co-op class my kids go to I am teaching Elementary Earth Science, and another mom is teaching basic drawing. We get together twice a month for 2 to 3 hours, and enjoy giving our kids a chance to learn in a group and make friends. We are rather low-key, we don’t charge, and whoever doesn’t teach still helps out during class (passing out papers, keeping an eye on the kids, etc.) and with snack.

First of all co-op stands for cooperative. A co-op is a group of homeschoolers who get together and teach and take classes. At my co-op I take the following classes:

Art

Photography

Journalism/Yearbook

Volleyball (well i am on ateam but we practice at co-op)

Next semester I will ahve new classes to take.

OUr co-op classes start next Friday. They are a group of local homeschoolers that get together to share advice and allow our children to be with other children. The parents volunteer to teach things they like or are good at and the children aign up for classes they like. My daughter will be taking cooking, pe, creation science and math tutor, my son will be taking creation science, art, pe and something else. The parents do not get paid for teaching but we all pay a small tuition fee per family of $70 for 12 weeks and we meet every Friday for 4 classes and lunch. The money buys the materials we need for class like paper, markers, crayons art supplies and such. It is really nice. You should try it if you homeschool, it is a great outlet for you and your children and is considered a school day by state law!

Whenever I took co-op classes, they were just a mix of different homeschoolers coming together for one class.

This sometimes meant different grades or ages all coming to a specific class.

We usually met once or twice a week for a couple hours and the rest of the work was given as homework.

A co-op can be as simple as a few moms gathering in someones home and conducting a class or two or it can be a highly organized organization with literally hundreds of families participating.

Our group has around 150 or so families and we offer everything from nursery for babies to senior level high school courses. There are fun classes like board games, cooking, math games and book clubs, to interesting classes like geology, art, literature studies and history to advanced high school level credit classes complete with labs and everything. We also have sports of all kinds: tennis, basketball, softball, volleyball, billiards, table tennis, school yard games, PE, street hockey, every kind of art imagineable, how to study classes, college entrance exam helps classes, Bible studies. Performing arts are included with choir, drama, ensembles, piano, acting classes and so on. They have a prom, graduation ceremony, open house, homecoming, complete with flag football game and dance, and all types of things.

They key is everyone does their part to make it work. Everyone. that’s what co-op stands for: co-operation. If you are in the group you must contribute a certain amount of time: teaching, assisting, administration, setting up, tearing down, cleaning, nursery duty, so on (we meet in a church so the buildings have to be transformed in to a school every morning and back in to a church every afternoon)

This group meets once a week for two semesters that are approx. ten weeks each.

The accountability is high, the expectations are high, and the group is the most successful I have ever seen.

Basically a group of homeschooling Moms get together and depending on the interests and skills of particular parents each mom will teach a different thing to the kids. What i’m trying to get at is, its like one Mom will say that she’ll teach the kids history, then another will teach science, and so on and so forth. Its just easier this way so the homeschooling parents don’t have to teach so much. I hope i was some help to you!!!

=]

We often do these at the beginning of our homeschool group year. We do scrambles, where a group of 10 kids has to put themselves in order according to some little fact – their name, their birth month, their age. Lots of fun. With the younger ones we play a simple “name game” where we have a ball, sit in a circle and roll the ball to a child, saying our name and their name (i.e. Fred to Wilma). If we don’t know their name, we ask. We talk with all the kids about introducing yourself and how even adults (or perhaps, especially adults!) forget names! Have fun!

when i was in school, a co-op class was one that allowed the student 1/2 day of school and 1/2 day of work, at a business that worked with the school, a few days a week

its where home schooler gather in gruops and the parents teach them my sister was in one and loved it