Lies about Homeschoolers

All about Homeschool Co-ops

All about Homeschool Co-ops – by Ashlyn Taylour

As you’ve been reading my book, you’ve probably heard me mention something called a co-op once or twice. I’ve told you a little bit about what it is, but this chapter will go in-depth on what, exactly, a homeschool co-op is.

Now, to be frankly honest here, I didn’t know what a co-op was until the end of last year. And I’ve been homeschooled for nearly ten years. I was involved in a co-op at the time, but I didn’t know that was what they’re called!  I just called it a homeschool group.

And that’s basically what a co-op is – a group of homeschoolers.

It’s like a mini school with homeschoolers.

In my lifetime, I’ve been involved in a few different co-ops, because there are quite a lot of homeschoolers near where a live, which means there are quite a lot of homeschool co-ops.

Now these were all very different, and I’d like to say that I’m speaking from what I know. What I say in this chapter may not be true for other co-ops. These are just my co-op experiences.

So I’ll be talking about three of these groups I’ve been involved in, in the order I was involved in them. Let’s begin.

My first homeschool co-op, I attended as a wee little one. I was maybe 8, maybe 10. It seems my memory has failed me. But I was around that age. So I went to this co-op with my older sister and my younger brother for a little less than a year.

It was at a church and it was weekly. I’d go there and take a few basic school classes, eat lunch, play. But the main purpose of this group was to put on a production. Oliver Twist. I was an orphan.

It’s crazy, even now, I was talking to a recently-graduated homeschooler I had not so long ago met and apparently she was in this co-op too! Crazy how small the world is. Eight years later, and she’s my debate teacher. Who would’ve thought…

Now honestly, I don’t remember much from this co-op. But it was a great opportunity to meet other homeschoolers.

My second homeschool co-op, my whole family has been a part of for over five years. We not as involved in it now, because it’s grown so much. Before, it was only a few families. For this one, we’d go on field trips to educational places. Like the museum, or some old historic famous guy’s house. We’d also meet monthly at a church, and the moms had a Bible study, while us kids played in the gym. Since this group was so small, everyone knew each other really well. I’m still really close friends with some of the people from it.

My last homeschool co-op, I started in fourth grade and this is my first year not doing it. And this, by far, has been my favorite. This is the one I’ve talked about in this book. It’s the one with the sports. I play volleyball through it.

Anyways, for this, we’d meet weekly on Fridays and take five, one hour-long classes. I usually took educational ones such as chemistry, constitutional law, and latin. However there are fun ones, such as choir, dance, and photography. We also put on a concert every year. There are, I’d say, 300 people involved in this co-op. They have graduation ceremonies for the seniors. Senior trip. Class president. Basically like a real school. They have formals, dances and even homeroom.

I have met so many great friends through this homeschool group, and without it, I don’t think I would like homeschooling so much.

Homeschooling can get lonely if you don’t have friends or if you’re stuck in your house all day. However if you’re involved in a co-op, you’ll have a better homeschooling experience. I can guarantee that you will meet many great, life-long friends.

Finding a homeschool co-op in your area may be hard. There may not be any where you live. But if you know any homeschoolers, you can maybe convince your parents to start one. A small one. Like the second one I talked about. More homeschoolers will join over time.

If you’d like more information about co-ops from someone else’s perspective, just google it or something. There’s so much you can find on the world-wide web.

I hope you know more about homeschool co-ops than you did five minutes ago. Thanks for reading.

And if you’re homeschooled, please let us know your experiences or maybe lack-of-experience with co-ops in the comments.

♥

THIS CHAPTER IS SO BORING COMPARED TO MY LIES. I sort of want to go back to writing lies, but then again I don’t. Oh well, I bet nobody read this far, unless they like, really wanted to know what a co-op was. Agh I think I’m only gonna write one more chapter after this. Goodbye.