Jessica Hulcy
The
ABC’s of
Co-Ops
Without a shared vision, you are beginning a relationship unequally yoked.
Ibegan experiencing the benefits as- sociated with homeschool Co-Ops before I even knew what they were. Carole Thaxton prayed for someone to homeschool with, and God sent
me as an answer to her prayer. Before
I knew it, Carole had given me assignments and stated what she was going
to do. That was “Co-Oping”—a group
of parents sharing the responsibility of
teaching their students.
The information provided below is
taken verbatim from the KONOS Compass and the KONOS DVD Creating the
Balance, but it is germane to all units and
all kinds of Co-Ops.
Benefits Galore
• Co-Ops give children the best, even
when you are exhausted, by sharing
teaching with other moms. Kids still get
fabulous activities from one mom, while
the other moms do errands or nap!
•;Co-Ops;allow;children;to;benefit;from
the talents of other moms, and moms to
benefit by receiving feedback on their
children from other moms.
• Godly moms are not only fabulous
role models for your kids but also
serve as an intimate prayer support for
all moms and kids.
•;Groups;offer;ways;to;gain;much;more
information. Instead of one report by
one child on one tribe of Native American Indians, if there are eight kids in
the Co-Op, then there can be eight reports on eight different tribes wearing
eight different tribal costumes! This
is the ultimate in reinforcing learning
as kids see and hear again from other
kids what they learned. Also, the many
families provide an instant audience for
all performances!
•;Homeschoolers;are;often;attacked;by
non-homeschoolers for isolating their
children and depriving them of social
peers with which to interact. Co-Oping solves that problem, but with the
twist of parents get to pick the peers!
Guidelines for “Good Co-Oping”
Co-Ops are very much like marriages
in that moms need to like the moms and
kids need to like the kids in the Co-Op.
No one is going to be perfect, but never
start a Co-Op with moms just because
they live near you and your kids are in
the same grade. Past liking each other,
solid Co-Oping happens when the moms
share the same spiritual, emotional, and
academic vision for their kids. Without
a shared vision, you are beginning a relationship unequally yoked.
Once you have chosen your Co-Op
partners, the group can establish goals
and workload. What you do not want is
for moms to have divergent goals about
what constitutes a “good Co-Op day,”
e.g., one mother wants a play day while
another mother plans for kids to video
an interview with a Holocaust survivor
and a WWII war veteran, tour the Holocaust museum, and write a first-person
report as a survivor or as a soldier using
what they learned from the interviews.
Those are very different goals!
Remember: If you exceed twelve children in your Co-Op, you have forfeited
the tutorial method of teaching and
moved into classroom method. The tutorial method of one-on-one instruction
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