Co-ops are an important part of the homeschool world. And for good reason. Doing this homeschool thing alone is a tough gig and it’s so much easier to do it in community!
Homeschool co-ops provide opportunities for kids to learn with other kids, friendships, adult interaction for the moms, and a place where you know you’re part of the group!
Our family has been part of many different co-ops during our homeschool journey.
My first few years of homeschooling were lonely. During those early years, co-ops were my lifeline. And they were a weak lifeline at that, mainly because I wasn’t able to fully engage as much as I wanted to. This was due to various circumstances, such as a new baby, or one year where our middle son did a Brain Balance program.
I’m not one of those moms who can juggle it all. I’m actually a self-admitted NON-multi-tasker. I can have a few things on my plate at a time, and THAT’S IT.
Finding homeschool friends after moving
In 2016, we made the move from Illinois to Wisconsin. It was a move that turned our lives more upside down than we anticipated. We spent the first 4 months after our move doing NOTHING besides staying at home reading aloud, writing, and doing our math (and taking my son to OT).
It was glorious EXCEPT that we really had no homeschool friends. And so, in January 2017, we decided to join a local Classical Conversations community. I was unfamiliar with CC at first but came to discover that many of the things we did at home already, aligned with it.
We did CC for half a year. And then I tutored (similar to a teacher role) the next year for CC. We made some great friends and I’m thankful for our time in that community.
Ch-ch-ch changes…
Then in June we found out our community would be dissolving and so I needed to make a decision… Would we join a different co-op?
This decision was especially difficult because of the loneliness I felt in my beginning years of homeschooling. But after much agonizing, verbally processing my husband’s ear off, and loads of prayer, I decided we were NOT going to do a formal co-op and we would instead do our own thing. This was the decision that gave me the most PEACE.
And this blog birthed out of that time… When I was realizing we were going to be OK doing our own “outside-the-box” thing.
And in fact, it may have been a blessing (for us at least) that our CC community dissolved. You see, my daughter is not a big fan of despised the rote memorization, and the writing program that CC uses. Two pretty big parts of the program actually. So this year we were freed up and fired up to try the Bravewriter program, which has been a much better fit for us!
God knew what this year was going to look like. He knew that my son was going to be in Vision Therapy, which takes up one morning a week PLUS the daily exercises. And He knew that any more on my plate might have put me over the edge…
I’m not saying we’ll never do a co-op again, BUT I think there are seasons when it’s OK to not be part of a co-op. For us, that season is now.
Have you ever been in a season where a co-op was just not right for your family? Please share below, in the comments!
