I found a really great co-op for next year, but my hubby is dead against it. Not just this co-op, but he is really dragging his feet on the whole homeschooling topic, so this is where he can say no. Anyway, I was wondering how many of you belong to a co-op? Also, I would be so encouraged if I could hear some stories of hubbies who were anti-homeschool, then turned out to be supportive and encouraging. Thanks so much!
We belong to a group... it's HUGE... but we live just outside of St. Louis, so we have several BIIG homeschool groups here.
They have choir, art, band... etc.. plus they have what they call their learning center that is geared more for 14 and up. That include high school level classes. Each class costs like a hundred bucks or so for the semester, and then there are usually some supplies or supply fees, but it is WELL worth the cost to get some of the group work advantages, discussion advantages, and not to mention being taught by a more experienced homeschooler or retired teacher or something of the sort to make it better than what mom can do.
They have smaller groups that they call cluster groups that meet up in different places. However, currently, I only have taken advantage of their classifieds and choir, and just the general information you get from being part of such a group.
We have done 2 co-ops. The first was just for one year and then it disbanded. It was poorly organized and I didn't really like it, but the price was good ($50 per family, no matter how many kids you had). But the kids all had to take the same 3 classes, then preschoolers were just in one classroom the whole time. Then kids could choose from a half dozen "clubs" for the 4th class period. But, it was small, and most if not all the other families were Bible-thumping 'Answers In Genesis' Evangelicals (we are not) so that affected things too.
The co-op we do now, we've been in for a couple of years and really like it. They meet one day a week and you pick/choose the classes your child or children want to attend, and pay per class. It costs a LOT more than that other co-op, but they get so much more out of it, too. The ladies who run it are, again, Christian, but less in-your-face and confrontational about it than at the first co-op (we are Christian too, but Mormon, so it sometimes creates doctrinal differences).
My children have taken or are now taking sewing, stage skills, PE, music, history - Abraham Lincoln, and my oldest is in a class this semester based on the parable of the talents, where each student gets $20 and is tasked with turning into $100 for an animal shelter. She's raised about $122 so far by making and selling hair bows and cake pops.