Co-ops, homeschool enrichment programs, and hybrid schools

A lot of parents get very nervous at the idea of being responsible for teaching every subject to every one of their kids, but fortunately, there are many options to help outsource some of the load. I’ll talk about online options in another post, but in general, I feel strongly that face to pace, in person interactions are better than online communities, at least until high school. So what types of in-person programs are available to homeschoolers?

First, co-ops are usually parent-run programs where different parents volunteer to teach a topic they’re passionate about. The cost (especially with just a few families) is usually free or a bit to cover the cost of supplies. We’ve been part of larger homeschool communities with a weekly “class day” of various classes taught by parents or family friends. (One such friend was very into NASA and space flight, so he set up his work schedule to be able to come teach his neighbor kids (and other space geeks like my son!) a class on NASA and the science of flight. My son still raves about that class, years later!) The beauty of these co-ops is often that moms and dads who are passionate about science can do a wonderful two-month class on bugs, while moms who love literature will happily lead a book discussion of a classic children’s book, and thus all their kids get a rich experience in more than just their family’s area of specialty!

What to look for in a co-op: If a parent is volunteering her time (or taking a minimal fee to help pay for supplies), is the cost of the co-op also reasonably low (allowing for rental of the church or library or boys and girls club where activities are offered)? Is the person offering the class an expert or at least an informed amateur in the subject they’re teaching? Can you pick and choose the classes that your child takes, using the experts to teach subjects you’re not comfortable with, but allowing you to focus on your favorite subjects yourself? (At our current co-op academy, my son just takes modern history from a teacher with a PhD and my daughter just takes French from a fluent French speaker. We skip the writing and literature classes because those are my passion!) There is a popular homeschool company out there that charges hundreds to thousands of dollars per child for a “co-op” type situation where parents who may not know anything about their assigned topics work for very low wages to lead classes while much of the money goes up the pipeline. The problem with this company is twofold: first, the expense is supposedly in their proprietary materials, which are actually just booklists and collections of facts slightly changed from other timelines and resources that parents could source much cheaper on their own. Second, the mom “tutors” (I have heard of only one or two dads in the dozens of these communities I’ve interacted with across the country) often know nothing about some of the topics they’re teaching because they have to teach a whole slate of subjects as designated by the parent company; I have coached several mom “tutors” in basic English and Latin grammar so that they can go teach it to their class. It might make sense to have a couple families struggling together to teach themselves another language or use the same curriculum to study an unfamiliar period in history together; it doesn’t make sense to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to have an adult learning material alongside your child. If you are being heavily recruited to join someone’s community, ask a lot of questions first.

A second way we have outsourced certain classes that are harder to do at home is by taking advantage of homeschool enrichment programs offered by local parks and rec departments, community rec centers, the public library, and school districts that have homeschool support programs (in Iowa, our kids took classes, went on field trips, and played in a homeschool orchestra, and we had access to a huge resource library of curriculum, all through a neighboring public school system). The instruction is always by someone with experience in the area, often even a credentialed teacher with a passion for the subject. We have done art, music, PE, science adventures, and dance, and we’ve met some of our best friends in these settings. Usually, these programs are low-cost or free; we have been involved in homeschool programs through public school districts in three states, and in each case, the only cost to us has been reporting to a mentor teacher a few times a semester and taking the state standardized testing (see my post on high school standardized tests for why I think this is actually not a bad thing.) If you don’t have the time or energy to contribute to a co-op, or if you feel the accountability of meeting and discussing your homeschool progress with a me to teacher would be helpful, an enrichment program may be the right choice for your family in this season.

A third option that is gaining in popularity are actual hybrid schools designed for homeschoolers. Many parents want help with more than just a class or two, and a hybrid school is set up to support the entirety of a student’s schooling. Unlike the popular co-op flavored program I mentioned above, these programs either provide a full curriculum or are set up to support you as you use your own curriculum at home. Some of our best friends send their kids to a private school that has a hybrid option for homeschoolers where the school does all the lesson planning and teaches classes on site three days a week, then they complete schoolwork at home with their parents two days a week, allowing flexibility for other homeschool activities. Here in Indiana, my family is involved in a Charlotte Mason hybrid school that provides curriculum support and a library of curriculum and literature for member families and has two days of classes. My grade schoolers do nature study, natural history, brush drawing, handicrafts, music and art appreciation, poetry, Shakespeare, recitation, Bible, Latin, geography, history, and lots of outdoor time. My junior high student does all those as well as science labs and English literature. When I found out we’d be spending a semester in London, our director immediately had book recommendations and a local Charlotte Mason educator in the UK to follow. While the older students do have some homework on their off-days from co-op (usually an hour or two for the whole week), the beauty of this particular set-up for us is that they have done all these rich enrichment subjects at their school while I am doing high school work with the older kids, leaving the younger kids and me the remaining three days to focus on math, our family’s history rotation, creative writing, other languages (French or Latin, depending on the kid), and extracurriculars like choir, orchestra, drama, and Irish dance and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

Things to consider: A hybrid school can be much pricier than a co-op, closer in cost to a cheaper private school, but the good hybrid schools will be set up to serve your family’s homeschooling, not the other way around. Make sure you're not locked in to coursework or busywork that doesn't fit your family’s homeschool priorities. If poorly-planned or poorly-run, hybrids have the potential to be the worst of school and homeschool worlds, with bad curriculum or unpleasant school problems like bullying. Talk to veteran parents and make sure the school fits your family; the hybrid program loved by our friends in California happened to use curriculum in almost every subject that was my second or third choice, so I opted not to participate and rather use my top choices with my kids. We never really seriously considered a hybrid in the early years of homeschooling, when I had time for all the fun appreciation subjects, but once I was homeschooling five kids and teaching a host of intense high school subjects, I didn't have time in my day to study artists, poets, and composers, and a hybrid school that gave my younger children the chance to enjoy those things was a beautiful way to ensure all my kids, not just my oldest, had an enriching and wide education. I would only give up days with my children if the school program fit our current family needs.

If you’re considering joining any type of homeschool program, make sure to go observe before you commit. Even a great academic fit for your family may be miserable if you don’t click with the other families!