The simplest one to start and maintain is a support group. It may start as simply as a park day, or a skate day at a local skating rink. It may become more than that and include Moms’ Night Out, field trips, high school graduation ceremonies, and more. But even a monthly park day (if you live in an area that is conducive to spending the day at the park) or a skate day, or a library day…any of those can be a great experience and develop friendships and encouragement for parents as well as children. A wise support group leader lets the group grow naturally, and gently draws it together, letting other people fill any needs; this is as opposed to the support group where the leader has all the vision, and plans and organizes everything, and eventually burns herself out and quits, but there is no one to carry on after her. You don’t want that. Two or three co-leaders can help guide a group to meet the needs of the members, training up other members to become leaders. It’s low pressure, so that parents have time to be at home with their children and actually teaching them. Contact HALSS if you are interested in starting a support group in your community, and we’ll be glad to chat with you.
A co-op is much more like work. A true co-op is when a small group of families meets together, and all of the adults teach all of the children whatever they know. In today’s world, many co-ops have become huge, with multiple classes, once or twice a week, age-segregated classes, and more. Many co-ops only teach enrichment classes, rather than core instruction. Some are big enough that they have decided to incorporate as nonprofits. There’s an excellent Facebook group called “I am a homeschool group leader”. For questions about forming and operating a co-op, that’s the best place to go. One of the admins is Carol Topp, a CPA who works extensively with homeschool co-ops. Some co-ops also have support group-type activities (field trips, Moms’ Night Out, etc.), but their primary purpose is offering instruction.
