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Co-ops are a way for families to come together in fellowship and gives children an opportunity to learn with others. There are so many positives to being a part of a community this way. The first thing to know about co-ops is they come in many shapes and sizes. Depending on the area you are in, you will have the ability to shop around for a co-op that fits your family's rhythm. Some things to know about co-ops:
While co-ops are great for a flexible way to get your children to learn with others, there are a few negatives to joining and attending a co-op.
If you are wanting to try and find a co-op local to you, check out the HSLDA website for co-ops listed by state. If you are on Facebook, check out your states FB pages for co-ops in your state. Check out my latest eBook about helping families start homeschooling with the end in mind. It will help provide you with so much information to get started with homeschooling today! See book here! To Know God and to Make Him Known Lori 
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This is not a post about how to make mom friends. Thats a tough one that I HAVE NOT figured out yet. But this is a post about getting plugged into community. Because that's a must. We are not meant to walk life alone, and fellowship with other likeminded people is a great cup filling thing for our lives.
You know, the whole socialization thing is a big myth in homeschooling. Honestly, even if you don't get plugged into any type of "community" you can still have highly socialized kids. Unless you are locking your children in the house, you children will be socialized. I do think we all need to reframe our mindsets of how we are interacting in the world. We can't think of socialization as just about peer-to-peer interaction. While this is important for some social skills, we really don't spend much time in life socializing with direct peers. Some of the people I enjoy talking to the most in life are the older ladies at my church. By definition, they would not be considered in my peer group. So think about where you go and spend the most time. Places like:
When we socialize while out and about, we teach our children to socialize everywhere they go. We are teaching them kindness, empathy, and how to be in the moment. We are teaching them to think outside of themselves and think about the others around them. Teaching our children to say hello to the shelf worker at the grocery store is teaching them in real time that person isn't just a bad stranger but a human who deserves a little kindness too. These are learning moments that simply have a much harder time happening in the public schools. Sidenote, not saying stranger danger isn't real. Just saying we shouldn't always be in stranger danger mode. We should be aware of our surroundings but not every stranger is someone we should be afraid of. Connecting with other homeschooling families Connection, connection, connection. There really is no one way to plug in as you start homeschooling. While none of things are required, I do highly recommend them: Co-op This is a way to learn with others. There are so many positives. Co-ops come in many shapes and sizes. Depending on the area you are in, you will have the ability to shop around for a co-op that fits your family's rhythm. Some things to know about c-ops:
Convention Got to a convention. This is a fantastic way to see a large assortment of curriculums and resources at one time. While convention is fantastic for this it is also overwhelming at the exact same time because there are so many options. My suggestion would be to attend convention with the goal of just learning and NOT purchasing anything. Chances are all those great convention sales will also be offered at other times of the year. Do not let fomo get the best of you. The thing with conventions is they offer chances to go to workshops that will teach you different aspects of homeschooling. Groups -Moms Clubs -Nature Clubs -Library Activities -Forest Schools -Start your own group Find community! Join a local co-op, nature group, moms club. There really are so many different options. We need connection, somehow, somewhere. Utilizing online forums and social media communities Social media is a mixed bag. While it is great for seeing what other moms are doing, it can be hard to withstand the peer pressure of it all. Social media can make us feel like we aren’t doing enough or doing the right things. Facebook groups can offer a lot of support. One great thing about FB groups is that you can find a group that is catered specifically to the way you want to homeschool. Want a classical education group? There’s 10 for that. Want one that is all about secular homeschool? There are groups for you. Want a group that helps find good Christian curriculums and resources? There are a lot of groups for your as well. Forums Here’s the plug for my group! Join me over at Journey2Homeschool community! This is your place to find like-minded parents trying to figure out homeschooling too. Forums are great because they are out of the social media space and tend to mimic real life more. There aren't a bunch of third-party rules we have to follow and stuff like that. We decide what kind of group we want. Support Groups HSLDA offers a page that lists the different support groups by state. This is a fantastic starting point for you to actually find local groups. Especially if you are NOT on Facebook. Click here to go straight to their page! Ok, that was a lot to absorb. Becoming a part of community is hard but important for us all! Until next time friends! Lori To Know God and To Make Him Known We made it!! It’s the last week of co-op for our family and I am stinking excited! This was our first year and it was really super hard. I talked about it before, we are doing Classical Conversations. Going into it, I wasn’t super sure what my goals for Samuel should be for this first year. Now at the end, I realized our goal throughout the year was just teaching Sam that this is how co-op works. And I think he gets it. Samuel flourished with giving presentations but super struggled the WHOLE time with sitting for each session. Waiting for snack time was very, very hard as well but that's because we rarely wait for snack time at home. With a one-year-old, I’m not going to try and change that. I started co-op in the fall with a nursing baby and Sam not being potty trained yet. That went about as well as you could imagine. 4 year olds in diapers are no fun and it was such a relief when he FINALLY learned to sit on a toilet. And now, I’m convinced that Colson just thinks he is a part of the group. Which to me is just a sweet image of the beauty of the classical tradition of education being so helpful for strengthening the family dynamic. On deck for school this week: Monday: Eclipse Tuesday: Co-op Wednesday: Field Trip. I don't remember what we signed up for. But it's at the Childrens Museum up in Dayton, OH Thursday: Speech therapy Friday: Play Play Play Lori To know God and to make Him Known |
AuthorLori Lacey is the owner and creator of Journey2Homeschool. Archives
July 2025
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