The types of co-op
- Enrichment co-op: weekly or fortnightly, parents teach art, music, drama, PE, science labs, a foreign language. Parents stay and help. Cheap, social, light on academics.
- Academic co-op: classes with homework and grades, often for middle and high school (writing, lab sciences, math, literature), taught by parents with expertise or paid tutors. Parents may stay or drop off.
- Drop-off or hybrid program: a school-like program one to three days a week with paid teachers; the family homeschools the other days. Costs more; sometimes called a university-model school.
- Program-based communities: Classical Conversations, Wild + Free groups, Charlotte Mason co-ops, Catholic and other church-based groups, built around a curriculum or philosophy.
- Park days and field-trip groups: not a co-op strictly, but the social layer many families need. Usually free and found on Facebook.
How to find one
- Search Facebook for your town or county plus 'homeschool'; most co-ops recruit there and nowhere else.
- Ask your state homeschool association (every state has one) for a list of local groups; many maintain directories.
- Ask at the library's children's desk, the YMCA, churches with a weekday homeschool program, and museum education departments; they know who books their rooms.
- Check Homeschool Legal Defense Association's group directory, Homeschool.com's local listings, and Wild + Free and Classical Conversations community maps.
- Go to a park day first. Co-ops are found through people, and park days are where the people are.
Finding a co-op near you, by state
Co-ops are local and rarely listed anywhere central. The reliable path is the state homeschool association, which almost always keeps a directory of member groups, plus the regional Facebook groups. Every state guide on this site names the state association; start there, then search Facebook for your county plus 'homeschool co-op'. In the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the national organisations (Education Otherwise, the Home Education Association, provincial associations, NCHENZ) keep similar lists.
Questions to ask before joining
- What is the statement of faith or worldview, if any, and is it required of members? Many co-ops are Christian; some require signatures.
- What is the parent commitment: teach a class, assist, clean, watch the nursery? How many hours a term?
- What does it cost: membership, per-class fees, supplies, facility fees? Typical: $50–$300 per family per year for an enrichment co-op; $200–$800 per class for academic; $2,000–$6,000 a year for a hybrid program.
- Who teaches, and what happens if a class is weak? How are discipline and safety handled? Is there background checking?
- What ages are served, and how are mixed ages handled? Is there a waiting list?
How to start a small co-op
- Find two or three families with children of roughly similar ages and one shared need (science labs, art, a writing class).
- Pick a fortnightly slot and a free or cheap venue: a home with a big room, a church hall, a library meeting room, a park pavilion.
- Each parent takes one subject for a term. Keep it to two or three classes a session with a break; a co-op that tries to do school fails.
- Set the few rules in writing: cost sharing, attendance, behaviour, who supervises whom. A one-page agreement prevents most problems.
- Grow slowly. Six families is a co-op; twenty is an organisation that needs a treasurer, insurance and a building. Decide which you want.