In a previous blog, Should You Join a Co-op?, I addressed how to evaluate whether a specific co-op is the best situation for your family. Now, weeks later, after spending the first quarter of the school year in a successful co-op, I’d like to share with you what has made our co-op work well.

I believe there are some very specific qualities that have made our co-op successful. If your current co-op doesn’t demonstrate these characteristics, don’t despair. Rather, use them as guidelines for improving your current co-op situation. Our co-op underwent some changes and with thorough communication, we worked out the kinks, creating a helpful and encouraging environment. But the key is that we worked through our challenges rather than giving up our co-op. While that’s not possible with every struggling co-op, you might want to give it a shot before quitting.

1. Prayer – as with any endeavor, the amount of prayer put into the project has a tremendous affect on its success. We prayed over our co-op during planning and regularly lift it up in prayer as we progress. With God in charge, we become less worried about our own endeavors and more focused on Him.

2. Consistent Communication – while it may be time consuming, particularly at first, the strength of your communication will greatly determine the value of your co-op overall. Miscommunications cause frustration and that can lead to further problems. As with so many home schoolers, our co-op families have very busy schedules, so we found that with most issues e-mailing worked best. However, there were certainly situations when a phone call prevented a dozen e-mails. Talk with the other moms in your co-op to determine the best way to consistently, but respectfully, communicate.

3. Flexibility - we spent a great deal of time planning our history and science co-op during the summer. With all of that time invested, we thought we had things pretty much mapped out. We really overplanned and didn’t take our sons’ other academic and outside responsibilities into account enough. After the first four weeks, we revised our reading list. After six weeks, we revised our Bible study and science plans. You have to be willing to be flexible enough to change what’s not working. It was a little disconcerting after all of the planning that we did, but we decided to count our summer work as an intense learning experience. Should we do another co-op next year, we’ll know what not to do!

4. Student Personalities – It is not easy to work out how different personalities will respond in a co-op situation prior to actually interacting with each other. For example, we found that two of our boys fed off of each other and became really silly at points because they found each other so entertaining, while another boy was less likely to actively participate due to the distraction. At times, I am sure he wondered if he’d ever get a word in during some conversations. So, we had to lay down some ground rules that we really hadn’t expected. Once those rules were established, the co-op was more valuable and pleasant for everyone.

5. Grace – The personalities of the moms should be considered as well. We have had a few moments here and there when one or another felt left out or overwhelmed by the co-op responsibilities. Only one of us had actually ever taught prior to the co-op starting and there was insecurity at times about dealing with specific academic material. Grace plays an important role as you deal with these types of issues. Gently loving one another through such times prevents walls or negative memories from being created. It can be tempting during crunch time to be condescending or take over rather than allowing everyone to do her part, even if she does it differently that you would. I love the idea that my son gets to learn from other moms because it offers him the opportunity to interact and communicate differently than we do daily. Even though we may be very different in some ways, those differences can translate into precious learning experiences.

6. Workload Balance – For the most part, we have been able to balance the responsibilities amongst us fairly evenly. At times, that balance may be off momentarily because of sick children or other demands on our time. But a successful co-op most often spreads the workload evenly for all participants, preventing frustration or feelings of being taken advantage of.

7. Compatible Curriculum - By using Epi Kardia’s 9-12 Complete Units, we were able to personalize and design our history plans to suit our families’ goals. The booklists made quick work of selecting our reading materials; the project ideas kept us from having to think up hands-on activities and we utilized the research lists as mini-research study topics for the boys to present each week. The organization of Apologia Chemistry, along with the experiments that can be done at home, made it ideal for our situation. Considering that the three of us were never science majors, the articulate presentation of the material greatly supported our needs. 

8. Academic Progress – It has been wonderful watching the academic progress of the boys that has already been achieved. History and science discussions not only demonstrate their comprehension but also allow them to develop better communications skills. Completing science experiments together promotes discussion of the results and new ideas that may not have been considered while doing the experiments alone. As I previously noted, being responsible to another adult takes accountability a step further and also provides the opportunity for praise and encouragement from someone besides mom. It has been a joy watching John Paul interact with the other moms in our co-op and also observing how he has developed more respect for them over time.

These qualities may not be exactly what you’d want in your co-op, but generally, I believe they are foundational for most co-ops. If you have ideas or have participated in a successful co-op, we’d love to hear your comments. Many thanks to my co-op sisters, Sharon and Cheryl, and their boys, Erik and Robert, for hanging in there and working together in an attempt to teach our sons with a spirit of Christ!

Blessings on your week!

Beth