Recently there have been co-ops popping up everywhere in the homeschool community.
Is this a good thing?
Well, that's a good question. I think the answer is yes, and no.
Here's the picture: We participated in a Classical Christian co-op two years ago that I found at our local homeschool conference. I was so sold on it that I directed it for almost two years until the anti-Catholic materials made me decide to look elsewhere. The anti-Catholic stuff aside, it was a great day. We made lots of friends, did art, science, and oral reports like we never had before, and really enjoyed the day.
I miss it even now. But the curricula is purely Protestant and intolerant of my faith, and that won't do. So off we went on our own.
The kids missed it so much. I missed it. Friends and fellowship are good things.
This past year we participated in a smaller co-op and enjoyed that, but the folks live all over Houston and that makes play dates a bit hard.
So I am starting one of my own. But so far, I haven't really said why.
We enjoyed both co-ops, but I felt one day a week is really hard to get momentum enough for an entire week. Or, we ended up doing "our curricula" at home and their curricula on that day, then not enough consistency with either all week.
As a former college professor and a lover of classroom discussion, I think to be homeschooled means more than just doing your work at home. It means setting the bar higher, using curricula that public schools balk at for various reasons, and engaging in the great conversations. Anyone can school at home. Get some workbooks from Barnes and Noble and off you go.
I WANT to co-op because I will be with like-minded families twice a week, using curricula chosen by us that we all agree on and will use at home and in class. At home we will read and discuss and work. In class we will listen and discuss again, this time hearing the all important feedback from those of a like-minded faith who think differently than me. In our country we have become offended by opinion. Many times law suits are filed due to "libel."
I was reading Lene Jaqua's blog (she writes the books I sell, and she summed it up perfectly in her recent post. Read here:
http://classicalwriting.blogspot.com/2010/12/offen-sensitivity.html
Here is a brief sample from it:
For example ......Algernon Charles Swinburne, a Victorian era English poet, held that in calling Ralph Waldo Emerson ‘a gap-toothed and hoary-headed ape’, he had confined himself to ‘language of the strictest reserve’. ...Disraeli said of a political opponent, “He has committed every crime that does not require courage.” ...Mark Twain charged that Kipling ‘‘did measureless harm; more real and lasting harm, perhaps, than any other individual that ever wrote.’’In modern times any of the above accusations spoken publicly could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in punitive damages should the accused decide to file suit.
Not that we want our kids to pass this kind of dialogue back and forth on a regular basis, but we do want them to learn that someone's opinion is just an opinion, and that there are legitimate reasons why one might disagree with it and even possibly be motivated to help change it, with the use of good logic, kindness, prayer, and understanding.
I do not want my kids to grow up thinking that their thoughts and opinions should never be questioned. "Iron sharpens iron." I cannot believe that I alone can sharpen them enough and I long for the community of fellowship in the classroom, two days a week to help this happen.
Yet when I am asked, "Do we homeschool?" the answer is an unshakeable "yes." Because we do. Even at co-op days, the buck stops here with me. No public school would give you that privilege.
Lately I have noticed "company" co-ops popping up everywhere. It's a business. "Want to start a co-op? Use our blueprint! For only $$$ you can run your own co-op."
BEWARE!
Why? Because a co-op is a living thing. It's not a business, and it's not a cookie cutter blueprint that will work with every group of 20 homeschool families. It's organic and has to grow from its members.
The co-op I am starting has some initial goals: It is Catholic. It is a full scope and sequence program (not supplemental or social, although those things will be present).
So it is already not for everyone. We want to use curricula at co-op and at home that creates a continuous week; seamless and streamlined.
And that's where we are so far. The growth will continue from those who join and we will become a living, breathing community with diversity and likemindedness.
I have been to many homeschool conferences recently where new curricula and new co-op companies pop up each year.
DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE TREND?
It's called capitalism and it has landed smack in the middle of the homeschooling community. Folks are ready and waiting to make money off of your honest desire to give your kids the best education you can.
But I can promise you that some of these are not quality programs and have been thrown together to get money in the bank based on trend tracking.
I am not about quick and easy. I have chosen to take the hard road in homeschooling, using curricula that is classical in nature and requires diligence to accomplish. The workbook program is not for us.
Not will our co-op be free and easy, like the wind in your hair on a nice Spring day. There will be hard classes with problems to solve and homework and all that stuff that was in existence before the industrialization of education.
Beware the trendy businesses that you will find this year at the conferences. That smiling face behind that table may just be a victim too.
Co-ops are a good idea, but not pre-packaged and microwaveable.
