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I have some questios about Homeschool Co-op, help???
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Question:
Can anyone offer any nuts and bolts advice on how to start a homeschool
co-op?
I'm thinking of a co-op where the teachers are paid and am wondering about
liability
and possible tax issues.
Answer:
- What state? We're in the process of filing non-profit status on ours.
However, we've had to drop "co-op" from the name because it doesn't
fit the State of Texas' legal definition of a co-op.
As soon as we're completely done with the nuts and bolts for ours, I
can send you more info on what we've done. Tomorrow, we're finalizing
our bylaws so that we can get them filed with the Secretary of State.
- Co-ops can take on any number of forms. Although I agree with Streetrat, if
the teachers are paid, it isn't really a co-op. Our family is not partial
to co-ops or a lot of regular outside group activities because we believe
the bulk of home schooling should take place at home as a family. Not
locked away in the house, mind you . Just not spending lots of time in a
group or class setting. There are advantages to doing some co-op or group
activities, however, so I'm not saying they should be completely avoided :-)
I've hosted a home school writer's club in my home with about 10 kids for a
period of 8 weeks. And I'm currently running a home school drama team/class
with 27 students. For that we're meeting for a total of 9 or 10
classes/rehearsals with a performance for friends and relatives at the
conclusion. We've found that most people already have pretty full schedules
with school, church, music lessons, sports, P.E, etc. and they don't need or
want any more long-term commitments. When I do plan a group activity like
the writer's club or drama team, I make it a short-term commitment. 6-8
weeks seems to be about right.
One kind of co-op that I was introduced to 2 years ago was where 2 or 3
families with similar interests and kids that get along well get together to
study a subject (or several) together. One such co-op I know of met twice a
month and they alternated houses. They were doing unit studies on different
parts of the world. They would conclude each study with a feast they made
with foods from that region.
Last year I did a co-op like this with another home schooling friend who has
a daughter close in age to my daughters. We did a science unit study on the
food pyramid/nutrition. We included field trips of interest (butcher shop
for meats, candy factory for sweets & fats, etc.), cooking, science
experiments, etc. We also did some Spanish, a Bible study on 1 Cor. 13, and
a U.S. geography project. We met once a week from about 10 am to 4 pm. It
worked well, but did require a lot of prep work as we weren't using any sort
of curriculum. My friend and I both found that because the other family was
depending on us, we were more motivated to plan these extra activities and
studies for our kids. It was good motivation and it was a lot of fun
Regarding your insurance question, I recently checked in to prices for
getting liability insurance for some home school activities we are looking
at doing in the future (a science fair, park days with speakers for the
moms, etc.). In AZ it would cost about $1500 a year. I did have to call
several insurance agents to find one that would handle this type of
specialty liability insurance.
- In many states, if you pay the teachers then you are legally a business or a
private school and as such, are subject to all the laws pertaining to them.
I don't know about other states, but in CA this would require you to do
background checks on all paid employees, and would also subject you to state
law regarding hiring, which means you couldn't discriminate against anyone
based on gender, race, or sexual orientation.
The general idea of a co-op is that you are "bartering" with teachers
instead of paying them; i.e., if one parent is good at math and teaches
that, then you could reimburse them through teaching their children a
subject at which you excel. In other co-ops, teachers have been "paid"
through babysitting, housecleaning, cooking, or other exchange of goods and
services.
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