A homeschool co-op is a group of families who meet together and work cooperatively to achieve common goals. Co-ops can be organized around academics, social time, the arts, activities, crafts, service work, projects — or some combination of these.

The TV4H Homeschool Co-op is a secular, inclusive group of families that meet for social events and structured, elective-based classes to build a community.

Our co-op runs two class semesters (fall and spring). Each semester is 16 weeks long and includes 8 weeks of “class days” alternating with 8 weeks of field trips. Co-op members are required to attend the class days. Field trips, social events, and clubs are optional.

Our class days run on Fridays from 9:45am-1:30pm

• 9:45 Morning Meeting 
• 10:00-11:00 Class 1
• 11:00-12:00 Lunch Break (folks eat inside or outside and hang out) 
• 12:00 Show & Tell, Birthdays
• 12:15-1:15 Class 2
• 1:15 Ending Meeting
• 1:30 Everyone leaves - Optional playground/park

Our classes are elective-based. These classes are designed to foster community, build social skills, and be exposed to new and different topics that a child might not be exposed to at home. Our co-op is not homeschooling children or replacing academic learning at home. The classes are taught by parent volunteers. Parents submit class ideas that are then decided on my co-op members and the leadership team. Past classes have included:

In order for our co-op to function properly we need parent volunteers. Parents teach the classes, assist the teachers, clean up and run every aspect of our group. We require every parent to volunteer in some capacity.

Families have a $50 registration fee each semester (fall and spring). This fee goes towards our rental space for classes, website fees, general supplies, etc. Families also pay class fees each semester. Classes are roughly $5-$20 and each student takes two classes.

Example Family: 

• 8 year old taking Yoga and Stop Motion
• 3 year old younger sibling in Preschool Hour AM and PM 

Example Family Semester Fees:

$50 registration fee

$5 Yoga Class

$12 Stop Motion Class

$5 Preschool Hour AM 

$5 Preschool Hour PM 

Total Fall semester fees = $77 

We have a field trip committee that plans our official co-op field trips/activities. These official field trips run every other Friday during a semester (alternating with class days). These field trips are optional. Many of them are free, some run $5-10 per child. Past field trips/activities have included: 

• Submarine Force Museum 
• Corn Mazes
• Shows are the Garde 
• Kite Flying at Harkness 
• Farm Tours 
• Tour of the State Capital 
• Field Day 
• Holi Powder Celebration 
• World Cultures Fair 
• Wolfpack Hockey Game
• Wadsworth Atheneum 
• Pequot Museum

Our classes are divided into age brackets including a teen age bracket. We also have several optional teen clubs including a teen social club and a teen documentary club. These clubs are run by parents of member teens and expect all families participating in teen clubs to host teen events.

We have run an optional LEGO robotics club for several years. The Robotics Team has a practice team for children 8 and older who are either too young to compete in the local LEGO FIRST competition or do not want to be on a competition team. We also have 1-2 competition teams that compete in the local LEGO FIRST Challenge competition each fall. These teams are all volunteer run. Our robotics team opens up spots to co-op members as space allows. 

Co-op members are very welcoming of new homeschool families and frequently offer advice and recommendations. We recommend new homeschoolers check out https://cthomeschoolnetwork.org/ for more information on how to get started with homeschooling.