Serving the Modesto-Area Homeschoolers with Love and Grace!

First and foremost Grace Homeschool Co-op's goal is to support homeschool moms. This is played out in community, building friendships, and supporting one another along the journey. We are a group of Modesto area homeschool mamas who have come together as a community for Christian fellowship, support for homeschool mamas, and to have some fun learning along the way! We support homeschool families with encouragement for moms, field trips, community activities, and faith based classes for homeschoolers in the Central Valley.

Grace's Organization:

This is how we roll:

Academic classes vs. Enrichment classes

Grace Homeschool Co-op offers Academic classes and Enrichment classes. Enrichment classes allow families looking for extra curricular activities to be able to come without the stress of homework and too many additional requirements to their week. Academic classes support the homeschool by bridging the gaps in areas that are difficult to do at home, such as science labs and literature group discussions. While homework is assigned in academic classes, we always allow the parent (and whomever they may be accountable to) to have the final say in assignments, work, and grades.

Grace meets weekly throughout the school year (roughly August to May)  We try to have monthly field trips and frequent events especially for the moms, along with social events for teens, kiddos and families.   

This is how we run:

Member-Governed

Grace is a Board-Operated-Member-Governed Christian Homeschool Co-Op. The way this works, is that the Board of Directors predominantly directs all the legal affairs of the Co-Op, working side by side with our Co-Op's Leadership Committee. Some of the Board members' roles also serve on the Leadership Committee, but each member wears a different hat in each department. Member-Governed means that we have regular meetings for active members in good standing who each have a voice to vote, and we rule on the 'Majority'. Any member can put something on the docket to be discussed at a member meeting* and the Leadership committee will hold a panel and come to a consensus with the members. A vote with the majority of the membership will almost always have a forward motion except for cases where the Board deems it 'legally unsound' in keeping our status as a Nonprofit 501c3 Corp. If a member is interested in having a topic discussed at a board meeting, they just have to contact our Secretary to have it added to the docket.  We believe that as a Member-Governed Co-Op each family will take their role seriously because, 'Their vote counts'. We believe that each family will help us to make the best judgement call we can on any issue when they know their voice is able to be heard. We believe this will help to even the load of decision making to best serve our families where they are at. We believe this will help each family to be actively involved because they will have an ownership in the program.

This is how we are restful:

Relaxed Atmosphere for busy parents

At Grace we firmly believe in parents being able to come, serve and bless others in their gifting. We are not looking to stress out our parents into  volunteering outside their gifting, skill set or giving them non-optional-overbearing-obligations. Our goal is to be able to leave it up to our parents to figure out what is best for them in the area of service but also what is best for the Co-Op. We are looking for 'Volunteers' to help bear the load. If we don't have enough volunteers, we won't have a smooth running program and will adjust accordingly. So, as parents are willing and able, we encourage them to be available when there is a need. But above all, it is a choice. Our hope is to reach out for outside-Volunteer help (from retired-experienced-wise-empty nest-ers) who have a love of serving and a hand for helping in our 'weaker' areas. Our goal being two-fold; first, having our overburdened moms have a greater ability to carry a lesser load at the Co-Op and second, giving a place for these wonderful wise women and men to have a place to speak encouragement to younger generations (moms and kiddos) and a place where they can continue friendships; both old and new.

This is how you register:

Website

Our website has an amazing layout with class schedules, bylaws, member's handbook, any and all forms that must be filled out and a members forum where you can communicate, as well as find family contacts in the directory.

COMMUNITY Chats

Since most of you mom's now-a-days are on some sort of social media platform, we thought it smart to use a social minded platform for our chats. In the spirit of keeping a community of unity, we have collectively decided that the BAND app is the best way for us to communicate outside of our website. Each BAND community is focused on a particular campus or age group but we encourage ALL our members (both community and campus families) to join our Community Member Band HERE. 

We do have a Facebook page for our Co-Op...but as Facebook doesn't meet up with a lot of our community values, we have lessened our interaction on there significantly.

**Keep in mind though, that both platforms are private and will only be for Co-Op related posts. If you're selling your smells, oils, pink drink, or bags * just remember to just make friends with everybody and post from your personal page. This will keep any business outside Co-Op which helps us to keep our Non-Profit status legit. At this time we ask that you please refrain from posting pictures on our Facebook page and instead upload them to the photo section of the website.

This is how we reach:

We Relate:

As homeschooler's, we can all relate to each other in more ways than one! We all know this road is long, hard and not trekked by many.  Our aim is to enrich your homeschooling experience; not change anything about how you do life at home or with your local charter school (if your family is enrolled in a charter). We are here to help you uphold your own family's traditions by not invading. We of course expect each family to adhere to this social tolerance as best is humanly possible.

This is how we regenerate:

Sometimes, in the midst of our harried home lives, we as mom's just need to get out and be encouraged! The best ways to do this are enjoying fellowship outside of ...dare I say...Facebook or church. Sometimes, we just need a real heart to heart, face to face connection with little to no small people distractions. We would encourage you to come to our Mom's Night Out our our local Homeschool Mom's support group, and get in that extra bit you need to keep going. We hope to have lots of mom's with crazy fun ideas to do some crazy fun things together. Think bowling, coffee shops and house parties and even a weekend retreat! We also hope to have a Dad's night out as well for those guys who need a reason to abort their Honey-Do lists in effort to maintain their 'Manly' relationships....think golfing, fishing, bowling, camping, hunting, game nights and whatever they can think up to do their spare time.

High School adventures:

As always, those kids can't seem to get enough hanging out time with their friends. You can let them know that they are being looked after as well with exciting ideas like game nights, bowling, ultimate frisbee, movie nights and more.  We are happy to take ideas where they are concerned!

Let the kiddos shine:

Sometimes as homeschooler's it's fun to showcase our kids' talents and abilities. Grace is not going to be slow on this one, so at the end of each semester we have a Celebration Day, where the kids are in the spotlight! Think talent shows, boutiques, craft sales, baking displays, and academic achievements. In addition to that, we have an annual 8th/12th combination graduation celebration! The goal of these days/nights are to help our kids want to achieve an area of excellence to a point where they have enough confidence in their ability to show the world! Well, moms, dads, siblings, grandparents and friend's anyway. The sky's the limit....let's see them soar!

This is how we raise funds:

Fundraisers:

Oh boy. The dreaded fundraiser paragraph. Let me help you see it differently....notice the word?....ah! Now you see it... FUNdraisers! Because they should be FUN! We are looking at using our in-house 'coffee-shop-snack-shack' as a weekly fundraiser, but look out for some fundraisers that will knock your socks off! Think tee-shirts, auction, tri-tip drive thru dinners, lollipops, gala; Middle and High school students in black and white 'waiting' on tables with snazzy food and table decorations. You will be glad you donated to the cause!

This is how we reconcile:

Relationships

Disagreements do not have to swell into something more unpleasant. After all, we are all different homeschoolers with different opinions, needs and ideas! We will take our conflicts to the Lord and use Matt 18:15-17 to sort out any disagreements we have. Our purpose afterall, is to enrich, fulfill and edify one another!

This is how we are real:

Reality check

In the spirit of reality, at Grace, we understand your need to be real. There are just some days that the kids loose their shoes, or the baby has a blowout just before you head out to Co-Op.  Or the teen is trying your resolve in every way possible.  Maybe you forgot to pack a lunch the night before or maybe you need to leave and get your family some food. Or your family is not able to make it but your high schooler needs to be dropped of to continue their classes. We are not interested in making you feel harried and hurried. Some days we are on top of our game, and some days we aren't. So, with that said, our hope is that our Co-Op's more 'free-style' will endeavor you to feel at home on 'those days' and come with your hair down and your slippers on. Hopefully you have more 'on' days than off, but we want to let you know that we get.....Your life. Your schedule. Your success. With Grace, we hope you will find a real need met in your life exactly where you're at.

Nothing more. Nothing less.