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Homeschooling Co-ops can look different from each other, but the basic concept is usually the same. All families volunteer, or cooperate (hence, co-op) to make it work. Usually a co-op consists of a leadership team, some committees, and parents as teachers and helpers for classes or nursery. Some co-ops meet a couple times per week, weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly. Our co-op meets weekly from about 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

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There are many advantages to being in a homeschooling co-op!

• Just like any homeschooling group, one huge benefit is the friendships that your children will form with other homeschooled children that they may not have known before. We have found that the parents appreciate the friendships they have formed with other homeschooling parents as well.

• A co-op also gives you an opportunity to share your time and talents with other families, while other families share their time and talents with you and your children. For instance, if art isn't your strong suit, but science is – your children can have the opportunity to be taught by another parent who is extremely talented in art, while you get to share your science brain with her students. It's a win-win for everyone!

• There are some classes that are difficult to do at home because they tend to work better in a larger group, like phys-ed, drama, or hand bells. Being in a homeschooling co-op gives your children the opportunity to participate in those kinds of classes with a larger group of children.

• Another benefit is the opportunity for your children to learn in a group setting and learn from other like-minded adults.

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Our Website Maintenence Fee is $10 per family per year. This non-refundable fee pays for your family to access our member-only website. This fee does NOT cover the cost of registration.

Registration will cost $75 per family per semester. This helps to cover operating expenses like rent (or donation to the facility hosting us), materials that the co-op can keep for current and future classes, cleaning supplies, insurance, and supplies for extra events.

Some classes, like art or science, may require an extra fee to cover extra materials or parents may be asked to pitch in by donating a few items for the class. This will be communicated to you before classes begin. Every effort is made to make this as low as possible. 

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To be considered a member of the H.O.P.E. Christian Homeschool Co-op, a family must:

• Register their family on our website.

• Attend (or watch the video for) a first year Orientation (if it is the member's first year) or the yearly Orientation set up for current members.

• Pay their membership dues, registration fees, and class fees.

• Membership dues are required to be paid before the sign-up period is over.

• Registration fees are due during the registration period for each semester that the family plans to attend.

• Any class fees for specific classes are due by the second class for which the fees are due.

• Acknowledge that they agree, understand, and will submit to all the following when registering on our website:

• Statement of Faith

• The Handbook

• Liability and Consent Waiver (as stated in the Handbook)

• Able to pass a background check (to check for violent crimes and sex offender search)

* Attend short family Meet & Greet with leadership team with children ages 3 and up.

• Legally homeschooling, legally public schooling at home, OR if child(ren) is/are not compulsory school age, intending to use one of these options when child(ren) become compulsory age

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Yes. If this situation pertains to you, please be aware that legally homeschooling and doing public school at home (through a program administered by the local school system, K12, ECOT, etc) are not the same. Homeschoolers follow a different law and are not held to the same state standards or testing that public school at home students are held to. Additionally, public school students at home do not have to report annually as homeschoolers do. We will permit public school at home students to join our co-op if they agree to the following:

• The H.O.P.E. Christian Homeschooling Co-op will not be able to change its programming in any way to accommodate a standard or requirement that needs to be fulfilled for the public school program.

• They are aware that any discussion about the legalities of homeschooling at co-op refers to legally homeschooling families and does not pertain to their situation. Any legal questions regarding their schooling should be directed to the administrator of their public school program.

• They are aware that by using the public school at home method, they are not legally homeschooling

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Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

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We meet at a facility in Stow, OH. In order to maintain safety on our co-op days, we have refrained from sharing our exact location on our public website. We prefer to share this with you after you have signed up, but if distance is a possible concern depending on where something is in Stow, contact us by email at jhoyt@kent.edu. 

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Our semesters are 13 total weeks - one week for a trial run/intro to the building, and then 12 weeks of classes.

Fall semester will be from the end of August until just before Thanksgiving.

Spring semester will be from the end of February or beginning of March through the end of May.

We take a break between semesters from the end of November until the end of February in hopes that we can reduce the number of cancellations due to weather and/or sickness.

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Once we know who has joined and plans to attend the semester we are planning for (either fall or spring), we will close membership sign-ups and will hold a planning meeting. During this meeting, we will determine what classes are desired by members, which classes parents are willing to teach, and what classes we can potentially offer our members for that semester. 

After the planning meeting, we will hold pre-registration. This looks a lot like registration, but it is to get a feel for which classes have enough interest to make the final cut and which (if any) classes are so popular that we need to offer them during more than one class period. 

After pre-registration, the leadership team will make the final schedule and registration will open. At that time, the pre-determined registration fee will be due along with any class fees (which we try to keep to a bare minimum).

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Member sign-up is simply that - signing up to be a part of our group. The $10 membership dues simply pay for your family to access our website for the school year.

Registration is signing up for classes. Registration is held twice a year - once for fall semester and again for spring semester. It is totally possible that someone may become a member of our co-op and attend in the fall but not in the spring, or vice versa. Registration fees are payable per semester for that reason. These fees cover our operating costs for the semester. Our current registration fees per semester will be determined once all of the details for a meeting location have been worked out.

Most of the classes you register your children for will have no additional fee. However, there may be classes that require extra supplies, like art, science, etc. that would be too costly for the teacher to supply himself/herself. In those classes, there may be an extra class fee, but every effort will be made to keep it as low as possible.

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No. Once sign-ups have ended, anyone wishing to join for the following semester will be placed on a wait list until sign-ups open again. 

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If we are full, anyone who signs up goes on a Potential Member List. We will still do their Meet & Greet so that it's done, and as soon as there is a place for them, we will let them know that we have space.

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Not necessarily.  Unfortunately we have to limt the size of our co-op due to the size of our facility.

Before the Planning Meeting for each semester, the Leadership Team will meet with all of the families individually who are on the Potential Member List. From there we determine, based on our current numbers and the needs of families, who we will be able to admit into the co-op for the following semester.

However, we have also seen it a few times where families drop out at the last minute before the semester starts. When that happens, we go to the Potential Member List to see who else we can admit in their place.

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We plan to offer nursery for childcare all the way up to 12th grade.

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Because this is a newly formed co-op, we don't know yet! 

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Yes. It is required that you read it thoroughly, understand it, and fully agree with it in order to be a member of this co-op. Because parents will be teaching other people's children, it is important to us that those parents be like-minded in these core areas. There are many issues that we, as Christians and members of this co-op, may disagree – but on these core values, there must be unity and agreement.

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Yes. In order for a co-op to work, everyone has to work together and teach to make it happen. Each member must be willing to teach at least one class each semester and must be willing to serve as a helper, floater, or nursery helper during the other class periods. 

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Yes, parents must attend co-op with their children. Dropping off and leaving is not permitted.

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We offer all kinds of classes! Much of what we will offer depends on the needs of our current members, what parents are willing to teach, and having resources needed for any particular class. Most, if not all, of our classes are supplemental or enrichment in nature, like music, art, science experiments, etc. The class schedule will be made after our planning meeting each semester.

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We don't want to go as far as to say that it's mandatory, but it is extremely helpful to our planning if everyone makes every effort to be there. This co-op belongs to all of our members, and this is their chance to make their voices heard about what they would like to have offered and what they would like to contribute to the group.

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No way! We welcome all of your children to come to co-op classes! We have a nursery for your younger children. Each member may have to serve on a rotation to staff the nursery, but we try to assure that there are enough moms in there that they can still fellowship while they are taking care of the children. We do ask that newborns stay with their mothers (or another mom in the mom's room if mom is busy) until they are sturdy enough to go into the nursery (able to be in an exersaucer, walker, or swing).

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Field trips, moms nights out, teen events, etc. are all things we would like to consider for the future. Since this is our first year, we are trying to keep it simpler by making our main focus the weekly co-op classes. However, if we find that classes are going smoothly and we are able to add more events of this nature, that could possibly happen the first year. We will see! 

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No. While that may be a possibility in the future, at this time, our extra activities and field trips that we coordinate are only for our co-op members. Attending the weekly classes is a requirement to be in our co-op.

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After your first year, Orientation will go so fast! The purpose is to make you aware of any changes that we will be making or to go over things that need to be gone over for the following year. Because you've already been in the co-op, there is no need to go over the things you already know. Typically, orientation will be done virutally live, but can also be viewed later.