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The ABCS co-op meets for two ten week terms in fall and winter on Mondays at Spirit Lake Baptist Church in Spirit Lake,ID.  Our day starts at 9 sharp with a community assembly and wraps up around 12 or 1230 with a community lunch. 

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ABCS Homeschool Cooperative is a Non-profit organization and has no employees and runs solely on the man power of volunteers usually in the form of local homeschool moms. It must be stressed that no one is making any kind of financial gain from the membership dues of this co-op, the membership dues are strictly to cover co-op expenses and protect volunteers from having to make personal financial sacrifices.   

Family Membership Fee

The cost of this co-op is $84, which is $25 per term (for admin expenses), with a once per year $40 fee for group liability insurance, and a once per year fee of $10 for the group website subscription, and a once only every 3 years Background check fee (for every participating adult) of $9.00.  All families that participate in co-op in the fall term will be required to pay this $75- $84 membership fee (admin, insurance, and website),  families that return for the winter term will only pay $25 (admin fee), while new families that join for the winter term will pay the $75-84 membership fee for the year (admin, insurance, website, background check if necessary). 

Here are the three payment scenarios for example

1. A family participates all year:  A family that joins for the fall and winter terms pays $84 in September, and then $25 in January. 

2. A family only joins for the fall term:  Pays $84, even if they do not plan on returning for the winter term. 

3. A family joins the co-op mid-year: This family did not participate in the fall, but will be participating in the winter term and will pay $84.  

Class Fees

A second cost of the co-op is indvidiual class fees.  Teachers of this co-op are moms who volunteer, they are not paid.  Class fees help the co-op to reimburse teachers for the cost of their class supplies.  Teachers set the class fee based on the needs of the class.  Class fees can range from $0-$25 (at the high end).  The admin team encourages volunteer teachers to keep class fees as low as possible, because they are paid per child per class by families so they can add up quickly.  A class with a higher class fee will most likely be a class that requires a lot of supplies like an art or cooking class. 

Here is an example to help show how class fees work:

A mom has two children and signs the first child up for an art and poetry class.  The art class has a $15 class fee and the poetry class has a $5 class fee.  The second child signs up for an outdoor class that has a $0 class fee, and a literature class that has a $7 class fee.  This mom will pay $27 in class fees for this term. The admin team will collect class fees and distritbute them back to the volunteer teachers. 

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ABCS is happily a cooperative and not a private school.  Co-ops become what we, our childrens educators, put into them.  The beautiful thing about a co-op is that parent's talents and energies and love for their children combine into a wonderful opportunity for friendship, community, and education.  It is the hope that families who join this co-op would desire to create engaging educational and social experiences for the homeschooled children of our region, and that they want to make Monday mornings magical. 

Practically speaking, here is what the administrators of ABCS co-op will expect of particpating families...

One parent from each family is required to be present on campus every co-op morning, for the entirety of the co-op day.  Prior to each terms commencement participating parents can sign up either to teach a class (all teachers must be able to sign off on a basic statement of Christian faith- see the Teacher Handbook), or to fill a job/role during the morning (assisting in classes, cleaning up, etc.).  Additionally, families may be asked to take turns to help set up and clean up if necessary. Every mom or parent will usually have one free hour during our co-op morning to connect with other members (unless there is a substitution need and then volunteers are requested to step in and cover for absent moms during their free hour, moms usually take turns in this so they do not have to sub every week).  Co-op teachers determine what to teach (with some helpful oversight from the administration team if necessary) and how much to charge for class fees to cover supplies, so the class offerings vary widely each semester.  Parents who teach a class get the added benefit of registering their children for co-op classes early, so they have the first pick of classes. Moms can also choose to get more invovled by serving the co-op in different ways or planning meet ups, field trips, and special events for our homeschool community.  

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Absolutely! Contact the ABCS admin team on the contact page to set up a time to visit. The only weeks not open for visiting are the first and last weeks of each semester.