5 Benefits of joining a homeschooling Co-op

1. Socialization

My girls have made so many new friends through our homeschool group. They have been able to connect with others that are very similar to them and also learn about people with different backgrounds and cultures. We go once a week to our homeschool co-op but we also join other communities and activities going on around town. You would be surprised at what all activities your local library have going on. Just find their events page on facebook and they are normally booked for at least the month ahead. Funny enough, we have ran into students and moms from our co-op at the library. They have so many free resources everyone likes to use them.

2. Mom Network/You're not alone

The co-op we are involved with has a GREAT group of moms. They have so many new resources that I haven't considered yet and are always willing to help me out. They have suggested different curriculums when I've said that I'm not sure if our current ones are working out for us. They have suggested field trip options and even let me know which places allow homeschoolers to visit for free.

3. Learning Experience/ Can play with other people's toys

Of course, there is the learning experience. You get to learn with people that are similar to your own age. My 12 year old has made new connections and my toddler has even made a few new friends. There have been times when other families brought in new things to play with or learning toys and we've been allowed to play with them too. 

4. Get out of the house

It's no fun sitting at the house all the time. This is one of the reasons we joined a co-op is to get out of the house, learn from other people not only about what our unit study is about but things that are going on in the community that we may want to be a part of or other curriculums we may want to try out. The families we hang out with are all different and are involved with several hobbies that we've found to be interesting. I've picked up some gardening and foraging tips from the moms we have met.

5. Field Trips

My favorite part! We get to go on field trips as a group, which I think is always more exhilarating because someone may point out something you didn't notice or tell about an observation they experienced. We went to the zoo with the group and to our local history museum. Each field trip is scheduled during the unit and the field trips are related to the subjects we're studying in the units. This makes learning so much more fun since we can do a hands-on learning experience.