Organizing Events in the Home/Unschool Space (Part 1 - The Early Years)
Co-ops, park days, and meetups
‘Tis the season for Fall homeschooling planning, even if it’s of the “supporting self-directed learners” variety. So this week I’m sharing some of my many experiences with organizing and joining homeschool co-ops and events in the early years (ages 0-10 or so), inspired by my friend ’s recent post on her co-op experiences (which is for her paid subscribers).
Homeschool Co-ops for Small Humans and their Carers
My partner and I decided to homeschool our children even before they were born. As a teenager, I was deeply influenced by radical educational theorists like John Holt and A.S. Neill, and I explored the more practical aspects of homeschooling while pregnant with our first child. By the time our kiddo was a toddler, I was already connecting with our local homeschooling community.
We joined our first parent-led nature co-op when my son was 18 months old, and about a year later I became one of the co-leaders. That experience kicked off many years of homeschooling in community and some of the happiest years of my life (though I’m a firm believer in there being many beautiful things in this moment and also yet to come… and I probably have some pretty rose tinted glasses of those sleep deprived years because they felt dang hard at the time).
Growing up as an unidentified Autistic and ADHD person, I had close friends and romantic partners (many of whom have also discovered their own neurodivergence as adults, funny that) but wasn’t a big fan of group dynamics. Like many other young Auties, I preferred to have one close friend at a time, rather than a circle of more casual friendships. Only as a young adult with a long-term partner did I really start to branch out into having casual friendships as well.
I still don’t love socializing in groups, with a few occasional exceptions. Yet in those early parenting years I found great joy and ease in socializing with other parents while creating shared beautiful experiences for our young children. Perhaps because it was, in a way, parallel play and having very small humans to care for gives you an easy “out” anytime you want to step away from a conversation! I enjoyed having a group of friends who met up regularly as a group and also connected throughout the week via email and text, something that I had never experienced before.
"Homeschool co-op" is short for "homeschool cooperative," meaning that each parent contributes something of their choice to the community. We alternated weekly responsibilities, including bringing a small craft, sharing a Waldorf-inspired story, and providing a snack. We also hosted charming seasonal festivals: crafting lanterns in the Fall to symbolize the returning light as days grew shorter, and dancing around a ribbon-adorned Maypole in the Spring. Additionally, we organized camping trips and moms' nights out.
Y’all, I still had children young enough to embrace my visions of a whimsical childhood, and it was wholesome and lovely while it lasted—which was quite a while, actually. Over time, the nature group evolved as the children grew and their needs changed. I wrote a little bit about our experiences in forest schooling with older kids who roamed the woods freely here:
Speaking of whimsical children, I really enjoyed this post by
. The youngest of my children turned out to be more chaos than whimsy as well, so I can relate.If this retelling seems to focus more on the parents than the kids, that’s somewhat true. Preschool co-ops are as much for home educating adults as they are for youth—they provide an opportunity to get out of the house, a chance to connect with others in the same stage of life, and an avenue to explore both the evolving personalities of their children and their own new identities as parents.
Sometimes, there is pushback from homeschooling parents regarding the concept of “homeschooling preschool,” particularly when it involves adults searching for curriculums and methods to direct the learning of very young children. This is totally fair and I have commented on those kinds of posts countless times to say that play is how humans learn best. Let them play. However, even small kids start disappearing from daytime playgrounds and libraries by age 4. I remember well the need to find other families who were not sending their children off to school. For those of us who were committed to homeschooling, preschool co-ops were also a place to discuss educational philosophy and to begin forming connections that could last for many years.
I know many of my readers are home/unschooling neurodivergent kids and I feel compelled to add that finding nurturing connections can be hard, and that doesn’t mean you are doing it wrong! I wrote about the complexity and sometimes impossibility of finding our people in certain seasons of life in the post below. Stay tuned for future posts in this series that will speak to the possibilities in organizing meetups for kids who don’t like adult-led events.
Interest-based Co-ops and Clubs
Over the years, I’ve organized and attended many different kinds of regular get-togethers around shared children’s interests. I’m using the term “co-op” here to mean structured activities where the planning and facilitating responsibilities were shared among home educating parents (and since this newsletter is about consensual education, just a note that the kids were opting in as well). “Clubs” were generally a looser series of events that didn’t require a ton of planning beyond picking a time and place to show up. Here are some of the different co-ops and clubs we’ve enjoyed over the years:
Science Co-op
STEAM Co-op
Crazy 8’s Math Co-op
Book Club
Field Trip Club
Minecraft Mondays
Sometimes co-ops use a set curriculum, which has been the case for us in our Science Co-op. We use Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding which is quite academic, but still unschooling since my older kids have asked for it… and my younger one has opted out.
Here is a photo from our Crazy 8’s Math Co-op, taken six years ago in 2018. We used the cool plans and free box kit of materials I requested from the Bedtime Math Organization. If you have younger kids and this sounds intriguing, you can learn more about Crazy 8’s here: https://crazy8sclub.org/ Perhaps you’ve already read some of the Bedtime Math books with your kids, which I also highly recommend. This co-op was so much fun, even while organizing with a two-year-old in tow. Homeschooling with toddlers is an experience for sure.
Often, the activities in co-ops and clubs are completely designed and orchestrated by home-educating parents. This was true for the STEAM Co-op I organized for ages 6-9, where each parent was asked to offer a STEAM-related activity once per semester. The activities in this group were highly varied and entirely reflected each parent’s interest or talent, which was so fun:
Body art and acapella singing
Cookie decorating
Geocaching
Cardboard invention station
Escape room
Matchbox car physics
Making your own marble runs
Creating rainbow slime
Solving logic puzzles
Board game day
LEGO disaster mountain
Exploring animal/vet science
Crafting flexagons and flextangles
Seed dispersal engineering
Making paper toys
Most co-ops I organize have been relatively small, but this STEAM co-op was much bigger at around 20 families. Some families attended just occasionally, while others came to most events. We met at the library and were able to reserve a room for free. Some co-ops are able to find space in churches or just use public parks.
When setting up a large co-op like this, it's beneficial to have help from other homeschooling parents. I typically start by asking one or two good friends if they’re interested. If they are, they help me shape the initial vision, and then we might open it up to the larger community. If you’re starting alone and looking to plan a bigger venture, beginning with a park day is a great way to build your group. I have also started co-ops by outlining the basic idea and posting an invite for anyone who is interested to come discuss at a playground meetup.
Homeschool Park Days
If organized co-ops haven’t seemed like the right fit for you or your kids, but you are looking for more community, perhaps try hosting a one-off event or a series of events. One of the easiest things to try is a park day. Essentially, homeschool park days involve setting a weekly time to meet up at a local park. They are usually open to any homeschooling families and can be a good way to meet new friends. For many homeschoolers, park day is a staple of their week.
The recipe for a successful park day can be quite simple if you have young kids who enjoy playground outings: pick a consistent day, time, and place, and then show up week after week. And good snacks. Always good snacks. Make sure that what you pick will be easy for your family to commit to, even if no one else shows up. It can take some time to build momentum, but it gets easier as other families also add the event into their regular weekly routine.
Park days tend to be best for families with younger kids, I’d say under age 10, though there are exceptions. As homeschooled kids get older, they tend to gather more around interests and/or already have established friendships. Families in the middle years of homeschooling may have already full schedules and be more likely to commit to something like a book club than to a free play event. Teens and tweens are less entranced by playgrounds in general, but they might be willing to show up with the right friend mix, or if it’s already a longstanding part of their routine.
The benefit of attending a park day weekly is that the consistency helps foster friendships. When it works, weekly rhythms can be lovely and nourishing in home/unschooling. However, some homeschooling families struggle with or prefer not to commit to weekly events. This inconsistency can be frustrating for both parents and kids who are trying to build a stable community, especially when faced with a constantly changing roster of families who might show up one week and then disappear. As with anything, it all depends on the families who are drawn together and how they stay together (or don’t) over time.
Expect Evolution
There’s an old quote that the only constant is change, and that’s definitely true in home/unschooling. Children get older and their wants and needs change. Home educators also grow and evolve and may be ready for something new.
One pattern that I’ve seen repeating among myself and my friends is that events tend to become smaller and more specific as kids get older. It takes a lot of energy to hold events that are open to the entire homeschooling community. I do think about this in terms of community service and creating opportunities for connection, especially for new homeschoolers and other isolated and marginalized families.
Home education is a lot to take on. It often feels like a delicate balancing act: tending to the immediate and sometimes intense needs of our own families while also nurturing vibrant communities, because we need them. I’ve seen home educating families form incredible connections and create tight-knit bonds that seem to be unusual these days. I’ve also seen some families struggle, particularly those with children who are more solitary and find it challenging to engage in group settings.
I have more to share about organizing events for teens and tweens, as well as how to foster community when your child entirely rejects adult-led events. I’ll return to those topics in future posts in this series.
So, what’s your experience?
Have you been an organizer in the homeschool space, and if so, how have you done it?
What are some of the joys and challenges you’ve experienced in running groups and co-ops?
Do you prefer to join instead of organize?
Do your kid(s) like organized events or prefer things to stay more free-form?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments! Engaging here with friends new and old is what keeps me coming back to Substack. :)
- Marni
Thanks for sharing - I love your coop ideas - I definitely thought a coop had to be more complex and comprehensive but starting one around a specific subject or interest seems like a great way to do it.
My kids are not easily able to connect in group settings so this has been a big challenge for us. I recently started a meetup for a small group of boys who are looking for friends but haven’t found many connections. We meet up and play or make things for a couple of hours twice a month. I don’t know if it is working for my kid but it has been nice to make a few connections with other parents and see some of the kids connecting, too.
I’ve actually done some organizing too, but too much to put here so I’ll write about it and link to both you and Fran.