Homeschooling is a great way to unleash your creativity—but we know starting from scratch can be daunting. Don’t reinvent the wheel! Learn from others who have gone before. Learn the difference between a co-op and support group and discover what you need to know to get started!

No matter how big of a team we have, leaders take on large burdens when running a group. Challenges in our private lives, complaints from our members, and simply having too big of a burden will lead to burnout in even the best leaders. We’ll help you mitigate burnout with tips on how to maximize the skills of your team members and manage your own schedule.

Most of us are just homeschool moms and while some of us have children with special needs, the skills to handle children with disabilities in our co-op can be beyond our expertise. We have tips on how to train our leaders and bring in people with the right skill set so we can support the growing population of homeschooled students with special needs.

A cooperative can be as simple as parents working cooperatively together with little to no money changing hands, to a complex drop-off, multi-day, academic program that functions like a private school. No matter where you begin on this spectrum, there are important guiding principles that are common to all homeschool co-ops. 

Support groups range from simple social media groups to large groups that offer resources, multiple events, and community. Support groups can be excellent assets to families and provide a sense of community. Craig will address the purpose and characteristics of your group, administration, parent engagement, conflict management, time management and building teams, and more.

Do you know what to do to keep your group’s meetings and events safe and secure for all involved? Not just from outside threats, but also from internal concerns. Policies, training, risk management, and Virginia law will be discussed.