Teaching in a Homeschool Cooperative
As homeschool parents, we all know that learning happens when people share their knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm with others around them. Great teachers range in ages 4 through 104, as we have all undoubtedly seen at some point in our lives. As part of this Cooperative, you have the wonderful opportunity to share your interests, hobbies, talent and time with children who are eager to spend the day with other children learning something new, something that might not be taught at home.
Great teaching does not involve certification; it involves love of the subject and a desire to share it with others. With that as a starting point, hundreds of fun classes have been taught for over 20 years. Those classes often become lifelong memories for the young people who take them.
How to Design a Homeschool Cooperative Class
Choose your topic.
Keep it simple as you have 14 weeks (roughly 55 minutes a week) or 28 weeks if you want it to be a year-long sequence. You can base your topic on a book, a historical period, a scientific concept, a craft, or all of those in one. Your class can be based on an academic skill, games, music, food, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, foreign languages, calligraphy, a video series, a hobby, experiments, exercise, photography, computer skills, business skills, animals, and more. It is best not to be overly ambitious as time tends to fly during the semester, but producing some sort of work by the end of the semester is fun (definitely not required, though) and can be a nice addition to student portfolios.
Contact other families who have experience teaching at the Enrichment Center if you would like to discuss your class ideas and get some feedback. You will certainly find many experienced people who are able to help you figure out what you would like to teach and how to go about it.
Choose your age range and class size.
You get to decide what grade levels you’d like to teach in your class and how many students you will have (minimum and maximum). You will have an assistant to help with classroom management.
Choose your materials.
The Enrichment Center has a lot of resources on hand to use in your classes. Depending on what you need, you may not need to purchase anything for your class. If you do, you may add an additional (minimal) charge to your course as a supply fee to purchase any materials the kids will be using.
Write-up a description.
This description should accurately reflect what is going to happen in the class. While it shouldn’t be too lengthy, it should be long enough to reflect the topics covered and how they will be covered. Families enjoy reading the descriptions and choosing their classes every semester. Be certain to mention any extra fees associated with the class. You may or may not want to assign homework, but that should be mentioned in the description, as well. Some classes may require note taking or doing worksheets. Whatever you choose to do, let your description express your enthusiasm for the class and the practical details involved.
Enjoy your time with the students.
One of the many beauties of the Enrichment Center is that children have the opportunity to make new friends while taking classes. They naturally love learning, and your love for your subject and for the children will truly enrich their lives.
Among those who have taught at the Enrichment Center for many years, most will say that the greatest reward is knowing that your children are being nurtured by other caring parents. We are all working to help our children grow through the stages of childhood and youth, knowing that rooted in our faith, we can give them precious memories of learning, love and just plain fun to last a lifetime.
