They said Yes!

They said YES! The church we asked to use their facilities for this Fall's kick-off of C.H.A.T. Cooperative said yes. We are all so excited.

As I posted in my last Homeschool Co-op update, we had a May 23^rd informational meeting for anyone who was interested. It went great! Myself and the two other founders made a spaghetti dinner, we had introductions by everyone, and got a lot of great ideas and feedback. We had six Moms come to the meeting with two others wanting to sign on as well. I've also been getting phone calls from people I don't even know wanting information!. I just mailed an information packet out to one such Mom this morning, as a matter of fact.

The three of us are, of course, so thrilled. As a current approximation we will have ten or more families participating come Fall. It was great to also have at the meeting one homeschooling Mom who just graduated one son and has two more teenagers and a seven year old at home. She has “been around the block” homeschooling in this area and has been so helpful and encouraging to us. She gave me a list of field trips they've taken in the area and also offered to take us up for rides in their airplane. How cool is that?

We've been so blessed thus far. One of the founders is a photographer and wants to take class pictures when the school year begins and one husband in the area is willing to teach mechanics classes. We have others offering to donate supplies also. All the Moms we talk to are excited and ready to sign-up and get going, and why wouldn't they be? (I'm not tooting my own horn, mind you, just expressing my excitement).

We have our Fall schedule set and ideas flowing. For now we will continue to plan and hammer out specifics throughout the summer. My hypothesis is that everything will go smoothly, as it has up to this point. It's obvious, in that respect, that we are not in charge of this Co-Op at all, but that God is the pilot here. We are simply putting action to the nudgings we've felt, and it feels, quite amazingly, that we're walking a path that's been paved and made smooth for us already. Isn't God awesome that way?

Moving Forward While Waiting

My two fellow homeschooling Mommies and I have met with the Pastor of our church. We brainstormed (and had a blast doing so, might I add) and came up with a mission statement for our Co-Op, our vision, goals, rules and regulations, a tentative schedule and an entry form for interested families to fill out. We've even named our Co-Op and our resident photographer and graphic designer created a logo. These are all things my husband shook his head at, but they are the things that came naturally to us, and they are things that we felt confident giving to the church to show who we are and what we expect to accomplish by meeting bi-monthly in their facility.

In our minds, it is a beautiful thing. We all feel very strongly led to be forming this Co-Op and we believe it is the Holy Spirit who has given us each other to lean on and brainstorm with. None of us could do this on our own and we all readily admit that.

As of yet, we are awaiting the church's answer. I am praying that they allow us to meet in the church (it would be free because we are members), however, ultimately I pray for God's best for our Homeschool Co-Op. Oh yeah, we are calling it C.H.A.T. Christian Home-schoolers Around Tomah. (Creative, yes?).  Check out our awesome logo!

Erica rocks!

We are not letting the church's tentativeness slow our progress and our dream down. We have scheduled an informational meeting for any and all families who are interested. We are meeting at the church on a Wednesday night and providing a light dinner for those coming. We plan on explaining our vision for C.H.A.T. and then also getting feedback and ideas from others there. After all, the whole point of a Co-Op is that we will all be pitching in. This isn't going to be three Moms running the show, it will be everyone working together. We will be individual homeschooling families, but we will be coming together twice a month to interact, learn from each other, lean on each other and have fun together. 

The Beginning of Something Beautiful

One of my current homeschooling projects is something near and dear to my heart. Two other homeschooling women and I have begun the process of starting a homeschooling Co-Op in our area. It all started when...

A friend of mine asked if I'd like to get together with her once every other week so that our homeschooled children could get together and play. I suggested that maybe we make it a homeschooling project day and plan something somewhat educational for each meeting. Then we realized a mutual friend of ours might like to join us for this homeschool gathering of sorts. We started meeting every other week in January 2012, rotating homes and sharing the responsibility of lunches and lesson plans. One of our first projects was for each family to make a family tree. It was kind of an art project and study of each family's unique history. We were thrilled with the results, a bit proud of ourselves if I do say so myself, and we kept the ball rolling from there! There were bumps, of course, and we quickly discovered what things helped and hindered the productivity of our times together. For instance, one strong-willed, older child needed lots of responsibilities helping the Moms so as to keep him occupied and out of trouble; two three year olds (bless their little hearts) needed “gentle guiding” in order to “love one another” as they should; and, perhaps most valuable of all, eating outside is always a plus when feeding 9 children at once! I learned that art and craft projects are best done in someone else's home lest I have a nervous breakdown, but that science projects, just as messy, are not as stressful to me (for some strange reason...don't ask me why).

Between the three of us Moms we each had individual strengths and weaknesses. We filled each others gaps in the homeschooling department and before long we realized that we were forming a close bond ourselves simply by being able to vent, talk, get out of the house together and encourage each other. Soon we didn't know what was more important to our family's health – the interactive education the kids were receiving or the Mom-to-Mom time we were receiving!