Opinions on this co-op choice please!

[Cadam]

Next year will be my 5th year of homeschooling and we will be doing a co-op but I have 2 options right now.

Option 1-
Classical Conversations. It looks great! My biggest concerns would be the finances and the large time commitment. I have the opportunity to teach which is exciting and a little scary. If I teach I will break even on cost but we have to front the money for classes and I don't know where it would come from. Basically if God wants we to do CC he would have to provide the $$. It is exciting that I would be part of the teaching team, getting in on the ground floor of starting this new group and I already like the director.

Academically next year I am most worried about my son's writing.

Socially my goal is for my kids to meet and have the opportunity to really get to know other kids so we have play-mates in our new area. I wouldn't mind some more friends either!


Option 2-
A small co-op run out of a church and taught by a pastor and his wife. My son would have the opportunity to have a man teacher (rare in the hs world!) and he is a great guy. My son's class would be doing IEW. DD would be doing a science class. I don't know what the cost would be but certainly quite small.

My concern with this option is that although it is open to the community it is mostly going to be members of this pastor's church. I met a group of them when I met the pastor and his wife. All very nice and friendly people but there is a shockingly good chance I would feel like an outsider most of the time. No opportunity to teach or be involved in the leadership but a much smaller time commitment and a smaller more intimate group.

I know that no one can really answer this for me but I would still like opinions, experiances and WWYD?

[mcconnellboys]

For me, I would do option number two as I think it would be a more meaningful learning experience.

I really did look and think about CC for this past school year, but it seemed like a HUGE committment on my part - both of my time and money - for really very little return insofar as the total number of memorized facts at the end of the year. I'm really trying to teach a knowledge of an entire span of time, rather than just some facts memorization.

I still find the idea appealing, but if I sit with my child and ask him to review for me facts that he's learned about history this year, for instance, I think he can recall more than a couple of dozen facts, along with details about those facts (not just the rote facts in isolation). I know that there can be more to it than this, so I don't need a lecture from anyone who happens to love it about CC, really - I have looked at it in depth.

I just wasn't willing to toss out all the programming I've invested so much in and replace it with this, which is what I would have been doing, since there wouldn't have been time to do both.....

If you're already doing Veritas press cards for history, etc., then it might be another matter, since you wouldn't be changing what you're doing, but just adding to it.

Regena

[Sunkirst]

I can only imagine how much time you will spend pondering this one. Since I have nothing riding on MY decision, I would choose Classical Conversations.

The tone of your letter suggests that while you are concerned about your son's writing abilities, that is something that can be handled at home, if need be. However, play-mates for your 3 kids and friends for you (that will see you at your capable best) are not something that you can buy or teach. Unfortunately, I have no idea about the money. I presume that if you are even considering, you have some hopeful idea about how to front that money until you are paid for your teaching. IMHO co-ops can bring out the best in you when you are involved at the inception, and it would be a shame to turn down the opportunity.

I wish you clarity in your choice.

[Michelle My Bell]

I personally would go for option 2 because I like the smallness you mentioned. Also, I personally would appreciate the break from teaching. But this is just me.

Michelle

[Another Lynn]

While you might feel like an outsider at first, that (with effort) would hopefully fade during the year.

We did CC this year. It DOES sound great, but once we got into it I was just overwhelmed with how it changed our school year. I eventually abandoned the memory work because that much "unrelated" memorizing held no appeal to me. BTW I did tutor (the 4 and 5 yr olds) and I have been preggo part of the year (exhausted and sick - which of course effects how I feel about the whole experience). My 9yo ds made good friends and wants to do it again next year. My 6 yo won't touch it with a 10 foot pole and neither will I. I'm going back to great read alouds, narrations, etc. and enjoying it more (connecting with it more) instead of a break neck pace to squeeze it all in. If we spend time memorizing at home I plan to keep it simple: Scripture and poetry. I will add in parts of speech (First Language Lessons).

Also, if your kids are upper grammar will they enjoy skimming the surface of hundreds of facts or are they ready to go more deeply into subjects? If you want to do CC, consider whether you are going to rearrange your entire curriculum for the year or whether you expect to tack CC on to everything else you're doing. For example, when they memorize a science fact, will you spend the week studying that and making more meaningful connections with it? The other initial attraction to me was having science "experiments," music and arts off my list - but in the end what CC accomplished for me in these subjects wasn't worth the price I paid in time and energy trying to "do" a program that ultimately didn't fit us well.

Lastly, your son won't get the IEW with CC unless you're doing Essentials. I would be very careful with expectations of Essentials. We did not do it, but it seems that most people either love it or hate it. Also they say a 3rd grader can do it, but others have expressed that it is better for 4th or even 5th grader. Look at the essentials book very carefully. I know a couple people who dropped it and RAN back to A Beka or Rod and Staff and continued using IEW at home and were much happier.

I don't mean to sound SO negative, but you are already aware of many of the positives of CC so I wanted to give you the other side to think about. Also, as far as being part of the leadership... while I did make some great friends and got to know some wonderful Moms, there's not a lot of decisions to be involved in. It is one of the director's jobs to make sure the program complies with the established foundations guide (which is not necessarily a bad thing!)

I would not think badly of you or anyone else who told me they were planning to do CC, I just think you should look carefully at how it will effect your school week and also look very carefully at Essentials - do you like the way it approaches grammar?

Hope these thoughts will help you in your decision.

[Cadam]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. My dh and I need to pray about this more. I think I am more confused than ever! I really appreciate the perspectives. It will help us make a decision I am sure.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

Are you sure you have to front the money for tuition for your kids? I'm a tutor and that is not how we do it. I get paid every four weeks with a portion taken out for our tuition.

I don't let our CC work take over the rest of our school work. My son does the map work from the past 6 weeks on his own during his seat work time, we go over the most recent 6 weeks of the timeline when we sit down to do Sonlight, and then I play the past 6 weeks of the memory CD when we eat lunch and play the whole thing in the car. That's it. I do make sure I have books available for my son to read more about the science and history topics if he should so desire and the timeline cards have info on the backs of them if he'd like to read them also.

Hope your decision becomes clear soon!