Hellobee

When I previously left off I had just met a group of women who were also interested in starting a co-op preschool to fit the needs of our spirited children. We started a Facebook group to get to know each other, and to allow us to start to hash out what everyone had experience in when it came to education. The group began with over a dozen moms, but as we realized the extent of the work, the locations, the time and financial commitments, some of the women ended up leaving the group. After the first week or two we were down to seven very dedicated families, and we set up a time to meet at the local library and see how our personalities meshed.  It was clear from our first meeting that we all wanted the same thing, and we were determined to make it work!

(Bug’s first day of co-op preschool, credit)

Our biggest issues to tackle were:

1. Where would the co-op be located? We all knew that we wanted a dedicated place for our children to go to school, something that had easy access to the outdoors and could accommodate us all, but needed to be a good price. We are all stay at home moms so finances are definitely an issue. We decided that while we were doing an active search for a classroom to rent, we would rotate through members’ homes, going month by month to give the children some sense of stability by being in one place for more than just a few days. We made a loose schedule of the order of houses, and agreed to split the cost of materials and bring them in during the beginning of the month to help ease the burden on the host mom.

2. Who would teach? I am no stranger to home schooling, as a few of my family members have gone that route for their children’s education. At the same time, I am a former preschool teacher so I also understand how to handle a room full of kids. All of the families in our co-op are deciding about education for the future. Some of us may homeschool and some may do a Waldorf or a charter, but for now, we decided not to go the route of hiring a teacher, but instead to split the teaching duties among the members in two week long shifts. In this scenario, there are two main teachers each month (who lesson plan, gather materials, and lead circle time) and the other moms shift in and out as assistants. So, for half of the month I am either a teacher or an assistant, and the other half of the month I leave Bug with the other teachers. At least in theory. In practice, I just left him for the first time this week (and our co-op has now been meeting for nearly 4 months), and it went well! Eventually, we hope to have more families participating, which would lead to a slightly less hectic teaching schedule for each mom involved, and a little more time off each month.

3. How would we handle conflict? When you get 10 kids and 7 moms together, there is bound to be conflict somewhere along the line. Luckily, we haven’t had much. Our group is almost magical in the way that we are able to openly communicate with each other, makes plans, and solve problems with no arguing or resentment. I know from experience that preschool politics are a real thing, and so far we have been able to avoid anything messy. When it comes to the kids, we keep it very simple. Our hands are our own and they stay on our bodies, and we have to ask before touching anyone else’s body. This “rule” can help with anything from grabbing a toy to hitting to those slightly over-aggressive hugs. We don’t force the students to share, instead we practice patience and understanding. We respect our food, our toys, our books and our bodies. These ideas have covered all of the conflicts we have had so far, and we are continually updating and adjusting as we get to know the kids and each other.

4. What would a day at school look like?  This one was unanimous — outside as much as humanely possible. We started this co-op in the dead of summer in Phoenix, so realistically, we just could not be outside for more than 30 minutes on most days for our first few months. Some days we spent less than 5 minutes outside, because when it is 120 degrees out, everyone is miserable. Beyond free play outdoors, we strive to have an open art project, a sensory project, a morning circle time and a goodbye circle time, snack, and free play. In an ideal world all of that would take place outdoors, but we are currently at the point where we are outside for about half of our day. Eventually we would like to add in more life skills and self care.

5. Would we invite more people to join us? In the beginning we were very protective of our little group. We got along very well, with no mommy group drama, and we really wanted to keep it that way. Due to this, and the fact that we didn’t have a space yet and would be in each others’ homes, we decided to keep the group small and manageable for the time being, and not invite any friends or others to join until we were more established.

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Shortly after we all met online, we just plunged right in, and started school the first day of the next month! I’m looking forward to sharing more about our first 3 months of school, and how we are doing now that we recently transitioned into an actual classroom rental in my final post about creating a co-op. As always, if you have started a school or daycare, or belong to a co-op, I would love to hear about your experiences!