Co-op Fees

  The local Co-op used to rent space at a neighboring church, one day a week.  (Our church has a large school and even larger religious education program.  There just isn’t space for home-school families.  Frankly, some of the school’s teachers are none too thrilled with RE classes held in their rooms.)  The Co-op had costs, such as insurance, which they divided among the participating parents.  For many years, the Co-op held classes at the local library; the library now discourages home-school families from holding classes.  

During COVID, we held Co-op classes remotely; in Virginia, there was an extended lock-down.  The local library was closed, reopened with appointments, and closed intermittently whenever COVID spiked over the next year.  The library made it clear they did not want science classes taught in their Maker Space any more.  

We needed a solution.  Our house has a large basement; we increased our liability insurance and have held classes in our basement.  Smaller groups meet in individual homes, too.  Do we charge?  We ask for a fee of $35 per family for Biology and Chemistry classes to defray costs.  Otherwise, the math or literature classes aren’t expensive to host.  We do buy all the textbooks and lend them to students to ensure they all have the same edition.  (I shop for textbooks ruthlessly.  If one goes missing it’s not a big deal.  The same is true of graphing calculators we lend to students.)

BTW my husband and I tutor from time to time, too.  We don’t charge to tutor either.  Why?  Once upon a time, I was commissioned to tutor the basketball team for a local college.  Wow!  The team seemed to think I was there to start an IV and transfuse understanding.  I learned quickly I do not have the stomach to tutor for money.  When I tutor as a favor, the onus remains on the student to learn the material—not on the instructor to miraculously transmit knowledge.  

Other home-school groups do charge fees.  My friend, Jen, belongs to a Classical Conversations Group in Woodbridge.  Classical Conversation’s fees are distributed among tuition, facility, and supplies.  The Classical Cottage Consortium charges fees for different classes.  Other Co-ops hire veteran teachers directly.  (Sometimes veteran teachers need to be paid to derive meaning from their work.)  While many churches have space available for a Co-op to meet, others don’t.  Be sure to check about insurance or facility fees!