Preschool Parent Co-op

[Thirteen]

What is it? What do the kids do? Is it expensive?

(Spotty Dog is the only person I can think of that has done this).

Thanks


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[spotty_dog]

Peggy is in a co-op in California, Lamorna is in a co-op in Canada, and I think Pollyanna has co-opped.

A parent-child cooperative preschool is a program that involves a preschool program and a parent education component. Part of the parent education is getting the parents into the classroom for hands-on experience. As a bonus, having these "volunteer" parents allows the school to keep adult:child ratios down without having to pay for professional aides; parents also participate jointly in order to maintain the facilities and do other necessary tasks for running the preschool. There are usually regular lectures from parenting professionals to help parents touch base with best practices for raising their kids.

Overall, co-op tends to be MUCH less expensive than conventional preschool, but the trade-off is that the investment of your time is sometimes quite high.

Let me know if there's anything else I can answer! I only have experience with my local area's co-ops, but I have paid attention to the anecdotes from others in other parts of the country so hopefully I can generalize a little.

[Pollyanna]

Omgoodness, we LOVED our co-op in CA (Woodside parent nursery school). Seriously the best school experience ever. I loved the parent education nights. Of course not all co-ops are created equally. We didn't do one in AZ because the only one available was obnoxiously crunchy granola and just not our speed. But I would check yours out for sure!

[SuzySunshine]

I wanted to do this with A but had nothing to do with R when I was supposed to be involved with A. I looked for one here for R and couldn't find one - boo!

[spotty_dog]

I wanted to do this with A but had nothing to do with R when I was supposed to be involved with A.

FWIW, for anyone considering co-op who has a similar concern, I was worried about this too. DD was 1-2 years old when DS was in his two years of co-op. But it was just an afternoon or two a month and I found that I could either A) schedule my working shift when DH was going to be off anyway, so he had a few hours with kid #2 or B) trade childcare with another family in the same situation. For small infants, you can generally do your working shift with them in a carrier.

[L.Jane]

We did this with my AM kid B last year. They have ones classes and twos classes. B's mom is thinking she will only do the twos again with his little sister. The program was Reggio Emilia Approach and you always went with your kid. So either a parent or a nanny was always with the child. You rotated who brought snack and who was the teacher's aide. B really enjoyed it and learned ways to behave in a group setting. At this program they had a center room with small rooms around it. In the center room there was a play kitchen area, art area, sensory table, and other activities Then one room was a building room and another room was a discovery room where they had an overhead projector set up for the kids to put things on and a light table among other things. Then they had a separate room they called the studio where they had their daily special arts and craft which usually started small and built up to something ( started just playing with string and eventually would learn to sew) They had two circle times. The first was to start off the day, say hello and explain what was in the studio. The second was a music circle. The kids learned to take turns and other social activities.

[DCJenn]

Crunchy School is a co-op but with paid professionals doing the teaching and parents donated 10 hours a month to do everything that the school needs. (everything from cleaning the bathrooms every day to yard and building maintenance, etc.)

Jenn

[Pollyanna]

Our co-op let you bring your littles if you could wear them.

[Urowife]

Crunchy School is a co-op but with paid professionals doing the teaching and parents donated 10 hours a month to do everything that the school needs. (everything from cleaning the bathrooms every day to yard and building maintenance, etc.)

Jenn

Our co-op is like this. Volunteering in the classroom is encouraged but optional. But, you are expected to bring snack on a rotation and serve on committees.

[spotty_dog]

Our co-op is like this. Volunteering in the classroom is encouraged but optional. But, you are expected to bring snack on a rotation and serve on committees.

This is Lamorna's co-op, but there is a price differential...you can basically "buy out" of the need to work in the classroom.

[peggyfromwastate]

Our co op was overall a great experience. I think I enjoyed it more than my daughter did perhaps. It was a really warm and nurturing environment. Our coop was maybe more time intensive than what others are describing---

Dd had a class of 24 kids, and 6 parents were scheduled to work each day, plus the paid teacher and paid assistant teacher. The 2 parents who weren't scheduled to work were either OFF or EMERGENCY. (8 parents per day-- 3 days a week-- so each parent covered 1 day of class 3 days a month usually). Additionally there was 1 class meeting required per month, where parents stayed during a class and two-3 parents volunteered to stay out with the kids vs be in the class meeting.

We had about 6 required parent education presentations, plus 1-2 parent socials/teas/fundraising auction thing that we needed to attend. We had 2 passes to miss the parent meetings (education forums or class meetings) after which you were charged $ for missing. It's just how they enforce the attendance. These are called "parent" schools as well--- and the forums/speakers were really great in my school. They were worthwhile and informative presentations.

We also were required to do 6 hours of beautification (hard labor) in upkeep of the school grounds each year.

We also had a specific duty for the class-- I was a curriculum support person so I basically cut and prepped crafts and activities at home. This didn't take too long-- maybe 2-3 hours per month.

Every day as a work parent I was assigned a position-- project parent, bike swings parent, sandbox parent, snack parent, etc. We had a list of duties we needed to do, and during the last 40 min of school we all set about cleaning up the place. We cleaned the bathroom every day (bleach and all), vacuumed, swept, disinfected... Everything. We took out our own trash, recycling, etc. There were no janitors who came in ever. Just parents. It worked out.

Anyway, it was truly a LOT of work and I was lucky to have over 3 hours of non kid time a week after all the meetings were considered.

I really really enjoyed working with the kids, and I liked a lot of the parents. Some parents didn't do much, and they never connected with the kids. They were there to punch the clock. But it didn't bother me when I was there--- I didn't mind that others weren't really into it. I loved it. But I was exhausted!!! Sandbox day on a hot day??? Yikes. We turned on the water and dug out an intricate canal system. I would have 20 of the 24 kids working with me on our creations lol.

Anyway I will never ever regret that year spent in the coop. I really loved it.