Richelle Lee of Santaquin is part of a growing number of parents who homeschool their kids, but homeschooling looks a little differently than it did even just a handful of years ago, and Lee says that building a co-op has been key in her homeschooling journey.
“I wanted something for my kids to meet up with other kids that was in-between a play at the park group and a full-time co-op,” Lee said.
A homeschool co-op is where parents take turns teaching classes, organizing field trips, or helping with operations. Some groups hire paid tutors or outside teachers, but most rely on parent volunteers.
The need for this type of social and educational collaboration is growing in the state of Utah. In fact, according to recent data, roughly 5% to 6% of K–12 students in Utah are educated at home. And not all started out that way. In Lee’s case, not only did her older two children start out in the public school system, but Lee herself taught in the public schools for 10 years before becoming a mother.
Lee said that she has long prioritized their education, and did so by sending them to public school while serving a supportive parent role in other school-related capacities.
“After some time, I could see that my kids were having some needs and I knew that I would be able to meet their needs at home better than the public school system would,” she said.
At first, she decided that she wanted to try dual-enrollment by having her two older kids who were in third and first grade at the time, go to public school part-time. She said that as she did that, she could see that the demands of both were too much.
“We were doing dual enrollment, which is half time at the public school and then half time at home,” she said. “The more we did that, the more I could see the benefits and I felt that we needed more time at home and to do that with my kids. I was also involved in the PTA and other things at the school and then doing homeschool, and I felt like it was too much. After a couple of months of doing both, we decided to jump all into homeschool and we are beginning our fifth year.”
Lee said that she loved the freedom homeschooling gave her to cater to the special needs of her children and to have that one-on-one time with them in the comfort of her home. She said she quickly noticed that even with the great education they were receiving at the school, that there were some gaps in their knowledge. She attributed that to growing class sizes within the public school system.
“I have nothing against schools or teachers,” she said. “I have the highest respect for teachers. Teachers are amazing and I love them, but there’s only so much that a teacher can do with a classroom of 20 to 30 kids.”
Lee did, however, start to notice that there were some things that she missed from her time as a public school educator that she didn’t want her kids to miss out on.
“Coming to this from a school teacher’s perspective, I loved the holiday parties,” she said. “I wanted my kids to be able to exchange Valentines for Valentine’s Day. I wanted them to still have that experience with the teacher-student dynamic that wasn’t just with mom. So we started something in between.”
What Lee started is a co-op called, Between the Lines Co-op, and she said that it is a community of about 20 families who get together once a week and plan activities for kids of all ages and abilities.
“We meet once a week and we have different themes and we all have lessons and activities based around those themes,” she explained. “We will do field trips and we get to do a lot of neat opportunities that we wouldn’t otherwise have.
“We’ve toured the BYU Creamery, Mrs. Kavanaugh’s Chocolate Factory, Clint’s Reptile Room, Living With Kids Homestead and the Young Living LAvender Farms,” she continued. “We did a tour of the nursing center for BYU, and of course, there’s the Bean Museum and the Natural History Museum.
“We’ve had a mental health expert come and speak to us. We’ve had a comic book illustrator speak. We have holiday parties and poetry days and a read-a-thon day and we always like to end the year with a talent show and we will print off diplomas for the preschool and kindergarten graduate. There are so many opportunities!”
Lee explained that there are many different types of co-ops that range in levels of time and even money that a parent wants to put into it, adding that hers fits right in the middle.
“There are the full day co-ops where you will go to a location and you’ll have fees and you’re there for the full day with classes and there’s a board,” she explained. “You can find park groups where people will want something more casual and they’ll get together at the park regularly.
There are more outdoor co-ops and they’ll have a different hike that they go on every week.
“Other co-ops are more academically focused,” she added. “Sometimes moms even start groups to utilize teaching strengths. Maybe one mom’s strength is history while another is more experienced in science. … There are many, many different kinds of co-ops.”
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Lee said that over the years of homeschooling her kids and balancing it out with her Between the Lines Co-op, that she has seen her kids grow in ways that she doesn’t think they would have had she stayed on the traditional public school route. She also said that her children and others she interacts with are defying many homeschool stereotypes.
“The stigma that homeschooled kids are unsocialized still persists, but it’s really outdated,” she said. “With extracurricular activities, with sports or music or dance, there are many opportunities for socialization for homeschool children. And often I find that homeschooled children have more confidence in social circumstances because they’re more comfortable talking to adults.
“When you come from a public school background, you are put in a classroom based on your age and many don’t want to socialize with someone who is not in their same grade,” she added. “Whereas, when you go to a homeschool group, all of the kids are playing and they don’t care how old you are. We are all friends. We are all social together.”
Lee said that there is another perk that has come from starting this co-op, and that is the friendships she has made along the way.
“We take turns hosting a mom’s night once a month,” she said. “This is a time to foster relationships and help build our community.”
While the Between the Lines Co-op is nearing full capacity, Lee encourages parents who are interested in finding something similar, to look on their local homeschool Facebook groups.
“There are real advantages to having school choices,” she said.
