All About Homeschool Co-ops

Although co-ops aren't necessary for using Tapestry of Grace, they do present many benefits to a homeschooling family! Here are just a few.

• Group studies keep students (and their parents) accountable. Group studies often motivate students to do their best work by providing an audience or socializing context.
• Skills that home schooled students often lack can be developed in a co-op setting, especially those associated with group classes: raising hands, respecting others’ speech, supporting/participating in a discussion, giving a speech, team work.
• Parents can split the load of lectures and hands-on activities according to mutual strengths, and all benefit!
• One of the essential elements of high school is discussion: thinking on one’s feet; taking a position and supporting it out of one’s own thoughts and the evidence one has gleaned from one’s research. We believe that this is an essential element of historical and literary studies, and without a group context, your high school student will miss it, unless, of course, you engage in regular discussion with him.
• Group writing classes give the student the chance to have others enjoy (and critique) his writing. At first, we recommend that the instructor do the critique, unless the group knows each other well and can offer constructive and gracious comments.
• Parent-teachers lose a little freedom in this process: they too must be good "team players," agreeing to require that the planned amount of work be done in a timely and thorough manner.

Less is definitely more!

Children in grades K-5 probably don't need ANY co-op experience, so don't sweat the program. They will definitely enjoy crafts, and moms will benefit from the one-another aspect common to all co-ops, but don't strain yourself to co-op if all your kids are in 5th grade or younger! Regular nap times and meals are much more important.

Grammar Level co-ops should focus on fun (like simple associated hands-on crafts or group projects), group skills (like raising hands to answer questions, etc.), and writing assignments. Keep it light; make it the dessert that rewards diligent independent reading/writing work at home.

Dialectic Level co-ops can begin to focus on discussion. Once a week for History or Literature discussion and writing accountability is usually sufficient. If you want to, you can elect to meet twice a week -- once midweek to discuss history concepts, and once at the end of the week to read writing assignments and do a craft. Do the history discussion in a half-hour, the writing in another half-hour, and then spend an hour on crafts.

Rhetoric Level co-ops are perhaps most rewarding. Focus is on growing together in discussion skills, apologetics, literary analysis, team projects and writing skills.

Try to car pool and schedule so that younger siblings don't have to be present. Here are some ideas how to accomplish this:

• Use a church building, and have moms divide up: some watch younger kids, who enjoy an unstructured play time, or even a light treatment of the subject of the week.
• Use two nearby houses, and accomplish the same goal.
• Use car pooling, so that moms who aren't teaching can stay home with younger children (perhaps one of them baby-sits the teaching mom's toddlers) and meet in homes.
• Meet around the lunch hour, so that kids can use the hour before lunch and the hour after lunch for "work" and still enjoy fellowship and play time together during the lunch break.

If at all possible, generally schedule your upper-level co-op in the afternoon so that you don't give up an entire school day to it. (I have found that those co-ops scheduled in the mornings leave little energy for any independent work once kids and moms return home.) Afternoon co-ops mean that those moms with toddlers can often put their kids down for naps, making the mom's job easier.
 

Join our Share & $ave Network

It's as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Organize a group of two or more users of Tapestry.
2. Form your group and make plans about the content and schedule for the year ahead! (Please note that it will be easier for each co-op member to be working from the same edition of your chosen Year-Plan).
3. When you're ready to order, designate one person as your co-op leader, who will sign up as an affiliate in our Share & $ave network. (Share & Save affiliates must have ordered $300 worth of Lampstand Press products in the past.)
• As an affiliate, the leader will receive $15 in Lampstand Press gift certificates for each $100 ordered under her affiliate code.
• Leaders may choose to keep these gift certificates for their own personal use or she may share them equally with the group or give them to needy members of the group. This decision is solely up to the co-op leader who registers for a referral code, and can change at any time.
• Share & $ave rewards apply on all Lampstand Press products only--but not resource books--and work with other offers, such as First Time Buyer Bundles and Bookshelf volume buyer discounts, so it is in the group's interest to buy books and other Lampstand products together using the Share & $ave program as well.

You may add local members to your group after one or more members of your group has submitted an initial order, even if there are those who have already ordered and received the discount. Our new program is simple: you receive a $15 gift certificate for every $100 of product ordered!

Got a group of students who may not all be using Tapestry year-plans at home? Check out our licensing agreements here!

Please contact us with any questions about group situations!

Question: I've heard that Tapestry is best done in co-op groups. Is this true? Do I need a co-op setting to be successful with Tapestry?

Answer: No! Tapestry was initially developed for single family households and it serves them well! However, there are clear benefits to doing Tapestry in groups, and it's been proven effective in group settings. This being the case, when Tapestry was revised for national sales, components were added so that groups would be better served. You will notice those components in the charts and assignments, but, of course, you are free to disregard them.

Tapestry is a meaty program, and those using it alone, especially at first, can feel overwhelmed. It's never easy to learn a new method of teaching, no matter how clearly a program is laid out. To help individual families who may not have near neighbors who want to join them in a co-op, we've worked to develop "virtual co-ops." These will depend on user participation. They include:

• The Forum will offer you significant online support from other moms using the program and from Tapestry authors, who moderate the Forum.
• Our Gallery Pages (click here for linked page - scroll down to see links)
• Find a Friend is a great way to locate other families in your area interested in creating a co-op!

More and more families are using Tapestry of Grace in a group setting, with excellent results. Combining at-home, parent-directed study with group discussion works. Because these co-ops have been so successful, many have received requests for a way to include students who don't use Tapestry at home in their group classes. These co-op leaders are looking for a way to make Tapestry materials available to students who don't have their own copy at home, but are rightly concerned about copyright infringement, and are concerned that the authors of Lampstand Press receive due consideration for their hard work in the form of remuneration.

In an effort to serve these students and simplify matters for co-op leaders, we have implemented a licensing arrangement for co-op or classrooms settings. Under this plan, Co-op leaders and other teachers have our express permission to copy certain specific materials on the Tapestry of Grace Loom or reproducible disc for group use.  Please note that all printed materials in the Tapestry manuals remain protected by copyright; teachers should not print and distribute Teacher's Notes, Reading Assignment Charts, or other portions of Tapestry printed materials without expressed permission.

Families in co-op groups that own a copy of the Tapestry materials that are used in the group. Such families do not need a license, and are free to copy for their own family's use all materials in their manual. All other students in a co-op group should purchase a license according to the chart below. 

Note that these licenses are good for one school year, and each license is for one subject only. When a license is purchased via our Bookshelf or over the phone, customers will receive an email with a certificate bearing a unique code.  This fulfills all copyright requirements as outlined above. Often, parents are unaware of the family benefits of using the full Tapestry program when they first sign up their children in group classes.  To make it easier for families to enjoy these benefits, we permit license holders to apply their license fee to the purchase of a full year-plan.  Such conversions must be made before January 1 of each school year and must be applied to the year-plan for which the license was purchased.  See your certificate for details.

	History & Government	Literature	Church History & Philosophy	Writing Aids	Lapbooks from CD (per unit)	Lapbooks from CD (whole year)
Rhetoric	$35.00	$35.00	$35.00	$35.00	N/A	N/A
Dialectic	$35.00	$35.00	$35.00	$35.00	N/A	N/A
Upper Grammar	$30.00	$30.00	$30.00	$30.00	$12.50	$45.00
Lower Grammar	$25.00	$25.00	$25.00	$25.00	$12.50	$45.00

Details:

In all cases, any redistribution of copyrighted Tapestry materials over the Internet must be done in protected formats: i.e. via email to licensed students only, or via a non-public group website.

History and Government:  Teachers of each classroom section must purchase a full copy of Tapestry of Grace. (If one teacher teaches two subjects or two sections of one subject, she can work from the same purchased Tapestry of Grace manual.)  Student licenses permit teachers to photocopy or print and distribute any/all pages of the Student Activity Pages found on The Loom that apply to History and Government work (including map work).  Such teachers may not use/distribute sections that deal with Literature or Philosophy.  They can also use and publish to their students assignments from the Tapestry reading assignment charts for their class's learning level only. (Teachers must extract and reformat this information.  Copying of Reading Assignment Charts or the Excel Resource Lists is not permitted under this agreement.)  Teachers may use the background information, hands-on ideas, and discussion outlines in class (and for their individual families) only.  Copying and distributing materials from the Teacher's Notes is strictly forbidden.

Literature:   Teachers of each classroom section must purchase a full copy of Tapestry of Grace. (If one teacher teaches two subjects or two sections of one subject, she can work from the same purchased Tapestry of Grace manual.)  Student licenses permit teachers to photocopy or print and distribute any/all student activity pages or reading assignments (i.e., Poetics and Frameworks) that apply to Literature work only.  They can also use and publish to their students assignments from the Tapestry reading assignment charts for their class's learning level only. (Teachers must extract and reformat this information.  Copying of Reading Assignment Charts or the Excel Resource Lists  is not permitted under this agreement.)  Teachers may use the background information, worksheet answers, and discussion outlines in class (and for their individual families) only.  Copying and distributing materials from the Teacher's Notes is strictly forbidden.

Church History & Philosophy:   Teachers of each classroom section must purchase a full copy of Tapestry of Grace. (If one teacher teaches two subjects or two sections of one subject, she can work from the same purchased Tapestry of Grace manual.)  Student licenses permit teachers to photocopy or print and distribute any/all pages of the Student Activity Pages found on The Loom that apply to Church History and Philosophy work only. They can also use and publish to their students assignments from the Tapestry reading assignment charts for their class's learning level only. (Teachers must extract and reformat this information.  Copying of Reading Assignment Charts or the Excel Resource Lists is not permitted under this agreement.)  Teachers may also copy and distribute the Pageant of Philosophy play scripts for use in students' homes (as class preparation) and in class under this agreement.  Teachers may use the background information and discussion outlines in class (and for their individual families) only.  Copying and distributing materials from the Teacher's Notes is strictly forbidden.

Writing and Composition:   Teachers of each classroom section must purchase a full copy of Tapestry of Grace. (If one teacher teaches two subjects or two sections of one subject, she can work from the same purchased Tapestry of Grace manual.)  Student licenses permit teachers to use and publish to their students assignments from the Tapestry writing assignment charts for their class's learning level only. (Teachers must extract and reformat this information.  Copying of Writing Assignment Charts or the Level Overview Charts is not permitted under this agreement.)  Teachers may choose to use Writing Aids with this license.  If they do, they must purchase a classroom copy of Writing Aids (one full copy per learning level class section) and may then use the Teacher's manual for that class section only.  Such teachers may access and publish to their students the Writing Aids disc for Talking Points, Grading Strategies, Samples, and Supplements that are specific to the assignments used in the class.

Lapbooks (from CD):  When a teacher of a co-op group wishes to use a Tapestry of Grace lapbook design for a group of children, she may purchase the right to print from a single lapbook CD-ROM the unique shapes and design of a Tapestry lapbook.  Each child that pays the license fee is then entitled to a copy of all mini-books, shapes, and the entire design of that unit-specific lapbook.  Teachers or students will, in this case, must purchase materials, print elements, and assemble their own lapbooks.

Question: How often do most Tapestry co-ops meet? Can you give me an idea of their structure?

Answer: Groups are as individual as the families that make them up. But, remember, the younger your members, the less often you should meet. Here are "normal" meeting patterns that I've heard about:

Grammar: twice a month

• First meeting: do a craft related to the general historical topic.
• Second meeting: discuss a piece of literature all have read and read aloud a piece of writing they've brought to share.

Dialectic: once a week (either Wednesdays or Fridays)

• If Wednesday: discuss the history topic and go over ways to accomplish the writing assignment.
• If Fridays: take 2 hours to discuss first History then Lit. Hand in writing assignments for grading. OR:
• Discuss History/Lit and then read writing assignments aloud.

Some Dialectic groups can meet twice a week and follow the Rhetoric pattern below.

Rhetoric: once a week (following suggestions for Dialectic level above) or twice a week

• Wednesday afternoons: discuss History for two hours. Make mini-reports, discuss, debate, etc.
• Friday afternoons: discuss Literature for an hour and then read writing assignments aloud.
• Alternately, on Friday afternoons: discuss Writing/Literature for an hour and then do a group project/craft/activity for an hour.

Are you far from any other Tapestry users? Do you wish your kids could have the benefits of a co-op? Do you and your kids struggle with motivation and isolation? If the answer is yes, why not start a Virtual Co-op?

Using Find a Friend, find others:

• Who are using your Year-Plan...
• ...and are going at your pace...
• ...and have kids your kids' ages

Contact them privately, and ask if they'd be willing to join a private group (perhaps using Mailgroup software). Agree on the purposes for your group. Some might be:

• Your child will post his writing every Friday, and receive others' comments on it. He can embed his writing in emails to the group, or attach it in Word files.
• Your child will partake in a live chat about the week's topics (you can type for him if he's slow right now, but be assured, if he starts chatting about Tapestry, he'll speed up in touch typing as a side benefit!) Each week, some adult in the group will lead a live chat on the given weekly topic. Say you're studying Explorers. Maybe your assignment will be that each child comes as an expert on that explorer, and gives a short report? Maybe, with younger children (Upper Grammar), as you type for them, they can share the neat facts they've learned this week. With Rhetoric level students, they can hold lengthy and meaty discussions on the history or literature, or both!
• You can attach pictures of your private group members, and exchange phone numbers as well. Then, the kids can build social relationships as well as academic ones.

Agree on rules. Some might be:

• To retain membership, each person must post his writing every...? (you decide). This is a means of accountability, one of the strong draws of co-opping!
• Agree on times you'll meet for chats, and how students will conduct themselves in them. Perhaps different moms can take turns moderating them?
• Agree on graciousness in comments on work, or pictures. Talk about how to interact positively with a group.
• Size: how big will your group be?
• Ages: what ages can participate?

That's all you need to know! Forming a group may just give your child the accountability and social contacts he needs to excel in his Tapestry studies this year!
 

The term "co-op" can apply to as few as two families, or as many as a hundred. The term simply means that families join together for mutual support and accountability, and that each contributes time or other supports to the group effort.

Each co-op needs a leader, who serves the group by making sure all the members work together well and remain informed. She need not do all the administrative work, nor all the teaching. She simply serves by leading.

Co-ops can meet any number of times, but regularity is the key. Some meet weekly, some monthly, some 2 or more times per week. A lot depends on the purpose for your co-op. One thing to establish early on is a statement of purpose so that you can figure out how many times to meet.

To start a co-op, you need to find at least one other family that shares your academic, spiritual, and social goals for you family. We recommend the following starter steps:

• Pray for God to bring others together with you to co-operatively educate your children.
• Seek to serve, rather than be served.
• Talk with others about a tentative schedule for the year ahead, meeting frequency, places to meet, budget matters (for things like crafts and field trips), teaching commitments for each mom, and specific curriculum you would like to use.
• Ask your husband's advice before making any commitments.

Our philosophy in co-oping is that the co-op agrees on a pace, and certain requirements. Parents, and parents only, remain responsible for the direction and implementation of their children's daily activities, and the methods they pursue towards co-op goals. The younger the kids in the co-op, the looser the requirements can be.

For instance, the co-op should agree that they will all do certain week-plans of Tapestry during certain weeks. Let's say you're in a co-op with other moms, and you agree that you'll all do Week 23 next week. You agree that when you meet next Friday, the kids are going to read aloud their writing and talk about verbs for the first hour, then they'll all do a hands-on project for the second hour. This would constitute a great co-op meeting!

For other meetings we could suggest...

• Lots of hands-on activities that can be hard for moms at home to get around to.
• Students reading their writing assignments aloud for group critique.
• A 1/2 hour discussion of the topic of the week.
• Time for group socializing, which is a reward for work done at home, independently.

Question: What differences occur at the High School level co-op?

Answer: At the High School level, there's more need for analytic discussion. This means that you should structure your co-op such that there's more time for discussion and also time for reading you writing assignments aloud.

Extra time (if there is any) can either be devoted to hands-on group projects or discussion of literature (this depends on the group, its resources, the orientation of the students, and the year-plan.) In our co-op, for instance, we felt that Year 1 does not have much literature that requires lots of discussion, so we incorporated lots of hands-on work. Year 2 has TONS of literature that really needs discussion, so for that year, our co-op dispensed with group hands-on and devoted the entire time to discussion of literature.