Here’s how to start a preschool co-op for the school year

Maybe your little one is too young for school, or you’re considering preschool but haven’t made up your mind and want to do something social and educational for the school year. Have you thought about starting a preschool homeschool co-op? I promise it’s easier than you think! Here’s a guide from someone who’s been through the process ...

Reach out to two or three parents from your neighborhood or church who have children close in age to yours to see if they’d be interested in a co-op.

You don’t need a big group of families to start — in fact, fewer is often better, as the families can get to know each other better and the meetings may be less overwhelming for the children.

Of course, a bigger group is a lot of fun if you find enough interested families! When my oldest was preschool age, 6-8 families attended my weekly co-op regularly, which was a nicely manageable size.

Once you have a few interested parents, organize a planning meeting, hopefully something fun like a potluck brunch, a bonfire with s’mores, or an evening get-together. After all, part of the point of a co-op is to build community and fellowship among the parents as well as the kids.

Hopefully there are a few options for a place to meet. You might take turns hosting the co-op in your homes, or you might reach out to local churches or libraries to ask if there’s an empty space you can use, or you might even meet at a park if the weather is pleasant year-round where you live. My co-op used a room at a local parish.

Ideally you can find a place where the children can roam freely and play, so you don’t need to hover too closely but allow them to explore. An outdoor space for nature play and a gymnasium or field for sports are icing on the cake.

At your planning meeting, you can map a course for the coming year. You’ll want to discuss how often to meet and for how long, as well as your goals for the year.

Since children this age learn best through open-ended play, you may choose to keep your co-op primarily a play group, with perhaps a brief circle time and a parent-directed game or activity.

If the children are a bit older and seem ready for more structure, you might choose to use a formal curriculum; you’ve got loads of options there, including Seton, Mother of Divine Grace, Catholic Heritage Curricula, Twenty-Six Letters to Heaven, and Little Saints—and that’s just a handful of the Catholic ones, not to mention the many Christian and secular options.

At my co-op, we used storybooks and recommended reading from various curricula without following any one program. Instead, we’ve done unit studies, in which all subjects at the co-op relate to a certain topic for several weeks, and then we finish the unit with a relevant field trip; for example, we visited an aquarium after a unit on sea animals, a farm after a unit on farm animals, and a natural history museum after a unit on dinosaurs. The kids had a lot of fun with this approach!

My co-op has found that it works well for one or two parents to be in charge of each subject. Another option, especially if the children are too young for more than an hour of co-op, is for the families to take turns planning the entire session.

Here’s the schedule my co-op used this past year: Circle time, Art, Snack break, Music, Science, Sports/Free play. We spend about 15-20 minutes on each subject, leaving plenty of time to transition between them. All are play-based and hands-on, fitting the developmental age.

I've found it works best to begin and end each session with open-ended play, as families trickle in for the start time, and as parents socialize at the end. We like to start with a morning prayer, and you might also consider reading aloud about a saint of the day, or stories from Scripture.

Art and science can be educational (and tons of fun!) while remaining age-appropriate with simple, sensory activities. Pinterest is a great resource for preschool activities to fit any theme. If the kids are a little older, they might enjoy simple sports games; the kids enjoyed soccer from a young age.

You might use Facebook, email, or another platform for planning and communication, after that initial meeting. Ideally, whatever format you use allows you to set up polls to make decisions and create reminders of field trips and park days.

A preschool co-op is a wonderful way to ease your child into a class setting (or kick off your homeschool journey) and can be a lot of fun for both parents and children. Best of luck getting yours started: I can't wait to hear how it goes!