If you have a full time job or a busy extracurricular schedule resulting in limited days for "book learning" at home, then you may find co-op too time-consuming. Co-op takes a full day out of your week because you must be at co-op if your child is there, serving as a class helper or team teacher or on the clean-up crew for part of the day. Our co-op is truly a "cooperative" effort, so we rely on everyone to make it work successfully, and we expect members to honor their commitment when they join. If you already don't have time for co-op, don't sign up!

If you have health problems or family obligations to help ailing parents or other relatives, focus on those priorities first. Do not add more stress to your life by committing your family’s precious time and energy to our co-op. If you and your children will not be able to meet your weekly obligations, you will let yourself, your family and the co-op down.

If you are moving or will move this year, this is not a good time to join a co-op. Understandably your first inclination would be to get involved as soon as possible. However, moving is a big adjustment, so give yourselves time to adjust. You would do better to participate in a local support group rather than in our co-op. In a support group, you are not required to attend every event, whereas your membership in co-op obligates you to attend every week, unless you are sick. Wait until you're comfortably settled in your new home before joining co-op.

If you know you will miss three Thursdays per semester due to vacations or other obligations, consider enrollment carefully because your family will already miss a full quarter of classes -- and that's before illnesses! We respect the time and effort that teachers put into their classes, and they deserve the mutual respect of having students (and parent helpers!) in class and on time. We ask parents to honor their commitment and make punctual attendance a priority. Schedule appointments and vacations during co-op breaks, and take steps to eliminate tardiness, or reconsider joining altogether.

Similarly, if your children are prone to frequent illnesses, you may want to wait until their immune systems build up because you will likely miss too many days to make co-op worthwhile. We do not want co-op to be a source of sickness for any family, so if you or your children are sick or recovering from an illness, even the common cold or a sinus infection, please do NOT attend co-op that week. We have a list of illnesses, including COVID-19, and we expect parents and children to stay home until they are symptom-free. If you will likely miss a lot of co-op due to illnesses, you should not join.

If this is your first year homeschooling, you really need to take a year to adjust and find out what style works best for your family. Co-op is neither a substitute for nor an alternative to schooling at home. Indeed, jumping right into a co-op before adjusting to homeschooling may overwhelm you and your children.

If you are joining co-op as a substitute for school or so you won't have to teach your children at home, then co-op will not meet your needs. Classes meet only once a week, so the parent is still the primary teacher. Ultimately, you are responsible for your children's education because the bulk of their education is completed at home and, as the parent, you know your children better than any teacher ever could. Co-op parents ensure that their students keep up with homework, and they may need to assign supplemental coursework at home. Additionally, parents administer tests at home and determine final grades.

If you homeschool because your child could not learn in a classroom or if your child does not do well in groups, you probably will not enjoy co-op. Although classes typically range between 4 and 12 students, we still group students by grade and expect "classroom manners" -- although, since most are lifetime homeschoolers, they don't always know to raise their hands! Also, whiteboards and tables make our classrooms efficient for teaching, but give a bit of a school-like feel -- however, with homeschooling parents as teachers, our class activities are usually more out-of-the-box! Additionally, we do rely on some rules and guidelines to maintain order and efficiency. If you unschool, you and your child may not feel comfortable even in our relaxed setting.

If you homeschool because you feel no one else can adequately teach your child what he needs to know in any given subject, you will not be satisfied with any parent who teaches a co-op class. Instead, accept that others may not teach a subject the way you would and relinquish some control. At home, focus on subjects not taught at co-op to maximize your time. Alternatively, accept that you will be supplementing at home to a certain extent, or plan to teach that subject at co-op yourself. If you're not okay with these options, you should not join any co-op.

If you join co-op for purely socialization reasons, you will likely find the classes too academic. All high school classes and most junior high classes require homework. Also, a few classes, such as the Apologia sciences and computer programming classes, require lessons at home during winter break in order to finish the course in one year. Even kindergarten and elementary classes have lessons incorporated into their activities and games. Also, while our children see each other at other events and clubs, our co-op does not schedule extracurricular activities. You would do better to join one of the many local homeschool support groups for socialization opportunities.

If you join co-op for rigorous, college-prep courses, you may find the classes not challenging enough. Unlike some co-ops, we do not administer tests nor do we assign grades. The parents remain the primary teachers of their own children. Kindergarten and elementary classes have neither homework nor lesson plans to follow at home. High school students read the material and do a week's worth of homework to prepare for class discussion or experiments. Although most high school courses are college-prep, a weekly class for only 14 weeks cannot possibly cover all there is to know in a particular subject. Depending on the subject, you may want to supplement at home by assigning extra books or research.

If your junior high or high school students already have a full load of schoolwork at home or are members of another co-op, they may not be able to complete the homework for Academy Days. Please focus on one co-op at a time.

Our insurance does not cover babies and toddlers, so they cannot attend. We do not have a nursery nor space for a nursery. Therefore, if you have babies and toddlers in your family, you may want to wait until they are three years old and fully potty-trained so they can be enrolled in the preschool classes. Otherwise, you will need to engage a reliable sitter — and have a reliable back-up for when your sitter calls out sick. Also, please consider that little ones usually get sick more frequently than older children, which (along with unreliable sitters) could cause your family to miss a lot more of co-op than you want.

If your child is undergoing obedience issues, or a "clingy" phase, or social or behavioral problems, this is not a good time to join a co-op. Focus on your child’s character and emotional growth before putting him in a situation for which he may not be ready, whether the cause is behavioral or developmental. This applies to all children, from preschool through high school. Additionally, because most parents are not equipped to teach or maintain discipline in classes containing children with severe disabilities, if you have a special needs child, co-op may not fit your family at this time.

If you are on a tight budget or live a good distance from our location, you may not want to make the financial investment. Class fees are minimal (between $1 and $20 for all 14 weeks) and cover supplies only, but fees do add up for a large family. Also, gas prices may be prohibitive if you live a considerable distance from Eastmont Baptist Church in Montgomery.