Creating a Homeschool Co-OP.... Help please

[JavaLadybug2]

What kinda things do you guys doing your coops? What kind of things that works for you or have you seen you liked? Activities? Outings?

I'm very very new at all of this but the current coop in my area want almost 300 dollars for people toto participate and that's just for 6 months and they only meet together 1 time a month and frankly that's just too much as far as I'm concerned I'm planning on creating a new 1 so that people don't have to spend an arm a leg just for the children to socialize and have a chance to learn jointly on some things..

[micheledo]

We started a homeschool group in town two years ago. At first we met at the library and the kids played. Then we started meeting at our church gym. After about six months the ladies started splitting up the older and younger kids. They have PE half the time and the switch. Another mom then does an art project (usually). We meet once a month, and this yearhave just added a once a month science day.

I don't have a ton of advice, but I think we started out doing too much - planning abunch of field trips and such that were poorly attended. I would say start small and let it grow naturally.

[Bethsunshine]

Our co-op is different than most because we only meet for 2 hours every week. None of us wanted to do the all day thing. We have an hour of gym and an hour of an enrichment class ( art, science, drama, etc.) It originally just started out a few years ago as a bunch of people getting together for gym and then it morphed into a real group. I"m on the leadership team.

[dougiesmom]

Our co-op charges $25 a year per family. That includes Friday school every other Friday, September-November, and a fair (science, geography, or history) in February. Oh, and field day and a graduation/awards ceremony in May. (Last year, my oldest son graduated from kindergarten.) We also have a parents' meeting (no kids allowed lol) once a month that's basically a business meeting for the group, and we have a board that deals with the day-to-day stuff. We do field trips to plays, ice skating, etc (we pay for our own kids, but usually get a discounted group rate). And mostly, it's a lot of wonderful, supportive people lifting each other up with prayer and encouragement. :) 

We also have the option to pay $15/year, and that covers just the Friday school. This past fall, Friday school was comprised of (for my kids' age group) math, KY history, drama, story time, P.E. (we have a parent who teaches Zumba, and she does it with the kids--they LOVE it!), and music. Last year, instead of music, they had science, and instead of just math, they had financial math (I don't remember the name of the program, but it was geared for children). We have 3 classes: preschool through 3rd grade, 4th through 7th grade, and 8th through 12th grade. (It's a pretty big group. I never would have guessed there were so many people around here who homeschooled!) We also have our own homeschool 4-H club that meets separately from the county group, but we can meet with our county's group as well, if we want.

[plclemo]

Ours costs $30 for use of the gym once a week for 2 hours.  The students meet and have PE there.  It is well-organized by age group.  They also do a big field trip every semester.

[underHISwing]

Our co-op is through Firstclasshomeschool.com  It's a wonderful program!  I love it.  It costs us about a hundred dollars a semster ( depending on what classes I sign up for) and is very well organized. 

[Leissaintexas]

Ours is a little different. It's not a co op, it's just a fellowship group. We meet every Friday. Some days it's a park day, some days a field trip, science day, or holiday party. About 3 times a year we do a community service project. Last week we took valentine treats to our local fire dept and police station. No one pays a fee, it's completely informal, there's no one person in charge.