Should we limit the sizes of classes? If so, to how many children?

Are parents always expected to attend with their child(ren)?

To what age range should we aim the content of our classes?

How would we deal with the attendance of older/younger siblings? That is, although we would welcome mixed age group, some kids would obviously be too young or too old for a particular activity.

Can members opt to attend just a single class on a topic, or would we ask them to sign up for them all? Should we maintain a waiting list so that if someone signed up cannot come, we can fill the class anyway?

I teach a craft class for preschoolers occasionally. I limit the size of the class to 6 kids doing crafts. Even at that size (and maybe this is only because glue is involved!) I could do with an assistant to help keep order. Maybe some classes, such as music, could be larger and some could be smaller. We could leave that up to the teacher(s).

I'd be happy to assist with a crafts class. Maybe some generic activity boxes could entertain the children not in the class. Maybe a parent not involved in the class could supervise the younger ones and read stories and monitor minor craft activities.I guess some of this will depend on how much space we can find...I can start calling places on Monday...

Ladies,

Not quite sure if this is going to post or not.  I have only been to the first organizatinal meeting...what is the status on what ages the coop has going right now.  how many children are there that are 6 and up? 

Kwon
Homeschooling mom to
Dylan 7
Anam 5 1/2
Iris    19 months

"You Must Be The Change You Wish to see in the World."
-Ghandi

Kwon, we have about 20 families on the maiing list now, of whom approximately half have ever come to one of our classes, outings, or potluck. The others may be waiting to see what the rest of us create before deciding whether or not to join in. I don't remember every child's age, but I know of two other families on the list besides yours with 7 year olds, one of whom I have met at a class.

I hope that, if our co-op is suuccessful -- that is, if we engage our members with interesting classes and activities -- we'll grow larger. That means that the age range of children in the group would broaden. The earliest active members have kids clustering in the 4-5yrs age range, so that's what we currently have the most of.

I have not been to any meetings or get togethers, as I just learned about this group. However, I am very serious about finding a group to do a co-op with. (we are new to the area, recently moved to NM almost 3 months ago.... wow it's gone by fast!)

Anyway......  I think there are a couple of different ways you can break down the class size, and part of it depends on how many people intend on being "regular" attenders. I guess that would be something to ask, although it does seem kind of rude it would help for location as well. I, personally, would like something regular. But maybe for more specific subjects/projects or even the older age groups we can set up additional "classes" from time to time. I think it would depend on the subject, but on those additional classes it could be more of an interest/sign up thing than an expected attendance.

Maybe for the most part we can aim to catach the attention of the age group we have. But from time to time do an acitivity that is a little more geared toward a specific age group, younger or older.... does that idea make any sense? I don't think we want to get together too much, and get tired of the same people every day. Yet, I also at the same time, want a regular group of people to hang out with and be ablet o rely on.... a middle ground.

I think if we did get togethers every week, and each took a turn at whatever, for the most part probably have the same group of people. With a few people here and there that show up, but for the most part the same group. And if the group becomes too large than we can decide how to break it up from there, so we can keep whatever our learning or co-op goal is, in a sense trying to accomodate everyone as the group grows.

Okay... I've rambled enough. Sorry. :o)

Sarah