Kentucky Homeschool Groups and Co-ops
If you are really fortunate, then you already have a few friends or acquaintances who are homeschooling in Kentucky and you are able to go to them with all of your “new homeschooler” questions. More likely, however, you have begun the journey into homeschooling all on your own. Try not to panic, because even if you haven’t happened across it yet, there is almost certainly a local or regional homeschool support system that you can tap into. On this page, we will guide you on how to locate your closest local or virtual homeschool group in Kentucky, and we will also explore one of the neatest outgrowths of support groups: homeschool cooperatives.
Kentucky Homeschool Support Groups
If you live in one of Kentucky’s larger urban areas, you should have no trouble at all searching out local homeschool groups designed to help families network with one another and share resources. Even suburban areas usually have at least one support group, even if it is primarily a Facebook group used for letting other members know of local happenings they might find interesting. If you live rurally, however, or in an area where homeschooling is less popular, you may struggle a bit more to locate organized groups of homeschooling families. In those cases, you may need to be willing to travel farther to experience homeschool camaraderie, or be willing to settle for virtual online homeschool support.
To help you begin your search, we’ve included a sampling of homeschool support groups in Kentucky. These are only a small subset of the available support networks available; be sure to do a Facebook or search engine query to see if your city, county, or region offers similar support.
Be sure to visit Time4Learning’s Kentucky parent forum where you’ll be able to connect with other families in The Bluegrass State and discover additional resources.
Kentucky Homeschool Co-ops
One of the more sophisticated forms a support group can take is called a homeschool cooperative (or co-op). This is a group of homeschooling families who decide to join together for the purpose of group academic activities. The structure of a co-op can vary widely, but the most common type incorporates parents as volunteers and teachers and usually varies the class topics depending on what parents are able and willing to teach. Some co-op homeschooling groups, though, are more formal and use outside tutors or instructors to tackle subjects that parents might find more difficult to teach in the home.
As an example, the Red Cedar Learning Cooperative in Berea, KY, meets every Tuesday at the Berea Friends Meeting House. It combines many different learning opportunities for both parents and children by bringing in tutors for subjects like math and writing, offering customized learning opportunities based on student interests, and honing music skills with weekly “jam sessions.”
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Benefits of Joining a Homeschool Group or Co-op
Okay, so maybe it doesn’t take a village to homeschool a child, but it sure does open up some unique opportunities. Support groups and co-ops provide some very specific benefits to homeschooling families. Even families who see themselves as individualists may discover that some days, it’s more fun to do a field trip with a group than by yourselves. If you are wavering about whether to bother trying to locate a local support system, read through the potential benefits of joining up with other home educators near you. Some of the upsides of a support community while homeschooling include:
- Advice on curriculum
- Discovering local resources
- Academic groups, clubs, and fairs
- Group discounts on field trips
- Counsel from seasoned homeschoolers
- Park play dates
- Notifications about local educational activities and classes
- A safe place to vent or celebrate
Additional Resources for Homeschooling in Kentucky
Have other questions about homeschooling in Kentucky? You may find the following pages helpful.
- Homeschooling in Kentucky
- Kentucky Homeschooling Laws
- Kentucky Homeschool Associations
- Homeschool Field Trips in Kentucky
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