Co-Ops, Tutorials, and Umbrellas: What is the Difference?

If you are new to the homeschool community, you may hear lots of unfamiliar words tossed around. Perhaps some of the most confusing are those relating to homeschool groups. Who knew there were so many different types?

Groups provide a great opportunity for social time and for taking classes that are more conductive to group studies, such as debate, drama, or physical education.

Here is a breakdown of a few different types of homeschooling groups.

Co-Ops

A homeschool co-op is simply a group of families that pool together resources Those resources could be time, money, craft supplies, teaching talents, or a number of other things.

A co-op may be a few families meeting together at someone’s home for arts and crafts and social time or it could be several hundred children meeting at a community center to take a variety of classes. They usually meet once each week or bi-weekly.

Most co-ops meet in homes and churches; however, they can also take place at parks, libraries, or community centers. There are even online co-ops, where groups of homeschoolers get together to teach and take online courses or share both physical and online resources.

Co-ops are typically not drop-off programs (those would typically fall under the category of tutorial although many people use the terms interchangeably). Usually a parent from each family will volunteer in the co-op, performing duties such as teaching, assisting, administrative tasks, clean up, or working in the nursery.

Enrichment model co-ops are ones that meet to provide extracurricular classes such as art, music, physical education, or unique subjects such as “Learning Math with Legos” or “The History of Knot Tying.” Typically children do most of their academic learning outside of these co-op times but the enrichment model allows for social time and creative learning.

Academic model co-ops are geared more towards heavier academic subject areas such as math, science, foreign language, and language arts. These classes typically have at-home assignments for the kids to complete before they return the next week. This model is great if there is an academic subject that you do not excel in and wish to have someone else teach.

Co-ops may have some “support group” components such as mom’s night outs, date nights (where the co-op pools resources for sitters), parent workshops, field trips, and playdates.

There are also homeschool buyer’s co-ops. These groups usually do not meetup. They simply pool money together in order to purchase Items in bulk and distribute them among member families.

Because resources are shared, co-ops are typically cheaper than tutorial options. Typically there will be a registration fee along with tuition or a supply fee to cover the cost of renting a space to meet, insurance, and supplies for the classes and activities.

Tutorials

Tutorials are a class in which the parent pays for the class. Teachers can be homeschool parent, certified teacher, or a professional with expertise on the subject.

Most tutorials meet weekly or bi-weekly and have home assignments as a component of the class. These programs are also prone to having a more school-like environment than typical co-ops.

Similar to co-ops, there are enrichment based tutorials, academic tutorials, and some that fall in-between. Some enrichment based tutorials will have more formal art offerings consisting of things such as violin, piano, and art lessons.

Tutorials are typically the most expensive form of homeschool group because you are paying the salaries of the teachers. But for some subjects, the cost might be worth it. For example, if you are teaching a high school science, the tutorial tuition might be similar to the expense of buying lab materials for your home.

Umbrella or Cover Schools

Umbrella schools (or cover schools depending on your area) are not really homeschool groups per-se, but I am throwing them onto this list because many people do not know how they differ from co-ops and tutorials.

Umbrella schools are simply private schools that homeschoolers register under. Umbrellas may have co-op or tutorial options in addition to their services as an umbrella school. However, the primary purpose of an umbrella school is to oversee homeschooling families and ensure that they are complying with state homeschooling laws.

For more information on umbrella schools, see the first post in this series on school options.

Homeschool Groups

Homeschool groups are basically a form of club. They are less formal than a co-op or tutorial. They may meet for a common purpose (book club, nature club, debate team, etc.) or simply be for unstructured social time.

If the group meets in person, it may meet less frequently than a typical co-op or tutorial.

Park meet up days are a popular style homeschool group, where families meet at the park to have social time. Book clubs might meet monthly to discuss an assigned book and do a craft relating to that book.

There are also field trip groups. These groups typically ask that families all sign up to visit a museum or attend an event (such as a play) at the same time and date in order to receive a group discount and afford the children some social time.

Support Groups

Support groups are typically for the homeschool parent but there are groups for the whole family. There are groups that meet for mom’s night out, groups that meet for park playdates, groups that provide workshops for homeschoolers, and a plethora of online support groups.

Online support groups are great places for homeschoolers to post questions for other homeschoolers. If you are using a particular curriculum, you might find a Facebook group for that particular curriculum, where you can ask questions about how to teach a particular component.

I am also going to add that there are special needs support groups available. Many of these are not exclusive to homeschoolers; however, they do usually accommodate homeschoolers and can be a valuable resource to parents with special needs children.

When we get down to it, there are lots of different types of groups and lots of different names for them. Even the group itself might use a different term from my definition. If you are looking for a co-op, tutorial, or group of some kind, make sure you know what you are wanting to get out of the group. If you need help with teaching Spanish, a park playdate group may not be a good fit for your family. But if you have your academics all covered and need a social outlet, a tutorial with a school setting will not do much to provide for that need.

I would advise most homeschoolers to seek out a local homeschool facebook group or friends that have been homeschooling so that you have someone to talk to when you have a question about homeschooling or finding resources. We all need some form of community!