Your First Co-op Meeting: What to Settle, With an Agenda to Copy

At the first planning meeting for your co-op, settle a few things and leave the rest for later. Agree why you're meeting and what one morning looks like. Then settle the day and place, the ages, who leads what, the costs and how you'll keep in touch. For a Waldorf-inspired co-op, sketch one real morning, from the opening circle to the goodbye verse, and pick the first festival you'll keep together. Bylaws and a full year's plan can wait. There's a copyable agenda below.

Before the meeting

Invite the families you've already met and liked, and keep it to the grown-ups. An evening at someone's kitchen table works well. One UK home educator chose to host her own group at home for just these reasons: there are no hire costs, and it stays informal.

Send the agenda a few days ahead, so people can think. Ask each parent to bring two things: the ages of their children, and one thing they'd love to lead, such as a song or a nature walk.

If you're still gathering families, finding families for your co-op has the places Waldorf-inspired families tend to meet, and how many families you need helps you decide how big to be.

What to settle at the first co-op meeting

CHEC, The Homeschool Mom and the Texas Home School Coalition list much the same first questions. They start with what the group is for, then where and how often it meets, who takes part and who does what. Costs and keeping in touch come last. Here's how each one looks for a Waldorf-inspired co-op.

1. Why you're meeting

Start here, because every other decision leans on it. The Homeschool Mom's first question is the purpose of the co-op, and both HSLDA and the Texas Home School Coalition advise writing a short purpose or mission statement early.

Go round the table and ask each parent what they'd love their children to have from the co-op. You'll hear things like friends to sing with, festivals kept together, painting that's too messy at home, a morning where someone else tells the story. Then write one or two sentences everyone agrees with. For example: "We meet so our children can share a Waldorf-inspired morning of circle, story, painting and handwork, and so we can keep the festival year together."

2. What one morning looks like

This is the part that makes a Waldorf-inspired co-op feel like one. Sketch a single real morning, in order, with rough times. For example:

Time	What happens
9:30	Arrive, free play, a candle lit
9:45	Circle: a verse, songs, a movement game
10:15	Story
10:35	Snack and a blessing
10:50	Painting or beeswax modeling
11:30	Handwork, or outside time
12:15	Tidy up, closing verse, goodbye

Many families already keep a rhythm like this at home, so you'll be building on something familiar. The Waldorf daily rhythm has a full home day if you want to compare.

Decide whether the story follows a main lesson block (a few weeks on one theme, such as fables or farming) or is a stand-alone tale each week. What is a main lesson block? explains blocks if some families are new to them.

3. Day, time and place

Pick one day and one start and end time. Then the place: members' homes in turn, one home every week, or a hired hall. HSLDA notes that a small group can meet in different homes on alternating days.

Agree how often you'll meet in the first term. Weekly suits many groups, but fortnightly is fine for a start.

4. Which children

Write down every child's age, including babies and toddlers. Decide the age range for the co-op and what younger siblings do. CHEC suggests asking who in each family takes part, and whether there's a limit to your group size.

5. Who leads what

List the parts of the morning and put a name beside each one for the first few weeks. Rotating is fairer, but it helps to keep the same storyteller for a whole block, so the thread holds.

The Homeschool Mom lists parent involvement among the first things to clarify, to avoid misunderstandings later. HSLDA warns against the pattern where 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Name the jobs that aren't teaching too, like hosting, setting up the painting and keeping the calendar.

6. Money

Keep it simple for the first term. List what you'll need to buy together, like paints and beeswax, and agree how to share it: an even split per family, or each family bringing materials in turn. Agree who keeps the receipts.

If you plan to hire a space, pay a teacher or take fees, HSLDA points out that taking other people's money raises the level of accountability a group carries. Leave those plans for a later meeting.

7. How you'll talk to each other

Choose one channel, such as a group chat or email, and stick to it. CHEC suggests picking one consistent way to communicate and agreeing a simple code of conduct, rather than assuming everyone knows what's expected.

8. The first festival

Look at the calendar and choose the next festival you'll keep together. In autumn that might be Michaelmas, with dragon bread, or a Martinmas lantern walk. A festival gives the first term a shape and something to prepare for. Waldorf seasonal crafts has ideas through the year.

What can wait

A first meeting that tries to settle everything often settles nothing. These can wait for the second or third meeting, or the end of the first term:

• Written bylaws or a handbook. Start with a one-page note of what you agreed.
• Paid teachers and fees.
• A full-year plan beyond the first festival.
• Registering the group formally.

Insurance is the one to raise early as a question, because HSLDA advises groups to make sure they have adequate liability insurance. What applies to you depends on where you meet and what you do, so check with your state homeschool association, an insurer or a lawyer.

A first co-op meeting agenda to copy

Copy this, change it, and send it to everyone a few days before.

[Co-op name or "Our new co-op"]: first planning meeting [Date], [time], at [place]. About 90 minutes.

1. Welcome and tea (10 min). Each family says who they are and the ages of their children.
2. Why we're meeting (15 min). Each parent says what they'd love from the co-op. Agree one or two sentences.
3. One morning (20 min). Sketch a morning in order, with times, from the opening circle to goodbye.
4. Day, time and place (10 min). Which day, what time, where, how often in the first term.
5. Which children (5 min). Age range, younger siblings, how many families we'll welcome.
6. Who leads what (10 min). Names beside each part for the first four weeks. Non-teaching jobs too.
7. Money (5 min). What we'll buy together, how we'll share it, who keeps receipts.
8. Keeping in touch (5 min). One channel. A few simple ground rules.
9. The first festival (5 min). Which one, and who'll gather the materials.
10. Questions to look into (5 min). Insurance, anything else. Who will find out, by when.
11. Next steps (5 min). Date of the trial morning. Who writes up the notes.

Notes

• Agreed purpose:
• Day, time, place:
• Age range:
• Leaders for the first four weeks:
• Shared costs:
• Channel:
• First festival:
• Trial morning date:

After the meeting

Write up what you agreed on one page and send it the next day, while it's fresh. Then hold a trial morning with the children. You'll learn more from one real circle and one story than from any meeting, and you can adjust at the end of the first term. The Waldorf homeschool co-ops and pods guide covers what comes after, from the models co-ops use to the common bumps in the first year.

If you'd like a program to follow together, Starpath for co-ops is free to run. It gives the group a shared Waldorf-inspired program of main lesson blocks, stories, crafts and the festival year, with the group calendar and job schedule in the same place.

Related reading

• Waldorf homeschool co-ops and pods
• Waldorf homeschool daily rhythm
• What is a main lesson block?
• Waldorf seasonal crafts