Student Membership

Class Days consist of three classes and a group lunch with the entire Co-Op.  Class Days are the first and second Tuesday of each month, August through May, and take place at the Orchard in Carbondale, CO from 9:30am until 1:30pm.  Students must bring their own peanut-free lunch.  Parents are REQUIRED to take part in the Co-Op.  Parents are scheduled to assist in various capacities during Co-Op for four class periods (2 months), then the next two class periods (1 month) parents are able to drop children off during Co-Op and either leave or bring your coffee and relax with the other parents who are not scheduled to assist.  This schedule revolves during the entire school year and can vary based on parent responsibilities and student registration.  This does mean that if Student Members have younger siblings that will need to attend Co-Op class days, younger siblings will need to purchase a Future Membership so that parents are able to focus on assisting.

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Students are divided by age into groups that remain the same for the year and then will rotate through three classes:

Activity - This changes each week and is a hands-on learning experience from a variety of teachers around the Valley.  Our goal in this class is to give students a taste of different activities and hobbies around the area that they can pursue further on their own.  These classes typically do not build on each other.  Activities are all experienced based education and range from cooking and art to animal science and STEM classes.

Nature - Our Nature Study class is guided by a dedicated year-round teacher who provides students with supplies and learning prompts.  Students are encouraged to learn at their own pace and focus on areas of the natural world that interest them by utilizing nature as their classroom.  Each class period includes a portion of outdoor time, regardless of the weather, so please plan accordingly!

Class - Some subjects are more beneficial for students when they are taught over the course of several weeks.  To enable us to teach these types of classes, each semester we have 1-2 multi-week classes.  These classes are not core curriculum but are educationally focused.   Taught by qualified teachers and parents, these classes are scheduled in blocks and, within that block, classes build on the previous class.  We do our best to set the entire class schedule before the school year begins.  Check our schedule (below) to see what classes are offered each semester.

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If your student is only able to commit to our Class Days and NOT our Field Trips, that membership is available for $330 per year per student.  You will see this as an option during registration.  Please note that parents of Class Days Only Members are still required to volunteer during our Co-Op Class Days.