Student Membership

THESE PLANS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON STUDENT ENROLLMENT

Activity Days consist of a hands-on activity and a block class that changes periodically throughout the year.  Activity Days are the first and second Tuesday of each month, August through May, and take place at the Orchard in Carbondale, CO from 1:30am until 3:30pm.  Students are encouraged to bring lunch at 12:30pm to hang out with other homeschool students in the area.  Lunch is not a structured part of the Valley Co-Op; the Orchard church has opened its doors on the first two Tuesdays of each month during the school year at lunchtime to provide a space where all students in the Valley can come together for community.  Please do not arrive before 12:30--other programming takes place at the Orchard prior to Homeschool Lunch and the doors will be locked until that programming is over.  After lunch, students enrolled in the Valley Co-Op are split by age (dependent on how many students enroll) and rotate through our Activity and a Block Class.  All students are expected to help clean and pick up after the Co-Op is over.

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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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Activity - Activities that the Co-Op provides typically change from week to week, though we occasionally have longer activities that span two weeks.  Our programming is intended to be educational and expose students to a wide variety of disciplines, but the main goal is to help students to create a community.  Students are able to work together to solve problems, create art or sculpture, build something, or even cook together.  We encourage a BIG/little organization, where older students are encouraged to mentor younger students by taking an interest in their lives and helping the younger students during both Activity Days and Field Trips.

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Block Class - In some disciplines, education is enhanced when taught over several class periods.  Our block classes allow the Valley Co-Op to give appropriate time to these types of subjects.  Focusing on in-class discussion and group work. students are still encouraged to be hands-on with during these classes, though suggested homework or continued education at home are always optional.  Block class subjects range from STEM experiments, historical unit studies, real-life work studies, biographical studies, and civic case studies.  Block classes are designed to help students develop logical thought progression and reasoning skills.  The length of our block classes vary depending on the subject, but a tentative schedule can be seen below.  Block classes are typically taught by a contracted teacher but occasionally a qualified parent will step in to teach a block.

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This is the first year our Co-Op has offered block classes and they will only be available if our enrollment numbers are sufficient for supporting two separate classes of students.  If enrollment in the Valley Co-Op is not able to support block classes, our format will mirror last year's programming, with a single group activity that involves the entire Co-Op.

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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 a reduced per student enrollment fee of $200 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.

Field Trips

Field Trips take place on the third WEDNESDAY of each month--please make note of the day of week chance from last year!.  Our field trips vary from month to month and usually are in different locations each month.  One parent or guardian is REQUIRED to attend every field trip with their student.  At the end of each semester, our Field Trip day takes place at the Orchard Church and instead of an off-site field trip, we host a Co-Op-wide Christmas party (in December) and a Co-Op-wide Exhibition (in May) where your student can walk for graduation, showcase a science or art project, or perform for family members.  If your student is entrepreneurial minded, at our end of year Exhibition there is a small student market where STUDENTS (not parents) can market and sell HANDMADE or BAKED items.  Baked items MUST include an allergy list included with the item.  If you are unsure whether or not an item your student has to offer will be allowed, please contact Morgan with questions.

2026-2027 Schedule