Remote pandemic schooling wasn’t working for her second-grade daughter, so Rebecca Simmons decided it was a good time to start homeschooling. “I was supplementing her work anyway,” she recalls. “I had to beg the teacher for more. At one point, she made me promise I wasn’t going to tell anybody that she gave me more work. And I’m like, this is so ridiculous.” Rebecca wanted to join a co-op for support but couldn’t find one that worked with her schedule. “I’ll have to create it,” she thought. So she posted on a local homeschooling Facebook group asking if anyone else was interested.
Sara Walker responded the same day, and the two have been working together ever since. “It wouldn’t be going if she hadn’t been here since the beginning,” Rebecca says. “She was literally my right-hand woman. We have many planning sessions at four in the morning and midnight.”
The Lower Bucks Homeschool Enrichment and Events Cooperative, which started in 2021, initially met just on Fridays because that’s the day that worked with Rebecca’s schedule. A small group of families started meeting at Sara’s house on Wednesdays for some additional classes. “One of my sons has autism, and it was easier for us to have the classes at my house because he is the type that would be able to be there for a little bit, but then when he needed a break, he could go and hang out in his room and come back in and out as he needed,” Sara explains. “I can only fit so many kids at my kitchen table, so we were thinking about expanding. And when doing that, I wanted to make sure there was a space where he could be comfortable and that other kids who maybe struggled with certain things could also be comfortable.”
In 2023, Sara created the Education Collaboration Network, which includes the original co-op and other programs. Rebecca and Sara now have a dedicated space that is enabling them to expand their offerings. The Friday co-op continues to offer a variety of classes for kids of all ages. Some of the classes are geared toward enrichment and socialization, and others have a more academic focus so Sara and Rebecca can meet the needs of their own kids. Rebecca thinks the schedule is well balanced with academic work and social time between the various classes and lunch and other breaks. While the classes are broken up by age, the whole group comes together for lunch and free time, which gives the older kids a chance to help younger kids and the younger kids a chance to learn from the older kids.
Their current location includes multiple rooms, which gives them the flexibility to have several classes at the same time. While they’ll continue to have their structured offerings, they want to get more community involvement and reach more people. “There was a mom who posted that she was looking for a playgroup, and she wanted to start one for preschool-aged children who are going to be homeschooled,” says Sara. So they are letting her use their space to get the group up and running.
Sara has also offered programs for kids who aren’t able to sit in a structured classroom and says they pick up on more than people would think. “They’re running around and you’re not really sure what they’re into or what they’re pulling from it, but then later on they come out with these statements or you see them doing something and it’s like, ‘Wow, okay, this is what works for you,’” she explains. “It’s like a hodgepodge right now offering a little bit of each different type of thing.”
The Education Collaboration Network also recently began offering SPACE (Self-Paced Atmosphere for Customized Education) memberships. For a low monthly fee, families can access ECN’s lobby, lounge, play area, and work area for three hours on Mondays and Thursdays. They can use the space for a change of scenery while doing their schoolwork or to have fun with friends. SPACE membership also gives families priority registration and discounts to ECN events.
The Lower Bucks Homeschool Enrichment and Events Cooperative and Education Collaboration Network keeps expanding and adding new options because Rebecca and Sara want to help meet the needs of the local homeschooling community. “I think certain things kids do better when they’re home and it’s one-on-one. But then other things they do better when they’re able to work with friends. So kind of just gauging the needs and going from there and seeing what fits,” says Sara. “The ultimate goal, for me at least, is to just keep building those types of programs for whatever it is that people want for their children.”