.... Would There Be Anyone Who Is Interested in This Idea?

I'm just wondering whether you've tried googling terms like "homeschooling cooperatives, GA." When I enter that phrase, quite a list of links come up. Are you sure that there are no such groups already started in your area?

Wishing you the best. Homeschooling appears to be a wonderful option for many families, even if the parents are not particularly well-educated themselves. They have interest and energy and curiosity, and learn right alongside their children.

And your caution is well-placed – I've also met a few parents who are far from good homeschoolers. I hope you find the best path for your family.

One of the places you need to go is here:

yahoo groups : search groups : secular homeschool

((sorry, my password is acting up or I'd give you the link))

It's a hugely active board of secular homeschoolers (about 500 actively posting members, several thousand who only post occasionally / mostly read). It's mostly US, but there are some kiwi/aussie/canadians/etc. on there as well.

There are also several "Common mistakes to avoid when setting up a Co-op" pages online that are worth reading.

From experience... setting up a co-op is about 40 times more work than simply homeschooling, and that's ONLY if parents are teaching. Once you bring in outside educators, then you've got tax issues. More than a handful of kids on any kind of private property and you've got insurance issues. Taxes and insurance are the least of your worries, however, because the BIGGEST pitfall are other parents. Homeschoolers are an independent lot... getting a group of us together all doing the same thing is rather like herding cats.

Don't get me wrong, it CAN be done, and even done well... but it is HUGELY time consuming. On average, most people I know setting up a teaching co-op (there are lots and lots of play co-ops with parkdays, etc., which is waaaay less work... a simple email list does the job) spend about 80 hours a week on it ON TOP of educating their kids.

It's why so few exist, period, religious or otherwise. The workload is prohibitive. An established co-op, otoh, is STILL huge amount of work... but after 4 or 5 years they've got the kinks worked out. Most co-ops don't last a year. A 2 or 3 yo co-op... expect a lot of difficulty with it. It really takes awhile getting these things up and running smoothly... and by the time they're up and running smoothly... they're no different from a small private school. Fees to pay, policies to abide by, etc. Even if there were half a dozen secular co-ops in your area... you may not like them.

I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer, here, promise!

Just suggesting that you do quite a bit of reading on the subject, before starting, if you haven't already. If the idea of homeschooling sounds overwhelming, take a 2nd and 3rd serious look at what starting a co-op entails. It may be the PERFECT thing for you and your familiy, but it's about 40x the work of homeschooling on your own and signing up for outside classes.

There are all kinds of home schooling groups I would search the groups in your area and talk to someone from each group. Not all homeschoolers are religion based so you may find a nice group that works with you.

There are groups on Yahoo and you can try looking in your county as well. I know that the Connections Academy (it is usually run through the state/county) has emails between the teachers, parents and students so you might find some that use that as well. You should look into the K-12 also, I know a few parents that use it.

http://www.connectionsacademy.com/home.aspx
http://www.k12.com/

The Atlanta area has a LOT of kids enrolled in GCA (Georgia Cyber Academy) which is the public school online thru a charter school called The Odyssey School (I think). GCA is for all of Georgia, and uses K-12 (the poster before me included a link I believe). If you enroll as a public school student, it is free. If you enroll directly with K-12 you have to pay tuition.

And there are constantly activities and events going on in the northern GA/Atlanta area for social activities and field trips. You can do as much of the teaching as you want, or as little, really. Depending upon the age of your child(ren). My 5th grader needs almost no help from me in any of her subjects, except for grammar. She can attend online group live classes, or work on her own at her own pace.