FAQ

On June 19th, we had our year end full board meeting. In addition to the delicious food and wonderful company, we also had ideas. With approval from an overwhelming majority, we decided to restructure the co-op day. I know it sounds like a huge upheaval, and maybe your toured before and you're thinking, "Great, now what?" 

We totally get it.

In an effort to make the understanding of the restructure clearer, I've got some information to share here. Take a look at this graphic below.

As you can see, the morning classes look pretty similar to what we already have. There are a few exceptions. One being that we added in an "Advanced Learners" Class. We did this as a precaution. We've got a few kiddos hitting into their high school years, and before our big kid class used to be 11-13 on average. If we have our older kids we'd be separating them into their own group for the purpose of keeping all of our kids engaged in the content of their classes. The next change is that the morning classes go until 12:05. This is to conform the schedule to the 4 morning classes we'd be offering. 

The morning session will still have our "Core Four" classes. These are the primarily STEAM based classes that our co-op is focused on. There will always be Science, Building/Lab, and Art as these are our baseline for the hive. We have also always offered an elective of sorts each session. We've done life skills before, but as life has so much to teach all of us, the membership voted to bring it back again this session. For this session, life skills will have two units: Emotional Health and Health & Nutrition. Each unit will be 5 weeks and all age groups will learn about both. In the schedule above, you are seeing which unit each age group will start with.

Now, let's talk about 12:45-2:30.

As of today, July 9th, this is our afternoon elective schedule. We are taking an interesting approach this session by allowing the members to teach what they want to teach. We've asked our members what they want to see in the hive, and we've asked them what they are willing to offer. In addition to helping out and leading/aiding classes in the morning, some of the parents wish to engage further with the community and offer other special classes. All of those empty spaces you see are opportunities. Empty classrooms to fill with our members' unique skills. 

While these electives are running, we will have the gym open with gym equipment, the playground is outside, and we'll have LEGO table and coloring table set up for the kiddos. Parents will be responsible for their own kids during this time, and us parents can relax while the kids get out their energy or engage in the electives offered. 

Effectively, the second half of the day, even if you sign up for full day, is not mandatory unless you committed to teaching a class during that time. You are free to stay and enjoy the opportunities, or you may leave after clean up. 

We are very excited about the changes made for the upcoming session, and we hope you are too! If you're a member and interested in offering a unique class, please reach out and let us know!

→ In an effort to maintain a manageable ratio of kids:parents, we would need between around 10-14 parents every hour that are in the “educator” role, with 2-3 adults in each class all day. This means that members who participate in the co-op for the full day are required to be teaching or aiding a class for 2 out of the 4 classes during a day. All families are required to participate in a cleaning duty each week that could look like vacuuming a room, wiping down tables, dust mopping the gym, emptying garbage cans, or watching children while other hive members take part in cleaning duties. 

The classes offered depend on the needs of the membership. We typically have a Toddlers Class, Early Learners (4-9) Class, and an Experienced Learners (10+) Class. We've added in other classes when necessary, such as a Nursery (0-1) or Intermediate (6-9). With the rooms we have available, and with the membership needs presented to us, we have the ability to adjust the offered classes as is necessary.

→ The hive leadership lays the groundwork for the curriculum for the classes. This consists of: 

• Assigning the themes/units

• Providing materials such as books, craft supplies, resources, websites, etc. for activities suggested pertaining to the theme

• Ensuring that the supply fee money is put toward supplies requested by the lead teachers

• Lending assistance in planning/brainstorming any additional ideas for the day’s fun

If you’ve got ideas and you want to run with something, go for it! Let us know what is needed for supplies within a reasonable time frame, and we can make it happen. But it does mean that if you can’t think of what Engineering activity to do with Experienced Learners in relation to the Mammals (for example), we’ve got your back. 

→ Parents will also be required to participate in the NYS Mandated Reporter online training per the building's rules and insurance purposes. Additionally, we crosscheck all members with the NYS sex offender registry before every session. If you have already completed the Mandated Reporter training for the 2023-2024 you are not required to complete it again. It is about 2 hours long and we request that you send your certificate of completion to our email address collective@thehiveco-op.com before you can be allowed to start your winter session with us. The training is free at https://www.nysmandatedreporter.org/ 

Absence Policy

In an effort to keep everyone wanting to come back (and to stop parents from choosing between going to co-op sick just to prevent a day where you educate all day long, or staying home), we have decided not to have a make-up requirement. But in doing so, absences will be more harshly felt in the hive. If there aren’t enough parents to cover the individual classes, then we will be forced to merge in the gymnasium for the majority of the day. This limits the children’s abilities to do the fun things planned for the day greatly, but it is the only option left to us if we don’t have enough parents on site to man the individual classrooms. The hope is to always have 2 parents on site for back ups, but it does leave us the only option being to utilize the gym if no one is willing to cover a parent's absence. Both Sydney and Shannon plan on being available for coverage as a last resort if need be. We will not force a parent to educate 3 times in one day due to someone else’s absence. Coverage is on a volunteer basis only, there will be no reprisals for refusing to cover when approached to do so. Missing 3 or more class days out of the ten is putting your ability to participate in the next school year in jeopardy. We understand there are emergencies, illnesses, vacations and family concerns. Let us know what’s going on and we are more than willing to work with you!

Having worked with this policy already, we've found that without the pressure of expectations nor the fear of reprisals, there is a lot of breathing room. People are far more willing to step into the roles that need filling when they know it's their choice, and that others will be willing to do the same for them!

Order of Operations for Absences

1: As soon as you are aware that you will be absent, please attempt to arrange coverage via personal text message or posting in the private members facebook group. 2: Whether or not you can find coverage, still contact Sydney Harvey or Shannon Hawkins to let us know that you are going to be absent. If you haven’t found coverage, we can take it from there and attempt to find someone to put in your place. 

→ Each week will have a theme for the whole co-op. The activities of that day will be centered upon a theme that is separated into smaller bite-sized chunks in order to look at a whole topic from multiple angles.

→ Each day, kids will have a rotation of four classes. The activities planned for the children will be within the categories of Science, The Arts, Life Skills, Engineering/Building. By tackling the theme through these class types, we hope to give way to a more thorough (and fun!) understanding of a topic. We have sensory options for all ages (and even a Sensory class for Toddlers!), books at the ready always, and a way to build/create as options alongside the theme activities— this is the atmosphere of child-led learning and choice. It is our belief that all of our kids are so smart, and following their lead will empower their confidence and bring joy to the prospect of learning.

→Follow our Facebook page for more information as we get closer to the Fall Session Start!

In the hive, we have a few different types of fundraisers. Individual Fundraisers are ones that are led directly by the families in the hive membership. As hive members, you can opt to participate in an individual fundraiser that puts money directly into your family's hive account. That money can then be used to buy merch, lower your session fees, or to spend on field trips organized by the hive. Our first individual fundraiser was through Oliver's Candies. Each box of chocolates had 40 candy bars. Members opted to pay $40 for a box of chocolates, then it was their job to sell that box of chocolates for $2/bar. When the sale money is due, families kept half of the profits to reimburse themselves for the box of chocolates that they had bought upfront. Then, they turned in the other half of the money to the hive collective. This money was then put into their family account.

When the following session sign ups rolled around, we had families who paid $5-$15 for their whole family to attend the session due to their chocolate bar sales. 

Individual fundraisers are a great way to lessen the financial burden of being a part of the co-op and we're blessed to have some awesome folks in leadership and committees that are willing to set up these opportunities for all the busy bees in the hive.