Find a group of families with preschool aged children interested in participating in a co-op by talking to friends, family, and neighbors with young children. Consider placing inexpensive ads in local newspapers, newsletters, and free parent magazines, as well as contacting local mom's groups. You might also want to place fliers in libraries, parks, your child's pediatrician's office, churches, and at local children's stores. In the fliers, be sure to provide general information about what a co-op is and your contact information.
Determine a location, date, and time for an initial informational meeting and invite mothers who contact you to the meeting. The meeting is best held at a home since that will provide the best environment for the children who accompany their mothers to play together and eat a snack under supervision. Since the mothers contacting you will be either stay-at-home mothers or ones whose work schedule allows them to participate in day-time activities, set the meeting for mid-morning on a weekday.Keep a list of all of the interested mother's names, contact information, and the names and ages of the children they would like to participate. Email is definitely the easiest way to contact and send information about the initial meeting, so, if possible, email directions to the meeting along with contact numbers and a reminder of the date and time several days before the day. Encourage all to bring their children and an inexpensive snack to share.
Enlist the services of an available teenager, college student, family member, or neighbor, to act as child-minder during the meeting. Have a place set aside for playing with plenty of toys, snacks, cups for water, and, if available, a television and VCR or DVD player with age appropriate videos. While the kids are playing, the moms should introduce themselves and discuss ideas about how they would like the co-op should run, including what sorts of things different parents would be comfortable teaching. There is no need to determine everything at this meeting or even for each mother to definitively commit to participating; this meeting is just to give everyone information to mull over. Before the conclusion of the meeting, be sure to set up a date, time, and location for the planning meeting. Again, encourage moms to bring a snack.
At the planning meeting, as at the initial meeting, plan to have a babysitter to watch the kids and monitor the toys and refreshments. The purpose of the planning meeting is to hammer out all the co-op details, including how often the group should meet and when different mothers will be responsible for teaching. Before the end of the meeting, make sure you have everyone's contact information, including their home phone, cell phone, home address, emergency contact information, and email address. It is also a good idea for each to list any allergies their children have.
Before the co-op's kickoff day, make sure each participating family has a copy of pertinent co-op information, including a calendar listing each parent's days for teaching and/or providing snacks.