We are frequently asked the following questions about the co-op for the Lifetime Family Package. If you have questions that are not listed below please e-mail us at: CustomerService@TheBEarthInstitute.com.
Members can only be recruited from your local community. If you want to post an invitation to a group you can post to a local homeschool group or to an e-mail list of friends you have locally. Posting invitations on non-local groups is not permitted. Co-ops are available to help local groups save money when they are working together already as a school, co-op, family or group of friends. We do not currently keep track of the location of different co-ops around the world as once the initial members are enrolled they are closed and you would need to be invited to be able to enroll with them.
What Does “Lifetime” Mean?
We offer the Family Curriculum Package to our customers as a way for them to save money when they want to purchase curriculum for more than one student. By purchasing all the curriculum together instead of individually they save over 50%. Since Earthschooling does not hold curriculum sales this is helpful to many parents/schools/teachers. People purchase the package and then immediately receive all their materials. At this point the transaction is done. There is no future financial commitment from the teacher/parent/school.
We add the word “Lifetime” to the package to indicate that they do not need to purchase the materials again for another student. They may use the materials for their family/class/school as long as they need them. Those materials now belong to them. If they lose any of the downloads we will even send them again.
Some curriculum providers require that customers purchase new curriculum each year and for each student. We make it clear that we do not have that requirement by putting the word “Lifetime” with the package name.
This package is not a membership. However, anyone who purchases any Earthschooling curriculum is referred to as an “Earthschooling Member”.
How Can I Find Members to Join My Co-op?
You can invite people to a new or existing co-op using any of the following methods. These methods can also be used to seek out a co-op to join.
1. Ask people in person in your community
2. Ask people locally through e-mail, Facebook or newsletters (not on international or national forums)
3. Respond personally (not on a public forum) to requests made to you on Facebook or by e-mail
4. Post to Facebook (in any local group) that you are looking to add more members to your co-op for your specific town and state (for example, if you are in San Francisco you could post, “we are an Earthschooling Co-op in San Francisco that is looking to invite more members. If you live in the area please contact me”
5. Ask family members or friends to join you
6. Have you made some good friends online that you want to invite? That is OK as long as they are existing friends and you invite them personally. You cannot form an online friendship with the sole purpose of inviting them to your co-op. If an online friend does join they need to become part of your group in an official ongoing manner such as through a private Facebook group or monthly meetings.
What does the member requirement mean if I am paying through a Charter School or other resource?
Co-ops are a level of discount available at Earthschooling when purchasing curriculum.
These are the discount levels we offer:
Purchase one lesson subject/block = no discount
Purchase a Curriculum Package (set of lesson blocks) = 25% discount
Purchase more than one grade of curriculum = 35% discount
Purchase curriculum as a group (of 2-10 people) = 50% discount
The group leader is the only person responsible for getting their co-op approved. Individual Members, Charter Schools or other organizations do not have any commitment or obligation to register 10 members with Earthschooling and never will in the future. Groups are organized only after we have the required members (or in some cases, issued an extension or waiver).
If you are receiving an invitation to a co-op or a link to pay for a co-op member this means your co-op has already been approved.
General Program Overview & Information
You can see all of our co-op descriptions and options on this page HERE.
You can see a description of what is included in each grade HERE. This page also includes samples of most of the curriculum packages.
You can view information about Earthschooling HERE (this page includes a video, charts and other information). You can also download and print a brochure from this page.
View Our Slide Show
This slide show gives you an overview of some of the main benefits of the Lifetime Family Curriculum Package…
FAQs
1. Co-op members receive all the same benefits as individual members.
2. Earthschooling is a complete curriculum. There is no need to buy any supplements. Every lesson is complete, all the teaching materials and books are included and the lessons are even planned out for you each day.
3. There is a series called “Kids Can Heal” that is included in the Lifetime Family Curriculum Package. It includes herbal studies, reflexology, iridology, nutrition, and studies in the temperaments for kids.
4. To get started you send us the emails and names of the members and we can bill each person individually. Once invoiced all members have two weeks to pay their invoice. However, you can add new members at the discounted price for up to one month. Once five members have paid all paid members have access to the program even if all ten members have not paid yet.
5. The price does not go down for more than ten members because the limit for a co-op is ten members. All members pay the regular $750.00 add-on fee if they join at the same time as the other members.
6. The Lifetime Family Package includes all curricula from preschool to eighth grade. It also includes all the Teacher Support Materials, Videos, E-books, Webinars, Kids Can Heal classes, Cultural Enrichment Lessons and more. There are even videos, e-books and lessons that are not for sale on the website included in the package.
7. To add on the high school curriculum as a co-op would be $3,750 for 10 people ($375.00 per person). That option can be found HERE.
8. If you’ve made a previous purchase with Earthschooling you will not be able to receive a credit if you upgrade your purchase to become a member in a curriculum co-op. This is because the curriculum co-op cost is already discounted more than 75%.
How do the different Lifetime Family Packages compare?