How to Start Your Own Homeschool Group in Your Local Church

Lessons from those who have been there!
The Scotsman

Starting a homeschool group at your local church is a sizeable task and one that it is helpful to have a model to follow. There are some great resources out there on the Web, but to have materials at your disposal to use and adapt to save you from reinventing the wheel is always a welcome relief.

My wife and I have homeschooled our children from day one. We knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord had called us to homeschool our children and raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. It has been a wonderful experience, filled with both blessings and challenges along the way. Homeschooling is not easy, but is extremely rewarding knowing that you are the ones who taught your children how to read, write, mathematics, etc.

A number of years ago my wife and I were kind of thrust into the leadership of the local homeschool group that consisted of approximately six families and about 20 children. Within two years the group had grown to approximately 50 families and 160 children, full time leadership positions, weekly co-op, etc.

There was limited structure to the group and very little involvement from the fathers in the families for one reason or another. So, after a long period of prayer the Lord made it apparent that we needed to have a leadership group in place to make decisions collectively, pray for direction and assume specific responsibilities within the group. It was apparent that one person or even a single husband and wife team would have quite a challenge taking on the role by themselves. Besides, it is always best to have other perspectives, roles, information, talents, skills and abilities when making decisions of a magnitude that will affect a large group and several hundred people for years to come.

One of the first things we knew is that we needed to gain the support from our local church and the first step was to educate them about the homeschool group. Several things we needed to make sure they knew is that we were led that it was the perfect time to align ourselves with the church and to gain acceptance as an official ministry of the church so we could enjoy the same privileges and protections of an official ministry. A number of things that we put together included:

• Statement of Faith
• Bylaws
• Covenant
• Leadership Structure
• Future vision for the group
• Statistics
• Interest
• Outreach opportunities
• Etc.

Needless to say, our 2 year term as Chair of the group was quite rewarding but very hectic as we were making some massive changes and growing rapidly. I went to our church leadership with a packet to handout, a PowerPoint presentation (e-mail me for the presentation – FREE!) and a desire to do the Lord’s will, to explain our group and how we were hopeful to be an official ministry within the church. The response was very positive from the staff and was of a huge benefit for the group. We now insure that the pastoral staff is on the distribution list for monthly newsletters and information.


It is my prayer that this information, the attached presentation, and the leading of the Lord will enable you to realize you can do this, with God’s strength and in accordance with his will.

Please check back for future articles on development of a leadership group, formation of the bylaws, Officer’s roles and responsibilities, etc.