Our Mission

To facilitate and maintain a secular and self-directed learning environment by allowing our children to deeply engage with the world through their passions and interests. We embrace choice & freedom along with collaboration between peers, parents, instructors, and the local community.

SPARK is an inclusive, neurodiverse, and LGBTQ+ friendly community of homeschoolers creating a playful and self-directed learning environment for all ages. We are a non-profit and parent-run cooperative in Cincinnati, Ohio. We pride ourselves on being a secular, diverse, and collaborative co-op that provides an affordable, accessible, and non-coercive space for learning experiences and building community.

Our Approach

SPARK has a unique approach to learning that is relaxed and self-directed. Both children and parents take an active role in learning and building our community. We believe children (and all people) learn best through play and engaging in topics that are meaningful to them. We meet this philosophy through our group learning experiences called “Offerings”. 

Offerings are classes, workshops, activities, or projects led and assisted by parents that last about an hour and can cover a wide and diverse range of subjects and interests. Each family is expected to lead one Offering of their choice per Homeschool year to share a hobby, skill, or curiosity their family has. They can reach out to other members to secure an assistant if their Offering requires support. Families may opt to recruit a hired mentor or facilitator, as our budget allows. Seasoned families typically lead offerings at the beginning of our terms and give newer families some time to observe and get the swing of things before leading an Offering themselves. Members will be reimbursed for Offering materials purchases but are asked to provide an estimate for approval beforehand. Some Offerings are targeted at certain ages, while others incorporate a range of ages learning together. SPARK activities are always optional allowing kids the choice to participate or not depending on their interests. We do ask that everyone remain respectful of the mentor or parent running the Offering by taking space away from the activities for loud play if they choose not to participate. 

We are a non-profit and parent-run cooperative with a Board of Directors responsible for directing the overall policy and direction of SPARK and ensuring day-to-day operations run smoothly. The Board is made up of elected parent volunteers. In addition, the Board works cooperatively with families to coordinate and delegate specific duties to members. Parents may be asked to jump in and help facilitate activities or Offerings, organize, clean, plan, support, discuss, collaborate and care for our space, our daily tasks and each other. Families pay a membership fee and tuition which covers costs such as renting space, insurance, resources, hired mentors, and supplies.

Conflict Resolution Process

At SPARK, we strive to maintain a positive environment where children and parents enjoy their time together and treat each other with mutual respect and graciousness. We are a diverse group of people working together to provide a safe, respectful, and rich learning environment, but as with any diverse community, conflicts will arise. Should anyone experience a disagreement or conflict within the co-op, we encourage children and adults to communicate with each other to work through it. If a resolution can’t be reached, children are encouraged to ask their adult for help. If adults are unable to reach a resolution, they have the option of requesting an outside mediator be hired. We hope that these suggested steps are helpful, but we acknowledge that this is just one pathway to peace.