How we got started

Many of us began the homeschooling adventure on our own, transforming our living rooms and dens into classrooms as we taught academics to our little ones, and additionally attending a weekly playdate with our fellow Muslim homeschoolers at a local park. Beginning to feel the effects of burn-out and realizing our growing need for community support, eight families decided to help one another by choosing to specialize in our fields of strength. We came together in 2003 to teach each other’s children Math, Language Arts, and History in one family’s home in Lafayette, California. Pooling resources, we hired outside instructors for Science, Quran, Arabic, P.E., Art, Carpentry, Sewing, and Hand-Drumming.

Over the years, our children flourished, beginning to view their teachers as ‘aunties’ and their friends as extended family. We saw each other through many ups and downs, bringing food and comfort to those of us who were ill, gifts and meals to those who had been recently blessed with a new baby, and prayers and support for those who found themselves in the midst of an unexpected crisis. We couldn’t imagine raising our children — or educating them — any other way.

Over time, more and more families began to show interest in our model, asking for a coveted spot in what was then known as ‘the Lafayette Co-op’. As it was, the group of 24 children in one home was already testing the limits of boundless generosity, so request after request had to be regretfully denied. In the spring of 2007, the group of original eight families decided to invite the greater community to a planning meeting in order to assess if there was enough interest in forming a new home-schooling co-operative on an independent piece of property devoted to the sole purpose of educating our children collectively. It was time to share this educational experience with others!