The vision of Homeschoolers East is to serve and support a truly diverse and unified homeschool cooperative. Their goal is to provide educational experiences for home-school families from diverse backgrounds, cultures, religions and beliefs that not only bring about the advancement of the individual, but as a result, the betterment of the community. This vision motivates the activities of the group and promotes a particular vision of the world, the family, the child, the parent, the educator, and the role of education.
Today, our VolunteerSpotlight shines on Carolyn Bramlett, Group Coordinator for Homeschoolers East. She uses VolunteerSpot's free volunteer scheduling software to coordinate all the parents that keep the co-op running smoothly.
Please tell us about your homeschool organization and your volunteer needs.
Homeschoolers East is a homeschool cooperative or co-op. We're open to families of all faiths and homeschooling philosophies. Members have access to group park meets, potlucks, field trips, annual parties and a full day of classes held each Friday. When the group started, in 2006, we were just a small group of moms meeting, playing and holding classes in our own homes. Now that we have around 25 families and well over 40 children in the group (and growing), we have to be extremely organized.
Each Spring, the membership elects a new Steering Committee comprised of seven parents who meet regularly and are responsible for administrating the group's activities. Parents offer to teach or assist in classes each semester. The classrooms and restrooms must be swept/mopped each week. Children who are not in a class during any given class period must be supervised. None of these are paid positions. Every job is provided by a parent volunteer. Because of this structure, we tend to attract helpful, giving people who enjoy being part of their children's lives and education.
How did you get started as a volunteer leader?
It sort of just happened. About a year after my family joined HSE, I was elected to the Steering Committee. As Group Coordinator, one of my responsibilities was assigning volunteers to each of the cleaning and childcare tasks.
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or parent leaders out there?
I guess the only thing I would say is, just do it. Especially when it comes to getting involved with your children's activities. It might take getting out of your comfort zone but everyone has something to offer. Besides, your kids want and need your involvement and time more than any game or toy out there. I was a little unsure about accepting the steering committee position at one point. My son, now age 11, said "Mom, you're pretty smart, I think they need your help make the right decisions". LOL! I only hope he continues to feel that way as he gets older. Historically speaking, parents tend to "know less" as children go through those teen years. ;-)
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
As I mentioned, each semester, the Group Coordinator is responsible for creating a schedule for sweeping, mopping and childcare volunteers. This used to be a huge undertaking until I initiated the move from a system of assigning tasks to volunteers to a system of volunteers signing up for the tasks. Signing up via back and forth emails is a big, confusing hassle. I thought, "there's GOT to be an online signup system out there that will simplify things". Sure enough, there were two or three that caught my eye but VolunteerSpot was, by far, the coolest. I really love that the system automatically sends out reminders - so I don't have to!
Organizing food for our potlucks is now super easy, too!
To learn more about Homeschoolers East, visit www.HomeschoolersEast.com
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We salute Carolyn and all the other volunteer leaders out there making a difference. If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at [email protected].
