Family Pledge

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

Welcome to Little Cashews! Our families commit to a cooperative venture in learning, socializing, and having fun.  We invite all families in the home school community to offer their support in the following ways:

1. Each family contributes time or services as they are able or as requested by others within the coop. Little Cashews jobs may include such things as teaching a class, cleaning a room, supervising the hallway, entering registration data, monitoring children on the playground, preparing teacher materials, or whatever other assistance is needed to help the group operate well. We each agree to be flexible and to enthusiastically pitch in as needed and as requested by the group coordinators.

2. Each family agrees to supervise their own children at all times:

*  Children under the age of 13 must have a parent, or adult supervisor.  While the children are in classes, they do not necessarily have to be individually supervised by the parent, but when they come out of classes parents must be immediately available to assist and supervise them. Parents should make their own determinations about whether their children are old enough to be left alone in a class with other students. The parents must let their children's teachers know where the parents are at all times. We encourage co-parenting to make Little Cashews as easy and pleasant an experience as possible, such that families are free to ask each other to watch their children. In those cases where co-parenting is used, the supervising family is responsible for all children under their watch.  All families, by signing this pledge, acknowledge that Little Cashews is an informal group of parents and as such has no legal liability whatsoever for the care or supervision of children.

3. Families are asked to participate in the smooth running and happy environment of the coop by:

• ensuring that all are made welcome and that there is no bullying or excluding;
• seizing the opportunity to leave spaces cleaner than when we found them;
• involving students of all ages in the care, cleaning, and maintenance of our buildings, thereby nurturing the relationships that give us access to these spaces;
• removing all personal belongings at the end of the day;
• observing quiet spaces and times where others must work or study;
• observing the individual building and room rules which are set by the teachers and building owners;
• by explaining to children that it takes a village and all adults, in the cooperative and in the facilities we use, act in loco parentis (i.e., are in charge) at all times.

4. We all strive to honor the class choices we have made as much as possible, by attending the classes for which we sign up, communicating with the teacher and/or the coordinators if there will be absences or if there are problems with the class. Teachers devote a lot of time and energy to their classes and students want to get the most out of them.  Therefore, please honor your teachers and fellow students by your regular attendance, good effort and completing assigned work.

5. We all hope to continue our good friendships within our other home school groups, local communities, churches, etc. The Little Cashews Homeschool Cooperative does not operate in any way to displace or discourage people from gathering in their own communities or home school groups.  Our cooperative simply asks that members do not use the cooperative time, facilities, e-mail lists, family directory, website, or meeting times to promote their individual political, religious, business, or social agendas in a way that makes others feel uncomfortable.   In other words, we want to have robust discussions or to be able to network in organic ways, but we don't want to make each other uncomfortable.  

6. Little Cashews prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, mental or physical disability, political belief or affiliation, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law and beyond.

Please sign and date below to indicate your family's commitment to the cooperative:

Parent: _____________________________________

Parent: _____________________________________

Student: ____________________________________

Student: ____________________________________

Student: ____________________________________

Student: ____________________________________

 

Student: ____________________________________