The Homeschool Buyers Co-op is a California-based nonprofit* cooperative dedicated to helping homeschoolers save money on their purchases of curricula, educational media, software, computers, science kits, educational games and toys, supplies, and more.

The idea is that school districts get discounts for educational products and services – why not homeschoolers?

Of course, school districts get educational discounts because they make large purchases -- they have purchasing power.  We homeschoolers, on the other hand, routinely pay retail prices because we buy independently and in small quantities.  As independent buyers, we have no purchasing power.

A large, national buyers cooperative of homeschoolers can change that by giving members the same purchasing power as the largest school districts in the nation.  Educational suppliers, much like any other supplier, are generally willing to give discounts to organizations that purchase in volumes or otherwise have purchasing power.

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op is the brainchild of Brett Walter, a 52 year old homeschooling dad of twin boys, CEO of a California-based software company, and a former Vice President of Engineering at Symantec Corporation and other Silicon Valley software companies.

When his wife, Jena (that's her in the second photo, with her boys and a friend), suggested in 2004 that they take their 3rd graders, Cooper and Logan, out of the public school and homeschool them, Brett said "Yes, dear," then proceeded to lie low and hope she would come to her senses.  But she didn't, and before long Brett also became enthusiastic about homeschooling.

In his professional life, Brett's company develops software to help organizations gain favorable pricing from suppliers by aggregating the purchasing power of their members, so it was natural for Brett to wonder if the same thing couldn't be done for the homeschooling community.

At a June homeschooling conference, Brett cornered a number of educational suppliers in the exhibit hall, and asked them, "Would you give discounts on your products if we homeschoolers made purchases as a group?"  The answer was "Sure!,"  and the idea for the Homeschool Buyers Co-op began to take shape.

Then, to test this hypothesis, Brett placed a call to a senior sales executive at Dell Computer, and asked, "Did you know there are over 1 million homeschooling families in the United States, and no major computer corporation is paying any attention to us?"  It turned out that Dell executives sister was a homeschooler, and he was very interested in the Co-op concept.  That call led to a series of calls and a meeting, and ultimately to the outstanding offer Dell is now making to Homeschool Buyers Co-op members nationwide.

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op team is currently contacting other educational suppliers to negotiate discounts for Co-op members.  We believe it will be possible to secure discounts for curricula, educational media, software, science kits, supplies, educational games and toys, supplies, and more.

The key to our success, however, is you.  The more members the Co-op has, the greater its purchasing power, and the better the discounts it can negotiate.  So tell your homeschooling friends, community, and organizations.  Spread the word.  And join!  It's free, and can help homeschooling nationwide.

Thank you!

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op

* We are in the process of filing for nonprofit status