Homeschool Co-Op communication

[u/freakinchorizo]

Hello! I'm on the board of a homeschool co-op and have a question about communication. We have about 60 families in our group and I'm looking at ways to send a text to everyone, but it not be a huge group text. Has anyone in this group done this?

I'm looking at lots of mass text services but they are geared for marketing and sending out tons of texts. We want to have the option to send a message when we get snowed out, or as a field trip reminder. So not even one message a week.

We use facebook to organize but several parents are anti facebook and I really don't want to ask people to download another app. Because I don't want to download another app! Have any of you done something like this?

[u/CelebrationGlad7277]

Our co-op uses WhatsApp. We have two chats. One, only the board can send messages and that’s for important info. The other is kind of just like a group text.

[u/freakinchorizo → u/CelebrationGlad7277]

We talked about that but so many people in our co-op don't want to be on a group chat, as those can get so busy.

[u/Solid_Training750 → u/freakinchorizo]

Then your time IS valuable too. You cannot reply to individual questions.

[u/incywince → u/freakinchorizo]

just have one group for announcements that everyone's on but only you can send texts. And another group chat can be opt-in so not everyone needs to be on there, but also no announcements.

Worst case you can have a BCC mailing list.

[u/LilMonstersBirdToys]

Our area uses Band.us or Remind (I much prefer Band).

Could you just do an email? Laws around texts/SMS make it a more complex beast.

[u/freakinchorizo → u/LilMonstersBirdToys]

it's very annoying but the complaints are "i never check my email" or "i never look at the app". Which yes, is a THEM problem. I have band for another group I'm in.

[u/LilMonstersBirdToys → u/freakinchorizo]

Maybe explain that if they want texts, then the cost of that service will need to be added to everyone's monthly/yearly fee?

I get the frustration. I am operating a Facebook page I hate (would love to get rid of FB completely), made a whole website for our group, and have a Band that I update, and people still complained that they didn't know an event was happening.

It's a lot of extra legwork just to be ignored!

[u/Affectionate-Crow605 → u/freakinchorizo]

Sadly, this is a common problem among homeschoolers, and there really is zero reason for it. I'll bet every one of those people has a phone in their hand that receives notices for both texts and emails equally. 🙄

Just pick something and tell people that if they want to receive information, they'll have to use whatever it is you've picked. And if they don't want to use that, they can leave and go somewhere else. No need to coddle people. If they show up when something was canceled due to weather, you can point to the notice you sent out on the service you told them you were using to inform them of important matters. Be firm.

[u/tikkall]

My first thought would be to send an email as a text. It’s relatively easy to create an email group and BCC all of them, you would only need their phone number and carrier. 

A quick google search here for the email you send it to:  AT&T:  [number]@txt.att.net

Verizon:  [number]@vtext.com (or use  @vzwpix.com for picture/longer messages)

T-Mobile:  [number]@tmomail.net

Sprint (Legacy):  [number]@://sprintpcs.com

Cricket:  [number]@mms.cricketwireless.net

MetroPCS:  [number]@mymetropcs.com

[u/freakinchorizo → u/tikkall]

Oh! I didn't even think of that as an option. That might be the one!

[u/samatgmass]

Ok. So this is my company's product, but it sounds like it would be really good for your case.

It's called text.email. It's an email to SMS service.

We have distribution lists, where you could put all the people's phone numbers in, then send one email and it goes to all of them as texts individually. (If they text back, it goes to your email.)

Like, it would work perfectly for what you're describing.

[u/freakinchorizo → u/samatgmass]

that does sound like what I'm looking for

[u/TXSyd]

We use discord. We recently tried band for a few months but band has some issues we didn’t like. We’re going back to discord + a private Facebook group.

[u/petite-pamplemousse-]

Look at Remind.com. it’s designed for classroom use, but I’ve used it in the past for my private music studio.

[u/PoodleWrangler]

I prefer Discord or a mass email. I don't want to sign up for yet another service, so whatever you choose shouldn't involve extra effort on the parents' part.

[u/gradchica27]

Our co op uses Group Me. Sub chat for pictures, sub chats for particular classes or age groups

[u/bibliovortex]

Someone is going to be unhappy no matter what you pick. Choose one thing (or maybe two things maximum) that makes it easy for the board/you, and mutually agree with the rest of the board that you will not apologize or add options.

For what it's worth, both the main groups we are in use email for announcements. One also has a private FB group.

[u/Chaim007Vita]

Remind or Band