How many in a small group?

[menken119]

As I mentioned in a post below, my wife and I will be coordinating our first FPU class this fall.

In the class we went through in the Spring we had 9 couples in our class, which made for a great small group.

We currently have 14 couples signed up for the class we will be coordinating...I am starting to get concerned about the number of people that will be in the small group.

IIRC, Dave recommends 8-12 families in a small group. I think we will be fine with 14 couples, but if we get a couple more, I think the "small group" will lose some of it's effectivenes.

Originally, my wife and decided that if we had to, we could each lead a small group. However, as I posted last week, we just found out she is pregnant, so there is concern about whether she would be able to lead a class every week.

Any suggestions or input for us?

[finallyonboard]

I don't have any suggestions, but I'm interested to read the replies you get - thanks for asking this question!

We're coordinating our first FPU this September, so our roll-out is staring the the next week or so. The more we get the word out, the more excitement and support we're getting...so my DH is getting worried about class size. The good thing we have going for us is that we're co-coordinating with another couple, so if we have to split up into two groups we can still be together as couples.

If we have to split up, we thought that we could view the video together then split up for discussion time - does that sound like a decent plan?

[menken119]

If we have to split up, we thought that we could view the video together then split up for discussion time - does that sound like a decent plan?

That is what we would do...show the video to all and then into separate small groups.

[Charlas]

when we took the FPU class it was through a large local church. The class probably had 70-80 people enrolled. We were seated at large rounh tables that each seated around 8 - 10 people. We did a group time and watched the videos then broke up for group discussions/activities at each table. I thought it worked well. You ended up with the small group feeling at each table, but they were able to accommodate a much larger group at each class.

Good luck with your classes. I'm sure they will be a blessing for everyone that takes them.

[finallyonboard]

Thanks, these responses help me a lot!

[yellobelle]

Is there another couple that went through FPU in the spring that would be interested in helping lead discussions? Then you could split up but still be together as a couple. Our FPU coordinators talked to us about possibly doing this in a future class, when we mentioned that we would probably retake it as we move along on the steps. Maybe because we talked so much in class...

Lindsay

[menken119]

when we took the FPU class it was through a large local church. The class probably had 70-80 people enrolled. We were seated at large rounh tables that each seated around 8 - 10 people. We did a group time and watched the videos then broke up for group discussions/activities at each table. I thought it worked well. You ended up with the small group feeling at each table, but they were able to accommodate a much larger group at each class.



I am interested in this idea...what role did the coordinator play?

[Roy Randolph]

One thing we tried once in class when we had 24 - 25 couples is we broke up into small groups of about 6 couples each, I gave each group a set of questions to discuss among themselves and come up with a answer or thoughts on the question, then after 10 to 15 minutes went around to each group to let them read their question and conclusion. Then opened it up for discussion among the class for a few minutes and moved on to the next group and repeated. It worked pretty well, but haven't done it since might have to give that a try again in this fall's class.

[Charlas]

I am interested in this idea...what role did the coordinator play?

There was a main coordinator that all the original communication went through and then there were 2-3 more people who worked as assistants. The coordinator opened the class, asked if anyone had problems/questions from the previous week's information that they wanted to share with the entire group, gave a brief summary of the information being covered that week and started the DVD. After the DVD, he led a brief discussion and then we we went into a discussion time with the tables. Each person had been given a handout with discussion suggestions, etc. The assistants went around from table to table answering questions, starting topics if needed, and would raise questions for the entire group if they thought they were relevant.

The coordinator and assistants worked well together and we had good groups at most of the tables where someone seemed to naturally take the lead, but everyone (or most everyone) was willing to contribute.