AdminOwners

Announcements & Email Blasts

HomeschoolGo gives you a few ways to reach families: announcements to the whole co-op (or scoped to board/admin, volunteers, or a hand-picked group), and email blasts for more formal newsletters and updates. This guide covers each one and how to get it right.

Open Communications

Which channel to use

Each channel has a different reach and feel. Use the one that matches your intent:

Targeted announcement

An announcement scoped to a group you hand-pick from the family directory, instead of your whole co-op. Recipients see it in their Announcements feed and get an email, same as any other announcement. It just doesn’t go to everyone. Good for class-specific reminders, carpool coordination, or anything that’s only relevant to some families.

Announcement

A post to your co-op’s Announcements feed. Members see it in-app and get an email if they haven’t unsubscribed. You can target everyone, board/admin only, volunteers, or a hand-picked group. Good for time-sensitive news, policy updates, and things every member should see.

Email blast

A formatted email sent to a chosen audience. It doesn’t create an in-app notification. It’s purely email. Good for newsletters, registration reminders, and anything where design and formatting matter.

Tip: If you want the message to persist in-app and be searchable later, use an announcement. If you want something that looks like a proper email, use a blast.

Reaching a targeted group

To reach a hand-picked group of families without broadcasting to your whole co-op, start from the family directory rather than the Announcements or Email screen directly.

1Go to Families in the sidebar (the member directory).

2Open the “…” options menu and choose Select to message. Checkboxes appear on each family. Check the ones you want to reach.

3Click Email selected (or Text selected, if SMS is enabled).

4You land on the Announcements (or Texting) composer with a Selected families audience already filled in. Write your message and send.

Note: This is a scoped announcement or text, not a private message. The families you picked see it in their Announcements feed (and get an email) or as a text, exactly like any other announcement or blast, just limited to that group. For a private one-on-one conversation with a single family, use Inbox › New Message instead.

Announcements

Announcements post to your co-op’s shared feed and email recipients who haven’t opted out. They’re the fastest way to get information in front of everyone.

1Go to Admin › Communications › Announcements.

2Write a subject and message using the rich text editor.

3Choose your audience: all members, board/admin only, volunteers, or a hand-picked list of families (see the section above for reaching a specific group).

4Click Preview → to see the recipient list and how the message will look before it goes out.

5Click Confirm & send to deliver immediately, or check Schedule for later first. The button becomes Confirm & schedule and you pick a date and time before confirming.

Tip: Always click “See who” before sending. It catches audience misconfigurations before the message goes out, especially useful when targeting by class or grade.

Members see announcements in their Announcements feed. They also receive an email unless they’ve unsubscribed using the link at the bottom of a previous announcement or blast email.

Email blasts

Email blasts go straight to inboxes, with no in-app notification and no feed post. They’re the right tool for newsletters, longer updates, and anything where how the email looks matters.

1Go to Admin › Communications › Email. Make sure you’re on the Compose tab (Email blasts is your sent history, and System emails is a separate log).

2Choose your audience: all members, board only, volunteers, or specific families.

3Write a subject and rich-text body. Use the Preview button to see how it will look in inboxes.

4Click Confirm & send to deliver immediately, or check Schedule for later first and confirm with a date and time. See the Scheduling section below.

Note: The Email screen has three tabs: Compose(write a new blast; anything you’ve scheduled but not yet sent also shows up here, below the form), Email blasts(everything you’ve already sent), and System emails. System emails are automated notifications HomeschoolGo sends on your behalf (enrollment confirmations, payment receipts, etc.). You don’t compose those. Just review them here for your records.

Tip: The first time you send blasts, you may see an Email deliverability is warming upnotice on the Compose tab. Your co-op’s send address is new, so some messages can land in spam or the Promotions tab while it builds a reputation over the next few weeks. The notice includes a ready-made blurb you can copy and send to families explaining how to find the email and mark it as safe, worth sharing before your first blast or two.

Blasts respect your co-op’s configured time zone when scheduled. Members who have unsubscribed from marketing email won’t receive them. System emails still reach everyone.

Scheduling messages

Announcements and email blasts can both be scheduled to go out later. You can write and queue everything in advance, then let HomeschoolGo handle delivery.

Scheduling an announcement

After composing your announcement, click Schedule instead of Send. Pick a date and time. The announcement is sent automatically at that moment in your co-op’s time zone.

Scheduling an email blast

After composing the blast on the Compose tab, toggle Schedule for later and set a date and time. A Scheduled emails section appears below the compose form on that same tab, listing anything queued up, each with a Cancel button beside it. Once a scheduled blast goes out, it moves over to the Email blaststab with everything else you’ve sent.

Tip: You can cancel a scheduled message any time before it goes out. Open the scheduled item and click Cancel. No confirmation email goes to recipients, so it’s a clean pull-back.

History and resending

Every email blast you’ve sent is saved on the Email blasts tab. Each entry shows the subject, sent date, recipient count, and how many were skipped (opted-out or undeliverable).

Click any entry to open a full preview of exactly what was sent. If a blast failed to deliver, a Resend button appears on that entry. Click it to retry without recreating the message.

Note: Announcement history lives in the Announcements tab, not Email history. If you need to review an old announcement, go to Admin › Communications › Announcements and scroll down.

Common questions

How do members opt out of announcement emails or email blasts?

There’s no profile toggle for this. Members click the Unsubscribelink at the bottom of any announcement or blast email. It’s a single setting that covers both channels together, so a member can’t opt out of one and keep receiving the other. Direct messages (from the Inbox) are not affected.

How do automated reminders work? Do I have to send those manually?

No. HomeschoolGo sends automated notifications on its own for key events: registration windows opening and closing, payment reminders, event reminders, and volunteer shift alerts. Members control which of these they receive under My Profile › Notification Preferences. You don’t need to set up or send these manually.

Can I set up event-specific reminders?

Yes. When editing an event in Admin › Events, you can add timed reminders that go out automatically to all registered attendees, for example 1 week before, 1 day before, or morning of. Those send via email and in-app notifications.

How do I get a headcount for an event, and track who didn’t show?

Open the event in Admin › Events. The signup list shows a breakdown of Registered, Waitlist, Cancelled, and No-show counts at a glance, handy for sizing catering or room setup. After the event, click Mark no-shownext to anyone who RSVP’d but didn’t come (or Undo if you marked someone by mistake). This is separate from a family cancelling their own RSVP ahead of time.

A family says they’re not getting my announcements. What should I check?

Ask them to check My Profile › Notification Preferences. They may have opted out of announcement emails. If they’re opted in but still not receiving them, ask them to check their spam folder. Occasionally a first-time message from your co-op lands there until they mark it as not spam.

Still have a question? Head back to the Help & Support page or reach out to your co-op admin directly from the dashboard.