Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Co-ops: The way *we* do it!

Today is Co-op day!!

Well, it's not a REAL co-op.....at least, I'm not sure what makes a co-op "official", but this is just our family getting together with another hs'ing family to learn together.  Fun stuff~

Basically, my friend is using KONOS as her main curriculum and it has co-op lessons & ideas.  So we look over it together before Tuesdays (either at our small group Bible Study, or church, or whenever), get a gist of the main ideas, gather what we need beforehand, then meet for a few hours together that day.  We alternate weeks:  one week we'll get together at my house, one week her house.  Lunch is usually shared, we just bring whatever we have - no one has starved thus far - it's not a big ol' planned thing.

This week we are discussing beavers.  So today we talked about beavers, looked up new vocab words in the dictionary, wrote out some simple definitions, drew a pic of a beaver, a dam, the resulting pond & the beaver lodge (and they learned how to label their picture).  Do you know what "castoreum" is??  Me either - we looked it up!

So now we are ready for our co-op day tomorrow.  We're gonna be attempting a dam somewhere on our property (or something vaguely similar....), matting up some fake fur, talking about working together as a family & planning ahead/preparing for the future.  And whatever else Brooke & I come up with.

I just wanted to let you know what we do on these days.  I think some families hear the words Co-op and think of elaborately planned reports, hi-tech science experiments, expensive classes, etc.....and while those *do* exist (and can be very beneficial, I'm sure), there *is* another option.  A much less expensive, more laid-back, yet still quite educational - AND FUN - way to have a co-op!

So give it a try!  If you are lucky enough to have another hs'ing family close by, ask them how they might feel about getting together and learning.  Once a week, twice a month, or even just monthly.  It's just breaks up the week a bit, while still accomplishing "school" ~ and it's just what this Momma needs!!

4 comments:

LLJ said...

Great idea! Have fun today!
Leanne

The Ag Teacher's Wife said...

Sounds neat! I don't have children yet, so no HSing for me, but I plan to teach Kindergarten someday, so I am loving your ideas!

Mary said...

We used to love co-ops, but we're taking some time off from them to prepare for high school next year!!! My dd wanted this year to be "serious" so she will be well prepared for the rigors of higher learning in her freshman year of home-highschool. God bless her, I get a break from the driving to and fro!

Have fun!!

Virginia Revoir said...

Wow! You are so creative. I follow a curriculum so I don't do it on my own. I wish I could but I don't really know how. I hope over time I will get more confident and figure it out! :D It's basically where the work they would do at school, they do it here with me and online.