Guest Speaker at Co-op

Brian recently spoke to the current events classes at our homeschool co-op. We use God's World kid's magazines and one of the topics for October was on Afghanistan.

Bri wore his desert gear and shared about his experiences in Afghanistan this year. The kids were very interested and asked some really great questions. I know Brian enjoyed doing this and I hope the kids did too.

Gabe is in the older class and there are only boys in this class. They seemed to really enjoy the info and photos that Brian had to share.

Art Work

All the teachers at our co-op are wonderful. We appreciate the time and energy they put into the classes for the children. Art is an area I do not excel in and I am so thankful for Deb B. the mom that teaches art at our co-op. She does a super job and the children have learned so much.

The first half of this year, they finished up Meet the Masters, which is a curriculum about many of the great artists. The second half was devoted to learning cartooning techniques.

Here are some samples of the children's work.

Year End Homeschool Event

A few weeks after Gabe broke his arm, we had our year end potluck dinner and art show for our homeschool co-op. This was a great event where the children were able to show off some of the artwork and nature journals to family. Mom and Dad joined us.

It was a wonderful time of fellowship and great food.

Gabe has made some terrific friendships this year. He has grown tremendously in his social interactions and enjoyed special times with his friends. These three boys are his best buds. They were so sympathetic and concerned for Gabe's broken arm.

The older class recited poetry they had been working on. Bess did a great job with her poem, "Twice" by Christina Rosetti. She memorized the whole thing and gave a very good presentation.

Co-op Valentine's Party

Friday we had a Valentine's party at our homeschool co-op. We have these little celebrations in lieu of our normal classes for special days. It is a wonderful change of pace and the children and mom's enjoy the variety.

We had crafts. Here is Dan working on a project with his pre-school group. Dan sort of floats between the pre-school group and the younger elementary group.

One mom came up with some great games that got the children up and moving. This one was very fun. The children all held hands, but in and under each other. They had to try and get untangled without letting go. This one was very funny to watch.

The game below required each child to put their head on the tummy of another child. It made a long chain, then the 1st child had to say "HA" (it makes their tummy bounce) and each consecutive child had to add an "HA", until the last one had about 18 "HAs"...it was very funny and quite noisy by the end.

The children decorated bags to hold their Valentine's, exchanged Valentine's, played pool, air hockey and foosball. These days are great for more relaxed interaction with the children. Gabe brought his Pokemom cards and so did a few other boys. They did some swapping.

We had pizza and punch for lunch and then they decorated scrumptious heart-shaped sugar cookies that one mom made.

Weekly Co-op

Our weekly homeschool co-op continues to be a great experience for our family. I often wonder if taking a day out of our regular schedule to attend is worth it, but each week I see our children learning and enjoying the fellowship of other Christian families.

Here are a few photos from Friday's meeting.

This photo of Gabe is so funny. Those that know Gabe well will know he is not an adventure eater. In science, the children had to close their eyes and hold their noses and see if they could tell what they were eating. Gabe was very nervous about tasting something when he didn't know what it was. He was a trooper and did the experiment, but as you can see, he didn't think much of raw potato.

Bessie has already gone through Apologia Biology, so she is the class helper. This week they were dissecting a worm. Bess loves this type of stuff and she and her class mate had fun.

The cartooning class is going well. The children are learning some great techniques and I think their confidence is building as they see they can produce good cartoons.

A couple of the science experiments had to do with air pressure. The children are amazed that the water stays in the glass when tipped upside down.

Co-op Thanksgiving Party

I really love our co-op this year. It is very laid back, offers some great classes for the children, opportunities to fellowship with other Christian homeschoolers and we all have a wonderful time.

We met for our last regular meeting before our holiday break, with a Thanksgiving party. We had several activities, crafts, games and a pizza lunch with pot luck desserts. The highschool class helped the moms with all the festivities.

All the children working on a thankful wreath

Gabe enjoying bingo...with M & M markers
Dan works on an Indian paper doll
We made Oreo cookie turkeys
Isn't he cute?

We will start up again after the new year.

Logic Class

The K-3 logic class has been focusing on thinking outside the box...sometimes way outside.

This week, the children were asked of different things they could do with their feet. They came up with many different things, but no one thought of painting.

Yes, the kids did feet painting. What a fun activity.

The teachers in this class have a lot of fun with this group, but what a messy clean-up!

Nature Study

We have been having a very fun time with our homeschool co-op this fall. We have participated in co-ops on and off in past years, but this year we have hit on a great combination of families and classes.

I'm sure part of it is that our children are in a good place right now for doing a co-op. The Littles have picked up enough English to be able to do most of the work. Bess and Gabe are enjoying the friendships and the class offerings.

There are three different class divisions, K-3, 4-6 and 7 through highschool. The elementary grades are doing logic, recitation, Meet the Masters art program and nature study. The older kids are doing Apologia Biology, recitation, Meet the Masters and study court cases in their logic class.

I am teaching the nature study classes and we are focusing on nature journaling and observation. We are working on having the children notice things when they are out and about....seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling and touching nature and being able to translate all that into something for their nature journals.

This class time we gave each child a length of yarn. They were to make a square with their yarn someplace in the yard and then observe what they could in their square and draw it in their journals.

Some of the children are doing a terrific job and have a wonderful sense of capturing nature.

I am having a great time teaching this class and the children are learning a lot about God's creation.

Co-op End of the Year Field Day

Today we had our end of the year get together for our co-op group. We called it a Field Day as we had all sorts of games and things planned, but we all had such a good time relaxing and hanging out, that we didn't get all of the games in.

We had this affair at our house. This is a huge step for me in the hospitality department. Having six extra moms and 17 extra kids ranging from 1 to 15 was a real stretch for me. I've had larger gatherings, but that was family. I managed to not get hyper about it all. Bess and I did a quick run through of the main areas of the house and we called it good. I am learning to let go of needing the house to look just right before people can come over.

We had a picnic lunch, some games...sack races, three-legged races and a relay, lots of jumping on the tramp and some wonderful fellowship. The weather was gorgeous and everything went very well. We started at 10:30am and the last folks left at 3pm.

Here are a few pictures which aren't very good, but I was concentrating on enjoying myself not on taking pictures.

After everyone left, the kids helped me pick up the yard and then we had some nice quiet down time. Everyone picked their spot to unwind and relax.

The Littles played in the toy room

Bessie checked email

Gabe watched a movie (doesn't he look tired?)

Later in the evening, I had Gabe in the shower, Dan waiting in the wings and the girls picking up in their room when we got a call from a friend...Bess was suppose to babysit for them tonight...whoops, forgot that one. I quickly toweled Gabe off and we jumped in the van and off we went. Thankfully, they only live about five minutes away.

Back home we finished cycling everyone through the shower. A very full day.

Passover Seder

Our homeschool co-op held a Passover Seder this week. We had a guest speaker come in for this.

It was interesting listening to all the tradition and symbolism that goes into the Seder meal. I'm not sure the kids understood most of it and they got quite fidgeting toward the end, but I found it very meaningful.

I'm sure there are ways to make it more kid friendly and we may consider doing this as a family next year.

Colorful Crystals

We made crystals at our co-op last week. The kids are really enjoying watching the changing scene everyday. This was a very fun albeit messy project.