A Mother’s Journal

It’s time to play some catch-up on school stuff!  I have a couple of things that I have not posted about yet but keep meaning to!  They both happened back before Christmas!  The first I’ll share is our last co-op with Homer Price. 

This book may seem “young,” and it’s true that Michaela is on the tail-end of the age range for this co-op (although I might sneak her through one more year if the other “olders” do so–we have so much fun!), but I am always, always amazed at how much we learn!  In so many ways!

First the children all got together for a picture.  We had a couple missing that day, including one who is also an older student, like Michaela.    The children just sort of fall into a familiar pile of kids on the floor.  I love to see the friendships developing!  And there are children who would not necessarily be drawn to each other outside of this co-op, but they are all learning how to interact with each other with kindness and respect.  There are toddlers underfoot but not in the way.  The children are learning to deal with littles.  It is a good situation for children who don’t have younger siblings at home.  They would not get this in public school!  And I’m not knocking public school here.  I have a child in public school.  It’s just that those not in favor of homeschooling often decry the lack of socialization, which is so not the case!   I also love that my daughter has to be accountable to other parents in their homes, showing respect for the homes and the house rules.

One of the big lessons in this co-op was learning about assembly line work.  You hardly hear of it anymore!  The children were broken into two groups.  Then each child was given a number, 1-5, so each  team had one #1 child, one #2 child, one #3 child, and so on.  The two teams were sent to different rooms.  Each number was associated with a job on the assembly line.  In each room, for example, the #1 person was gluing a paper on the front and inside of their card and then passing the card onto person #2.   The card went down the line  until it was done!  Oh, and having two members absent was like have two co-workers call in sick or something!  One person on each team had to be willing to pick up the slack and do two steps!

The children really took their jobs seriously!  Some of the younger ones looked on, learning in the process.

Look at the finished cards!!  It may seem like a simple thing, but the quality of each step of the process was very dependent on the quality of the job done by the person before you!  For example, at the end of the process, we saw that the gift package stickers on some of the cards had to be actually up on the Christmas tree because the tree was placed too low!  Who knew you could learn so much from something like this!  I am very appreciative of the planning that went into this!

The children show off their finished cards in teams.

There was also some discussion about local government and we even put some cards aside to be mailed to local mayors!

After the first part of the co-op, the children broke into pairs and learned about checkers.  Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of the checker-playing.  I was busy talking with some of the other moms, one of the things I just love about the co-ops!!  At the very end, the children have time to play and visit with each other!   Michaela loves helping with the babies and toddlers!  This little sweetpea next to Michaela led everyone in a song, and she made sure everyone, especially her older brothers, got quiet and listened to her sing!!  It was so cute.

Now for updated lesson planning and what we actually accomplished!!

Week #19 (1/3/2011 – 1/7/2011)
Copywork #20-23
Spelling week #11–write all sentences.
Review spelling words from first 11 chapers.
Violin practice daily
Violin lesson
Biology–Monday only
Betsy-Tacy chapters 1-4
Independent reading
Saxon lesson 50
Saxon test 9
Help neighbor girls with homework
Applied math–using division to get a percentage (she helped me size photos for brooches)
Watched Dividing Decimals at Khan Academy
Read Lewis Don: Sheep Boy and answer questions (From The Road to Safety: On Land and Water, an old reader)

Week #20 (1/10/2011 – 1/14/2011)
Monday, Tuesday, and Friday = snow days.  (We go along with the public school schedule because of sibling and neighbors.)
Spelling week #12 and part of week #13
Violin practice daily
Violin lesson
Norman Rockwell discussion and preparation for fieldtrip
Norman Rockwell Exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art

So that’s it!!  It’s time to dig in our heels again!  A lot going on this week!