What does your co-op day look like?
I get this question sometimes, so I thought I would share..
Two Moms and I started a small classical/Charlotte-Mason cooperative 3 years ago, really 4 if you factor in the prior planning. We spend hours designing what the schedule of classes will look like, who teaches what, where each child goes, etc. The children wear uniforms. We probably look like a private school in some ways. There is a small fee to join, and the moms or Dads help teach the classes. We meet once a week for the months of September through the following April.
Here’s an example of what our fourth-sixth grade class is learning for the fall semester:
Assembly-prayer/pledge/Bible recitation of Psalm 100
Memory work: the Gettysburg Address, states/capitals, history timeline cards from VP
Visual Latin
History-Story of the World IV, biographies
Science-chemistry (scientific method, atoms, molecules, famous scientists, polymers, mixtures, acids/bases, reactions, chromotography, periodic table, etc)
Art History-Picasso
Music History-Gershwin
Language Arts-“My Side of the Mountain” book with an emphasis on various writing elements, 5-paragraph essay
Our younger age classes look similar minus the Latin, and the history books are “Story of the USA”. They sing geography songs and are memorizing poetry by Stevenson. Literature consists of either “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” or the “Beatrix Potter tales”.
I use the co-op to fill in gaps that I see in our home studies. The kids enjoy spending time with friends, but that’s not my motive for participating. It’s (I hope) academically rigorous. We keep slightly changing the curricula every year to up our own standards and to adjust to the needs of the families attending. Lots of benefits to doing so-downside, it’s a lot of work! 🙂
Plastic surgery and science experiments
Today I went into the city to see a locally well-known plastic surgeon about my face. That’s sounds extreme, but he comes highly recommended. I didn’t actually see him. I saw his one of his nurses and aestheticians. I’m trying to educate myself on the best way to take care of my body as I age, and that includes my skin. Learned about some really good things like peels and abrasions-pricey though..
In the midst of that I met with some colleagues of mine to work on the chemistry classes for our homeschool cooperative. Took out many books from the library on experiments, and the boys had fun trying some of them out at home tonight-soap monsters was quite smelly.
Calvert’s virtual science fair
Our oldest son participated in Calvert’s virtual science fair.
“Comparing the salt content in ocean water versus tap water”
Fun site for your student to observe other students’ work. You can vote for your favorite.