Co-op class suggestions

[AppleGreen]

We have a small group that meets once a week during the school year. We usually do some sort of science and then another class that is teacher choice. I am not feeling very inspired right now (probably b/c I have been doing all of our plans for next year) and thought I'd see if anyone here had a fantastic suggestion for a class. There are 6 9-10 year old boys that I need a class for. I also need to plan a class for younger siblings (6-7) and am thinking I will do something centered around Burgess Bird book, but I am thinking the bigger kids may want something else. I only need to plan for 4 weeks and class is an hour.

 

So, did anyone teach a really interesting class this year or have a child take something they really loved?

[Mrs Mungo]

My favorite co-ops have been history or science co-ops. :)

[AppleGreen]

Funny you mention history, as one class I was kicking around was "It Changed History" and exploring different time periods through significant inventions/concepts (ie the assembly line).

[NanceXToo]

Not sure if you can get four weeks out of it, but how about a tinkering class for the boys, where everyone brings an old or broken appliance and takes it apart and examines it and tries to put it back together, etc.

 

Our homeschool group doesn't do weekly classes or anything, our "classes" are more one time things for fun offered here and there, but we do a lot of neat things in general.

 

One thing I organized was a "Community Helper A to Z" type project. I try to find people for each letter of the alphabet and contact them to see if they'd be willing to meet with our group so the kids can learn more about what they do and the many, varied people and jobs it takes to make up a community. Sometimes we get tours, sometimes demonstrations, sometimes talks and Q&A sessions, sometimes hands on participation, it depends on the person. But in this way we've met with an Architect, a Banker, a Charity, a Dietician, an EMT, a Firefighter, a Groomer (pet groomer), and a Historian so far.

 

We also try to set up "dad's classes" where we see if any of the dads in our group want to try to do a class for the kids. We tell them they can pick anything they are interested in or good at and just go with it. So one dad who is really into gems and fossils and whatnot did a "gold rush" class with the kids- they found fossils and they panned for gold and gems and they saw his collection, etc. Another dad did a nature and archery demonstration and all the kids got to practice shooting at a target with the bow and arrow. Another did a science class. Another is supposed to do a karate class at some point.

 

For that age group (8-10) I've also offered weekly poetry workshops and a monthly "young writer's club" (short story writing workshop).

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I teach co-op classes for 4th and up, mainly boys. One semester we spent the whole time on volcanoes. I assigned them a real volcano to do a poster report on at the beginning. We spent 7 weeks making paper mache volcanoes, 2 weeks doing reports, and then on the 10th week we took all the volcanoes outside to explode them. The boys loved this.

 

I also did a Dissection class last Fall, I ordered the kits from Homeschool Science tools.

 

One semester we did Chemistry, I just ordered fun experiments from Steve Spangler Science.

 

A friend taught an Inventions class last Winter. She picked 9 inventions for them all to study, and sample. They did things like bubblegum, popcorn, ice cream, and more. At the end they had to bring their own invention to class.

 

Some ideas for other classes: Drama (most of the boys groaned at first but they all ended up Loving it), PE Games, World Wars, Geography (World or US,) Nature study on Insects, Birds, or Fungus, Young Peacemakers, or a Novel study.

 

We did Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The boys were all given a chocolate bar and told to take only 1 small bite a day and see if they could bring any left to the last day of class.

[MaMa2005]

I teach a co-op class on China. We excavate Terra Cotta Warriors, make authentic Chinese food, write the numbers in Chinese calligraphy, explore the holidays, etc. The children love it, especially the boys because they get to be messy (excavation and calligraphy ink) and eat (the food)!