Poll: Are you involved in a class day or co-op. What kind?

[laughing lioness]

Feel free to share what you like/dislike about the co-op/class day!

[Heather in the Kootenays]

We have a small, private group of same age boys. Every Friday we get together and do a variety of subjects until lunch - at which points boys and moms enjoy some peer only time.

 

It's fairly organized but changes if we all agree and we all live for Fridays. I think it works well because the mom who just LOVES a subject teaches it and because we're all good friends.

[Holly IN]

Hello

 

We have a class day.

 

Pros:

 

It is all on one day.

Kids get some exposure to classroom situations.

Saves on gas by having it all on one day.

 

Cons:

Location is blah!! It is at the library which means it is very hard to have lunch taken from home. (meaning my kids do not like to eat lunch meat for lunch) Also it is very hard for my kids to deal with being at the library where the staff is constantly hushing us. (we are not loud but good grief we need to talk sometimes and we do talk quietly)

There are too much time lapse between classes in other words my kids are there at the library for a very long time with no recess or breaks.

 

I wish we would have it at a local church where we can either rent the building or clean up after ourselves so we can be more flexible about our day and lunch.

 

Also a con is some of the teachers charge an arm and leg for our kids to take the classes. ggrrrrr!! It gets to be a very expensive day for classes for us. So we had to cut back on alot this year.

It is on Wednesdays!! I wish it was on Fridays.

 

 

 

Holly

[Mandy in TN]

Feel free to share what you like/dislike about the co-op/class day!

 

We are involved in a one day/ week enrichment/ tutorial. My oldest two (17yo, 14yo) will be taking 2 tutorials, 1 enrichment class, and 1 study hall each. My 5yo will be in an enrichment classes all day. I will be assisting kids on their art journey all day.

 

Pro-

I am so excited to be doing art, especially the high school class that I will be leading! My big boys will be taking Spanish 1 with a native speaker! My oldest will be doing Chemistry labs that would not be completed at home! My middle ds will be doing LA with a group of peers, so he will be able to receive peer input on literary analysis and composition! Each big boy will get to participate in an enrichment (journalism and art) that they chose. Each big boy will have a study hall to hang out with their friends. They have co-ed rec volleyball and student govt that meets after classes.

 

Con-

We have to be there at 8:30 and we are not morning people. My 5yo little guy, thanks to having older sibs and being accelerated, doesn't really fit in :confused: with his peers. I may see about bumping him up a level, but I don't know if that will help.

 

Mandy

[WTMindy]

I teach two days a week at our school district's co-op for homeschoolers. So, my kids take classes there two days a week.

 

Things I love about it: friends for kids, great teachers, wonderful classes, (like science, writing, pe, sign language, music, etc) a place for the kids to take a backpack and a lunchbox. Not to mention the fact that I get a very nice salary from this!

 

Things I don't like: I give up two days a week, so the other days at home are very structured. (They do math, grammar, practice piano & spanish on co-op days before school while I have a meeting) We don't have much freedom and flexibility in our days or schedule at home because I have lots I want to accomplish! :001_smile:

 

At this point, what we gain is worth more than we give up, but each year we re-evaluate.

[Paula in MS]

We will be doing a co-op 3x a month with our homeschool group. It will be a little learning and a little fun. This is for early elementary kids. We will all share in the teaching. I really wish this was a science co-op so that I wouldn't have to do that myself this year, but I don't think it will be.

 

DD6 will also go to a local classical school on Fridays for history, science, art, music, memory work, etc. This class is for 1st grade homeschoolers only. I am really looking forward to this because I will have Fridays free until 2:30. She is my only child and I will be all alone. all day.:D

 

I have also signed up for 4-H and a PE co-op which meet once a month, on the same day, coincidently.

 

This leaves me about 3 full days a week to do what I have planned for the year. We school year around, so we should be okay. I'm not sure how to schedule everything. We will be busy!

 

Paula

[Wendi]

My ds has been taking science and arts/crafts two Wednesdays a month. The science teacher is EXCELLENT, and they do labs every class. They really cover a lot, and ds enjoys it. The arts and crafts is more of a social time for ds, but they do work with a lot of different media and make some really cool projects.

 

I like giving ds the opportunity to be in a class setting, with different teachers. I think it's good for him to be comfortable following someone else's rules and expectations, and getting used to someone else's teaching style. And I definitely appreciate the fact that I don't have to gather supplies and do science labs!

 

Since it's only twice a month, it doesn't interfere with the rest of our schedule much. And while he's in class, I can hang out at a local coffee shop with my laptop! :001_smile:

 

Wendi

[Baseballmom]

Last year we got together with one other family at church for a TOG co-op. We did History, Geography, Writing, Science, and Art together. This year we have five families and we are doing Winterpromise for History and Geography, Apologia for Science, and LFC for Latin. All of the parents are required to stay and teach at least one class. We have several age groups, so some classes, like science are split between elementary and middle school. We don't charge a fee, but just split supplies equally among the families. We will meet this year between 10:00-2:30 on Fridays. The kids will bring a sack lunch and have 30 min. to eat. This has kept us accountable and I feel like we accomplish so much more then when I am not accountable. It has really been a blessing for my family.

Dorothy