how to enjoy co-op?

[MrsH]

Yesterday was our first day of a full-day homeschool co-op, and this morning I'm still exhausted! The kids really loved it, and I enjoyed the people there, so that wasn't a problem.  But I just feel totally wiped.  How do you manage to enjoy the experience and still have some energy left over for the rest of the week?

 

I did take a break in the "quiet room" for part of the day.  I also stepped outside for a good half hour, while kids played outside. I think the problem is primarily that the main room is overstimulating for me.  It's a polished concrete floor w/ cinderblock walls, and many different areas w/in the space (lunch tables, open kitchen, dramatic play, and two sitting areas, plus the classrooms mostly open into the space).  Between the noise and the lighting I was ready to bolt by about 11am!

 

It was one of those times that I really noticed being highly sensitive.  Any suggestions for coping?

[Holly]

My suggestion: Don't go back.   :leaving:

 

Just kidding!  I get a huge migraine every single time we go.  I try to make the most of it since my DC love it.  If you start a crock-pot dinner in the morning, it's a huge help later on.  Ours is only in the afternoon, but it seems I spend my mornings getting everyone ready and preparing for the class I teach.  I'm lucky if we fit in some math and laundry.  

 

One thing I'm trying this year is to make our mealtimes simpler.  It's given me more time for school and housework.  Currently I'm using suggestions from Confessions of a Homeschooler meal plans.  It's not quite as healthy as I like, but it is quicker.  Last year I started doing more laundry and housework on the weekends to help during the week.  It gets to be a problem when we are busy on the weekends though.  :(  Luckily we are often home on the weekends.

[texasmama]

Are you an introvert?  Our co op mom's room is noisy and bright and, at its peak, filled with many chatty moms and many wandering toddlers/little kids who aren't in class.  It wears me out, and I am an extrovert. 

 

Can you bring some earbuds and listen to music while working on a lap top for part of the time? 

[GailV]

For me, the first week is the hardest because it's new and I'm not quite sure what to expect.  I have less adrenaline pumping the following weeks since it's no longer an unknown situation, so that helps the sensitivity.

 

Going outside helps.  Many moms bring a laptop and catch up on ... really, I've no clue what everyone is so busy with.  For all I know they're actually playing candy crush.  Anyway, I think that might help tune things out.  At the very least, it gives you an excuse to tell people you need some quiet.

 

Also, I plan the rest of the "co-op day" ahead of time.  Easy supper, restorative activities, a private stash of chocolate waiting for you when you get home  ;) .

 

 

[Plink]

Yesterday was our first day of co-op too.  I love it, but it really is exhausting.  All the preparation to get there, and the chaos of trying to come home, unpack and feed the crew makes me feel as if I spend the entire day running.  

 

The first week really is the roughest.  We are taking today slow in order to catch our breath, and I'm not allowing my kids to learn anything (they are learning, but because I've tossed the normal schedule to the wind, everyone's attitude is much better).  

 

Agreeing with the advice to plan your evening meal ahead.  My crock-pot is my friend on co-op days.

[Farrar]

When we have a busy day like that, I find that the key things for me are to not do other school before or after and to have my dinner plan ready by the night before.  I often cook on the fly and do whatever seems right for the day from what we've got, or even just walk over to the grocery in the afternoon.  But if we're out and about all day, it really presses on me and I need to have the food ready to go and pre-prepped.

 

If your kids enjoyed it, I hope you find ways to make it work for you.  I'm really an outgoing introvert, so I enjoy that social time myself too - it just leaves me exhausted later.

[sassenach]

I'm always wiped out the first day. Really, really wiped out. I had wine and frozen taquitos for dinner last night (yesterday was also our first day). Every year I have to rebuild my Tuesday stamina.

[klmama]

Do you have to stay on-site the whole time?  If so, spend most of the time in the quiet room!  Plan lessons for the next week, catch up on grading, etc.  If the sound still bothers you, you might consider getting some ear plugs (they sell them at Walgreens).   If you don't have to stay on-site, do your grocery shopping mid-way through the day.  You could put coolers with ice blocks in your trunk to keep things cold until you get them home.

[briansmama]

Co-ops wipe me out too! I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm not even an introvert and I find them completely exhausting.

 

Honestly, the only thing that helped me was to count down the weeks until it would end. And after that I decided to sign my kids up for classes, not co-ops. I disliked the planning, prep, teaching, and clean-up and assisting that went into the co-op experience.

 

One thing we are doing this year is inviting a friend or two over to join us for science 1 morning per week for a month, and the rotating. MUCH more fun and not exhausting at all.

[AmyontheFarm]

I finally stood up and told them what I was willing to do, not what I was capable of doing and letting them put me where ever they wanted.  Then I set boundaries.  Our co-op is 3 hours long.  Parents are expected to help or teach for 2 hours and they get one hour off.  I was willing to teach, actually prefer it, BUT I chose my curriculum (and I chose something I was going to teach my own kids at home so this lightened my home load).  Then I told them I needed to teach period 1 and 3.  I HAD to have 2nd off to prep for the 3rd hour.  This is true, but also my best friend had 2nd period off so we get a chance to gab once a week.  I help her prep and she helps me.  It's great and I am genuinely happy to have a chance to be with a kindred spirit.  I have learned that, I can teach up to 50 kids without breaking a sweat, but do not put me in a gym situation.  I'd go bonkers.  I will scream.  I will cry.  I will nash my teeth and class hasn't even started yet!  So, I select where I do feel comfortable.

 

If you have to help out, pick an area where you are happiest!  Co-op shouldn't be a burden on you.

I use my slower cooker for supper hour and since we are 7 minutes from co-op we head home for lunch, it is usually mac n' cheese day.  The homemade stuff not the blue box.  Because it is a simple quick meal, we invite another family home for lunch and a visit.  It becomes a relaxing afternoon, my kids head in to the house and take 5 minutes to put their co-op stuff away and then head out to the barn to show the guests the animals.  The Mom's head into the kitchen and we have everyone eating in 1/2 hour.

 

On co-op day, I have assigned Bible/devotional time, Math and IEW.  The Bible time is done before we go and the IEW is given priority, if Math doesn't happen, it doesn't, I don't sweat it since we school year round.  The key to all this working, is on Monday nights, I prep my co-op box for the next week and promptly forget about it until I pick it up to head out on Monday morning.  If I don't get that box prepped and completely done, Lord have mercy, next week won't run as smoothly!

[Lori D.]

In addition to Farrarwilliam's great suggestions for making co-op day manageable...

 

Parents are required to stay on-site at our co-op.

 

Yes, there is a mom's room, but the people in it usually like chatting together. So a lot of the moms, when not fulfilling their weekly time requirement of helping out in some way, actually go and sit in their cars or sit outside by themselves. No one is offended. We have a lot of introverted moms ;) who use that time sitting in their cars to pray, do Bible study, read, catch up on paperwork, grade papers, knit, or other quiet solo activities. A few like walking, so they just do laps around the building.

 

I suggest you find places on the facility campus where you can be quiet, alone, with some activity you enjoy that would travel well and can be picked up/put down easily. Just make sure the co-op administrator / teacher / whoever who might need to contact you about one of your children knows that you will be in that spot, or in your car, or walking around the building, rather than in the mom's quiet room... and... Enjoy! :)

[Samiam]

Co-op was exhausting for me as well. I'm an introvert at heart, though I can fake till I make it, but co-op from 9a-2pm....I'd gethome and literally tell my children to do anything they want as long as they are quiet and then I had to take a nap, like couldn't move or keep eyes open had to take a nap. Decided it simply wasn't worth losing a whole day. No more co-ops for us.

[MrsH]

Thanks for the great suggestions! There are definitely some things I can do this week, and I imagine they'll make a huge difference.  Getting ready the day before, crockpot dinner, planning to relax when we get home (w/ chocolate/wine for me!), and spending time in that quiet room actually being quiet.  Thinking back on it, I'd pulled my 4 year old in there and we snuggled for about a half hour, but I think I needed to be ALONE for a half an hour, too!  And walking around the building is a good idea, too.  I didn't get any exercise all day b/c of being there, and I think that it would've helped me.

 

I'll look for more intentional ways to help too.  At this point, since I'm new, there's not too much required, but I'll definitely see how I can help.

 

Thanks again!

[Tess in the Burbs]

We don't co-op for this reason.  We did a class last winter.  Just one class.  I was DONE after an hour of listening to conversation around me.  The kids were tired too.  I consider it every year, but physically I wouldn't be able to function after a day of co-op!!!!  So we don't do them.  

 

I hope to let the kids do some classes next year or soon at a place I can drop off and leave the building.  I will most likely sit and read in my car, but at least it will be quiet :-D

 

I used to be an extrovert and loved that kind of thing, not anymore.  I prefer quiet and really struggle with loud things after multiple hours. 

[Julie of KY]

If you are allowed to be alone during co-op time, do it. Go walking, bring a book, listen to music, do your lesson plans.

 

Find yourself a quiet place - outside, in your car, in a chair in the hallway...

 

If you have to work/volunteer, figure out what works for you.

 

The first week is usually the noisiest as people are catching up and learning he routine.