What's worked amazingly well in a coop?

[Tiramisu]

Any subject will do. :)

[Baseballmom]

We do History, Science, Geography, and Latin. All have worked well. Having a co-op for these subjects has kept me from putting them off.

Dorothy

[Miss Marple]

Well, our co-op is geared towards 7-12th grades. So far the favorites have been:

Rainbow Science

Runkles World Physical Geography

Great Books/World Views

Starting Points (by Quine of Cornerstone Curriculum)

Conceptual Physics by Hewitt

 

Each of these courses has been offered more than once. We are an academic co-op and try to provide courses that will fulfill graduation requirements or prepare the student for those requirements (6-8th grades).

[Lori in MS]

I like having a coop for the subjects I can't seem to do at home. For us that is art and Spanish.

[Greta]

We're doing SOTW in a co-op right now and it's working out very well. We all do the actual teaching individually at home, and then get together for the fun projects in the activity guide. This works really well for us.

 

This is the first co-op "class" I've done, but so far, so good.

[mom2abcd]

World Geography - call it something fun like Adventures Around the World. I used a lot of MFW ideas... had an overall world geography emphasis, but weekly concentrations on a country from each continent. We had food, speakers, craft, etc. from the various locations. Sometimes we had games, jeopardy-type games, etc. I could teach that class every semester... it was so much fun and the kids loved it.

 

Art classes went over well in our co-op.

 

If I had to start a co-op again, I'd be tempted to model it after Classical Conversations with a set scope & sequence. We are learning SO much with CC!

[Karen in CO]

I did a co-op with the STOW AG for a group for 5-9s. It was great. I gave a summary of the history for the chapter, we looked at a map, read a picture book and did one or two activities. The kids loved it and they all came away from the class loving history. It was just a once a week for an hour class. After the class, most of the parents started reading STOW and working through the AG with their kids.

 

I also did a FIAR class with the same class. I would read the story and we would do one or two activities and have a snack. They loved it.

 

Both were simple to plan and were big hits.

 

Harder to plan but huge successes have always been experiments based science classes. Lots of hands-on experiences and key information. The things that are more fun in groups that you always intend to do at home and never get around to. I love teaching these in co-op. I key them to the science I am teaching at home and do the experiments at co-op so that I am accountable for getting the experiments done and my kids get the benefit of doing them with their friends. I always try to find an easy thing to follow for this and end up doing my own.

[Pongo]

State Study

Art

CPR/First Aid

Health

Labs for HS courses

[Amy from WT]

We have a classical academic co-op for Pre-K through 9th grades. We'll add one grade a year until we eventually cover up through 12th grade. We cover Latin, Logic, Science, History and Writing.

 

The courses that have worked best for our classes as far as teachability and material for the students have been:

 

Building Thinking Skills - the whole series, combined with Mind Benders for our K - 6th grade Logic classes;

The Art of Argument - 7th grade Logic class;

Memoria Press' Logic 1 - 8th-9th grade Logic class;

Apologia General, Physical, and Biology, for 7th-9th grade Sciences;

Elementary Latin, by Nancy Sattler, for 1st-3rd grade Latin;

The Great Latin Adventure, a new Latin curriculum published by Classical Legacy Press, but written by a friend of mine so we've used it for about 4 years now - terrific! - 5th and 6th grade Latin;

Latin Prep, 7th grade Latin;

First Language Lessons, 1st and 2nd grade Writing;

Writing Tales, 3rd and 4th grade Writing;

Story of the World, all four years, 1st - 6th grade History.

 

Those are our favorites. We're still looking for good stuff for upper level Writing, lower level Science, upper level History, etc. But the books mentioned above are our tried-and-true ones that everyone loves.

[Karenciavo]

A friend and I used Ellen McHenry's Neurology course in a co-op setting. It was fantastic. That was for a 10 week semester. How many weeks are you looking at?

[Julie in MN]

Phy ed, with group games that can't be played at home (unless you're one with tons of kids the same ages). Red Rover was a perennial fave.

 

Oral memory challenges. There's something about *good* peer pressure!

 

Oral presentations, science fair projects, and the like -- the experience of public speaking that I can't reproduce at home.

[St. Theophan Academy]

we have a monthly co-op and I have been teaching The Sentence Family - that has been a huge hit and an easy one to do in 20-30 minutes each month, with parents doing follow up activities at home (we have ages roughly 5-10).

[Tiramisu]

Thank you all for the great responses. I really like hearing that specific curriculum work for coops.

 

I did a co-op with the STOW AG for a group for 5-9s. It was great. I gave a summary of the history for the chapter, we looked at a map, read a picture book and did one or two activities. The kids loved it and they all came away from the class loving history. It was just a once a week for an hour class. After the class, most of the parents started reading STOW and working through the AG with their kids.

 

 

I've been thinking about how SOTW would work since I will be (most likely) starting that at home next year. Thanks for the tips.

 

A friend and I used Ellen McHenry's Neurology course in a co-op setting. It was fantastic. That was for a 10 week semester. How many weeks are you looking at?

 

 

The coop we attend is held weekly for about 32 weeks.

 

Since I have one who will be in 9th next year and another in 4th, in addition to two younger ones, I'm starting to think of making the most of the time we spend there. I like enrichment, but I need to consider academics since it's a full day out.

 

Keep up the good ideas! They are very appreciated!:)

[Karenciavo]

The coop we attend is held weekly for about 32 weeks.

 

Since I have one who will be in 9th next year and another in 4th, in addition to two younger ones, I'm starting to think of making the most of the time we spend there. I like enrichment, but I need to consider academics since it's a full day out.

 

I also did Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings in 20 weeks which was a little insane, 32 weeks would be more like it. The Art of Argument, Greek, writing, Western Civ. I. My students really liked one class I ran where we read a book (Beowulf), did literary analysis, wrote a script based on the book, made puppets, and then filmed our little play.

[Tiramisu]

I also did Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings in 20 weeks which was a little insane, 32 weeks would be more like it. The Art of Argument, Greek, writing, Western Civ. I. My students really liked one class I ran where we read a book (Beowulf), did literary analysis, wrote a script based on the book, made puppets, and then filmed our little play.

 

Wow! I think I'd like to visit your coop! And, I know you live close to us. Our coop is Thursdays. When is yours?

 

Kelli

[Karenciavo]

Wow! I think I'd like to visit your coop! And, I know you live close to us. Our coop is Thursdays. When is yours?

 

Kelli

 

Thursdays :tongue_smilie: You don't go to Collingswood do you? Or Sovereign Grace?

[Tiramisu]

Thursdays :tongue_smilie: You don't go to Collingswood do you? Or Sovereign Grace?

 

We go to coop of Catholic families in PA. I love the people, but it's far. Closer to home, I've only heard of Collingswood, Higher Ground, and the Living Waters coop. Then there's the SJ homeschooling academy, but that's in Millville and even farther.

[DB in NJ]

Thursdays :tongue_smilie: You don't go to Collingswood do you? Or Sovereign Grace?

 

What's the co-op in Collingswood? And does Sovereign Grace have their own co-op?

 

Living Water/Higher Ground is really close to me. I was thinking about doing a few classes there, but we already go to another co-op on Tuesdays (in Columbus).

 

Decisions, decisions....

[Jenn Robinson]

Nature Study! I teach it and my children are in it! That way I know it doesn't get crowded out by all the other subjects and actually gets done!

[Karenciavo]

What's the co-op in Collingswood? And does Sovereign Grace have their own co-op?

 

Living Water/Higher Ground is really close to me. I was thinking about doing a few classes there, but we already go to another co-op on Tuesdays (in Columbus).

 

Decisions, decisions....

 

Collingwood's co-op is called HIS. You have to attend Sovereign Grace to participate in their co-op.

[charlotteb]

I used "A Trip Around the World" with 2nd and 3rd graders this semester . http://www.amazon.com/Trip-Around-World-Activities-Curriculum/dp/0788152661. It was alot of fun! We covered one country each week, reading books, coloring flags and maps, and doing a related craft. This past Thursday was our last day and I made it a fun review day. I was quite suprised at how much they remembered!

[chessrascal]

We did Story of The World, which worked very well. We actually used the discs and the workbooks. We also liked Around the World in 180 Days. Very fun in a co-op. From looking at the books - I think Cindy Wiggers' Trail Guides to the U.S. and Trail Guide to World Geography would work very well.

 

-IEW Writing has been incredible for co-op. Great accountability and positive peer pressure.

 

-Apologia Science and Lyrical Life Science

 

-Art is a great subject to do with co-op - easy one to let go otherwise. We're using Barry Stebbing's DVD's - How Great Thou Art

 

Hope that helps! Janet M.

[Jugglin'5]

Lively Latin

Writing Tales

Shurley grammar

Omnibus (dialectic)

TOG (LG and UG)

Song School Latin

Henle Latin

Christian Kids Explore ______Science series from Bright Ideas...we've done Earth/Space and Chemistry

[Closeacademy]

We have found that the best thing fo co-ops is to have more ideas on things to do than you have time so that you can adjust to the moods of the children on any given day.

 

We do a variety of subjects including science, history, culture, literature, art, etc. Generally, we mix things up quite a bit. A typical month might look like this:

 

1st week:

Picture book about topic, coloring page, co-operative games for rest of time (simon says, red light green light, etc.)

 

2nd week:

show and tell, art project, songs for the rest of the time

 

3rd week:

Venn diagram, outdoor treasure hunt, coloring page, songs

 

4th week:

food, team work activity, co-operative games.

 

We always schedule more than we actually do so that we can change things due to weather or moods. If the children are antsy we do more active activities, if they are easily frustrated we do not do a large multi-step project that day. We try to do show and tell at least once a month and we sing a lot because the children enjoy it.

 

Good luck with your co-op.