Co-op ideas

[apond]

We are in the process of setting a co-op and are looking for any and all ideas for classes. What have you done. I would love to see a schedule of classes offered, cost, how it was structrued ( one mom in charge vs several moms in charge, or just any and all ideas.

 

Thanks

Annmarie

[momof8]

I have taught a variety of classes in the past. Some on my own and some as a team with another mom. The co-op I am involved in has one coordinator and also a co-op committee to plan the co-ops which last for eight weeks. I have taught New York State history(Can do whatever state), Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan, Latin (using Prima Latina), A Kid's class on the Persecuted Church using Link Ups for kids from Voice of the Martyrs, High School dissection, Biology, Poetry, "International Jamboree"(exploring the literature from and about other cultures) and more that I can't think of right now. The possibilities are endless! I guess it would depend on the needs of your group.

[boymama]

I have sort of become our co-op "science" teacher. i use the Exploring Creation with Apologia (elementary) books by Jeannie Fulbright. Before class I and after registration, I find out how many kids I will have and then I break the chapters or lessons down into that number of lessons for 12 classes. If I have 12 kids then I break it into 12 lessons, one for each week. If I have more kids then i break it into more lessons but it still has to be 12 weeks, so I would ldouble up some weeks. The kids have to do the teaching!! They must have a visual presentation (poster board) and I give them a time. This time they must teach for 20 minutes. This session I am doing Zoology 1 (Flying Creatures) I have 9 kids. I taught the first 3 weeks and then they will teach, one kid per week for the other 9 weeks. They will have a visual and can bing in live specimens, books, word finds or puzzles. The word finds can only take up 5 minutes of their teaching. The rest they must teach. They use the zoo book as the main resource, plus 3 other resources, library,, internet, magazines. They must have a one page written final form report to hand in. We are also doing ajournal for 5 days a week and I am requiring they do the scavenger hunt in the book but instead of just checking off the items they must take pictures and bring them in on the last day. The one with the most items found gets a prize. Also, weekly, I email out a picutre of a "mystery bird" that they must identify. They must email me the name of the bird because I have found they share the name once we get to co-op. I give everyone that identifies it a piece of gum (they love this) and once a week I also send out a weekly challenge to add to their journal. Ie, draw 3 birds you see at your feeder this week or record the care of your feeder for a week , find a copy of a poem about birds and bring to class. They also must read the chapter for the week and have a feeder put at their house before the first class.

This is a lot of work for them. They are ages 8-12. But they love it. They come to class so full of journals and bird stories and even the new ones that teach the first time. LOVE IT and do a great job!!!! I even had one dad tell me his kid couldn't do it and I told him to let her try and give her a chance. She blossomed in my class and even ended up giving a solo performance at our open house!!! I have taught all of these books with this same format. I have the reputation of being a tough but fun teacher and my kids always learn a lot!!! Sorry this was so long but it excites me to get kids teaching. Also, once you get them going, you get to sit back and watch!!! I do send home requirment forms with explicit details of what they have to do. That helps once they get home and it lets the parents know what is expected also!!! Have fun

[rockala]

We have been in several co-ops and currently are involoved with a closed one. Yes, sadly after years of trying we felt that this was what was needed. You have to be careful to find like-minded families and sometimes too late we found out we had some big time grumblers. This past fall that made things a little too difficult, so we are now a private co-op.

 

I know, I know that sounds harsh, but when the kids were younger the other kind worked well. It is just that now we are focusing on mainly jr/sr high and the parents cannot take time out of their week anymore unless it is really worthwhile.

 

We have 14 students and they need to attend all classes. There is homework as some of it is spine.

 

IEW

Medieval History

European/World Geography

Public speaking

 

These are the classes offered. Also we have some field trips we do. To encourage class particiaption and a good job on homework this semester we are offering a fun auction on the final day. The kids earn points and will get play money to bid on donated items. This involves simply stuff like candy, teenage girl stuff like soaps and baths etc. The kids will have a ball.

 

HTH

Kathy

[Adrianne]

Some of my favorites are

 

Prek through 7:

 

Kid Concoctions

Five in a Row

gym

 

 

8 - 12:

Galloping the Globe

gym

cooking

sign language

chemistry (or just science experiments)

 

13 and up:

Cooking

Biology lab

 

I would encourage the moms ( or Dads) to use whatever talent God gave them. These classes are usually the best. In the spring we have a big mandatory planning meeting and everyone brings a snack and their teaching ideas. Everyone either must help or teach. The ideas for classes are plentiful and usually flow from these meetings.

 

Good luck!

[apond]

This is the kind of information I am looking for. I would love more if anyone can add to it.

 

Thanks a tons

Annmarie

[Amy from WT]

Hi Annmarie,

 

I run a classical academic co-op. We currently have 16 families. Students have classes over four periods offered in some combination of Latin, Logic, Science, History and Writing. For the younger students we are able to cover all five subjects (Latin is combined with Logic in one class period, for example), for the older students, one subject is dropped (5th grade and up usually doesn't have History, for example.)

 

Currently we cover ages Nursery through 9th grade - we hope to add one more grade level per year.

 

To participate, parents teach "one and a half" classes. Teaching the one class is obvious; teaching the "half" class can be done a variety of ways. You may be assigned to co-teach a class with someone else, you may be an assistant in a science or history class (meaning that you will be putting together a number of crafts or experiments during the year), or you may be teaching a Logic class by yourself (the Logic classes are so easy to teach that we qualify them as a "half class" teaching responsibility.)

 

For our curriculum, we used the following this year, and most years follow the same set-up:

 

History: For our PK-4th graders we use SOTW as a spine, then add in read-alouds (both those and SOTW are done at home during the week.) In class they learn about a famous figure, and do a craft together that reinforces the current event or time period being learned about. This year our high schoolers are doing Beautiful Feet Ancient History.

 

Science: 7th graders and up do the Apologia courses. 6th graders and under do a four year cycle of: Human Body, Chemistry/Physics, Astronomy, and Biology. We make up our own curriculum for this. Topic of the week is learned about at home beforehand; classtime is used for hands-on experiments.

 

Writing: PK and K: Five in a Row. 1st and 2nd: First Language Lessons. 3rd and 4th: Writing Tales. 5th - 8th: Classical Writing. 9th: Lost Tools of Writing.

 

Logic: PK - 6th: Building Thinking Skills and Mind Binders. 7th: Art of Argument. 9th: Traditional Logic by Cothran

 

Latin: 1st - 3rd: Vocabulary and Latin Chants by Elementary Latin (Sattler.) 5th - 6th: Great Latin Adventure by Birkett (http://www.classicallegacypress.com.) 7th: Latin Prep 1. 8th-9th: Spanish 1 using A Beka.

 

There you go - the whole ball of wax! We meet in a wonderful church that does not charge us for the use of their facility. In return we give them a very generous donation that more than covers their costs for utilities and general wear-and-tear. We ask each family for a per-child fee to get the money for that donation. And we ask for a registration fee each year to get money for our operating costs. Oh, and we get our insurance through HSLDA, so each family has to be a member.

 

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to PM me! Hey, have fun with it! My biggest obstacles in starting this were finding a place to meet, and finding people to help me with the work. God answered those two specific needs almost immediately. We've been in operation almost two years so far, and it's just been an incredible blessing the whole way.

[mom2att]

We are involved in a co-op of 100 families, babies - high school. Here are the options we offered to families this fall:

 

 

 

K/1st: Show & Tell, Music & Movement, Fearfully & Wonderfully Made (Human Body), Crafty Kids of Character, Tumbling

 

2nd- 5th: Art, Cooking, PE, Drama, Drawing, Scrapbooking, Guitar, Math Games, American Girl, All-American Boy, Chess

 

6th - 8th: Marine Biology, Scrapbooking, Guitar, Art, PE, Government, Composition, LIterature, Child Development, Chess, Yearbook, Basic Engineering

 

9th - 12th--Government for HS credit, Yearbook, any of the 6th- 8th options

 

 

The classes we offer are determined by what parents want to teach. We do have several classes that we bring in outside teachers for, and the parents with kids in those classes pay the teachers directly. We try to offer as many as we can as true co-op classes, meaning they are taught by parents at very low cost.

 

PM me if you'd like our class descriptions and I can e-mail that document to you.

[Angel]

Our co-op is small - about 15 kids ranging in age from 6-17yo.

 

Our dues are $4 per child per week. This is mainly to cover pins for the Keepers/Contenders program and science supplies.

 

We meet bi-monthly.

 

Here is our current schedule:

 

9:00-10:00 Geography class - all students, using Mapping the World by Heart as a spine

10:00-11:00 Science Lab - all students, dh and another mom pick random experiments/labs for the kids to do. We have 3 younger kids, all older groups take one younger kid when they have to split up. This year the experiements are focused primarily(but not solely) on Chemistry, last year was primarily focused on General/Physical experiments.

11:00-12:00 Government - older students only, using Our Living Constitution book as spine

11:00-12:00 Art - younger students (6,7,8), using Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book 1. I teach this and am LOVING this program. The improvement in the kids is awesome and very exciting (and I'm not artistic).

12:00-12:30 Lunch Break

12:30-2:30 Keepers at Home/Contenders for the Faith/Little Keepers at Home classes. We pick about 8 different things to do out of the books each year.

2:30-3:15 Gym time - sometimes organized, sometimes not, sometimes includes all the kids, sometimes only the olders and the youngers get some free play time (it's a long day for them).

3:15-4:15 Clubs - we have a Yearbook club and a Rocketry/Models club. Last year they did rockets, this year they are doing model planes. Little kids have free play.

 

Classes we have had before this year: Literature Studies, Speech, & Creative Writing. We have a meeting over the summer to look at what our kids need for the upcoming year and then plan co-op around that. We have that flexibility since we are small. Most of the mom's help out in some way or another, depending on what area's we are strong in. This year one of the grandma's is cooking for us, so we also add in a dollar per person per week for lunch.

 

It's not a big huge affair like some co-ops I have heard about, but it fits us nicely and the kids really enjoy it.

[Ferdie]

Our co-op meets on Fridays from 8-12:30 and runs for 24 weeks during the school year. I really like how it is run. There are 4 women on the board that oversee the co-op and about 60 families and probably about 180 children. We have a waiting list and are limited by space at the church we use.

 

We start with 30 minutes of worship and announcements. They also recognize birthdays and allow the kids to perform a talent during this time. The co-op has four 55 minute long classes. The moms are required to teach or assistant for 3 of them and then get an hour break. We have a "teacher lounge" with coffee and treats for the off hour. The lounge is for Moms only. No kids allowed. LOL!

 

The co-op is $55 to join and classes range from $5-$25 per semester, (12 weeks). Sometimes there is an extra fee for textbook or art supplies.

 

Our co-op runs infant through high school. I just have the class list for the ages of my children but here is a list of those classes. All these fees are per semester and some of the classes are full year and many are for a semester only:

 

2nd-3rd: AWANA $5, crafts $25, Dangerous Book for Boys $5, Diagramming Dynamos $5, Exploring Creation -Flying Animals and Land Animals -both classes $15, 50 Nifty States $10, PE $5, History with American Girls $15, Chess $10, Music $10, Drawing $5, Prima Latina $5, Texas History $10.

 

4th-5th -Many of the above classes plus: Spanish $10, Coins, Coins, Coins $10, Cricket in Times Square $10, Skateboarding $5, Sew Much Fun $10, Time Traveler (Ancient History) $15, Trip Around the World $10, Creative Writing $10.

 

Middle school- Some of the above classes plus: Digital Photography $30, Boot Camp $5, Newsletter $10, Fallacy Dectective (logic) $5, Hot Topics for Girls $15, How to Become a Superstar Student $5, Lightning Literature $25, Study Hall $5.

 

K-1st student don't get to choose classes. They stay in the same room all day and have a different class every 1/2 hour. Some of their classes are Around the World, art, PE, AWANA, science and music.

 

HTH

Edited March 4, 2009 by Ferdie

[Kimber]

Amy,

 

Our co-op is very much like yours; we even plan to use Writing Tales. We don't teach Latin yet, but we go through 12th grade.

 

Our writing sequence is only different in that we use IEW rather than CW.

 

Blessings,

 

Kimberly