Homeschool Cooperative

Over the years we have been involved in several homeschool cooperatives. When Rhiannon was just four we started our first preschool type one with two friends of mine and we took turns teaching lessons to them, we have been through several since. Our current homeschool cooperative is truly exceptional and we are blessed to be a part of it!

We had our first session this week and it went great. Our coop is a parent taught and organized one. It is very well organized, run and maintained. We meet for a little over 3 hours each week and divide the time up:

General Assembly
First Hour Class
Second Hour Class
Snack
Third Hour Class

The group has five age group divisions: Nursery, 3-4 year olds, 5-1st grade, 2nd-4th grade, and 5th grade up. The nursery is primarily just free play time and they do some crafts for the older 2 year olds as well. The next two levels follow a Five in a Row type structure reading one book and doing activities around it, including crafts, snacks, music and games. The older two levels have electives picking a different class for each hour. The classes are created and taught by moms and some dads. Each parent teaches or assists for two hours and has one hour off to socialize with other parents.

This year both Ciaran and Sirah are following the Five in a Row structure but are in separate classes because of their ages. Rhiannon has electives and is in the 2nd-4th grade group. This year she is taking an American Girl history class, physical education (gym), and an art class called Meet the Masters.

For my teaching responsibility I am teaching her American Girl history class for the 2nd-4th grade, I am also teaching a senior level (7th grade and up) argument class. I am very excited for both of these classes as I love both these topics and passing on a love and knowledge of them to children.

As time permits I will include partial lesson plans for the classes that I teach here on the blog. It looks to be a great year for our coop! The kids had a great first day and the older two went to a friends house to play for the entire afternoon. Sirah and I came home read some picture books and took a nap for the remainder of the afternoon. Bliss!