Local Homeschool Co-Op

 If you don't know what a homeschool Co-Op is, I can explain it to you. It's where a bunch of families get together to share knowledge with other families or to learn together. There are many ways to set-up a Co-Op. Likely as many as ways as there are of how to homeschool. I've been in a couple of them in my travels and I've read a whole book on homeschool Co-Ops and how to make them work for your family. This particular Co-Op is a Local Christian Homeschool Co-Op. It doesn't completely mesh with us, but my kids are enjoying it regardless. Usually there are more kids than this, but the day I took this picture families were missing due to illness.

 This particular Co-Op is in a very large space. It is in a large church. There are classrooms a kitchen, a gymnasium and even a teachers lounge. The families seem very friendly and open to us, even though we are not Christian. The kids are split up by age range (nursery, 3's and 4's, 5's and 6's, 7's and 8's, 9's and 10's, etc... ), depending on the class.

The above picture is Zoe in her gym class.

 Each class is separated into their own rooms. There are three periods. Classes start at 9AM, right after morning announcements, singing "Oh Canada" and morning prayer. Some teachers have their students pray at the beginning of each class. There are three classes with small breaks in between to get to the next class. The school day ends at 12:30. We go home for Lunch. Snacking is okay during classes and sometimes food is incorporated in the course for a reason. For example, pioneer food is served in pioneer class. 

 There have been fun classes in the past. They even had a flight school come in and teach about flying and airplanes. Some of the students have continued on and got their pilots license. Most of the classes are run by parents and to join up there is a small fee. There is a choice to drop-off kids, the price is much higher. This is the first time I needed a police report to join a Co-Op. I think that this is pretty rare. The more busy classes require a teacher's helper and each parent gets a spare where they can relax with a coffee in the lounge. Sometimes older homeschool students decide to teach a class. This provides them with great experience!

 This Co-Op is a bit too much like school for us. There are classes that are too boring for a busy boy like Austyn. The periods are strictly enforced with a whistle, just like the bell at school. 

The great thing about it is the diversity of courses. There is a kite making class. Math, Messy Science, Map Making, Singing, Gym, etc. The kids usually have at least two classes to choose from for each period. The above picture is called Around the World and Austyn is putting make-up on his Ken Doll for the purpose of mummification when he was learning about Egypt. The picture below he is wearing clogs for Holland.

We will likely attend this Co-Op again, but it would be nice to have an alternative. Maybe not as big of a Co-Op would be nice. One that doesn't incorporate religion into the courses, but is open to all religions or none at all. One where the ages can mesh together for some activities. Maybe it could be more like the mini-Co-Ops that we use to attend when we lived in Ontario before (before we moved to Edmonton). It would be nice to let the kids stay on a subject they like longer if they choose to or maybe they could move around more freely from activity to activity. Maybe the activities could be flexible enough that the kids could alter what is suppose to be done and make the activities their own.

I've been thinking about it since I've lived here. I may, eventually take on the task of starting one up. There is another Co-Op that isn't religious but it's far away. Some of the Mom's have talked about Car-Pooling to attend one whole session of it and get enough information to model it here in our area, if we like it. For them, it's hard to put a Co-Op together when they've only known of the one and some of them have never attended one before. It would provide the homeschoolers in this area some choices/alternatives. Not every Co-Op fits every family, just like not one style of homeschooling fits every family.

MUST BLOG... Update Part three... Co-Op

We have joined up with members of a local homeschool group for a mini Co-Op. This time I didn't help much since we are so up in the air. It has still been fun.

This one is on explorers and runs once a week for four weeks. We've gone to two of them so far. 

I think the kids really enjoy interacting with all of the other kids. Austyn said that if it was like that all day he might get bored but for the Co-Op I think it's a nice change from doing activities like that in our usual places.

The location of the Co-Op is nice because after we are finished we stop off and feed the Canadian Geese. 

 The last one we attended Zoe brought a friend. I was babysitting her on her off day from Junior Kindergarten and asked if she could come. Zoe and Austyn can't wait for the next Co-Op Day.

Canadian Pioneers Mini Co-Op - Week Two - Outdoor Activities

For half of our Co-Op we learned about farm life on a dairy farm. Obviously farms were not like they are today but it still gave them a memorable experience. The kids could touch the cows and ask any questions they wanted to. They learned how the farm was run.

We learned about the milk and how the calf is bottle fed a few days after it is born. The kids put their ears up to the tank to listen to the milk getting turned inside. 

We can't forget the smaller critters at the farm! This potato bug is very happy to live here.

Of course where there is an abundance of milk there must be cats! This young cat is pregnant and Zoe is feeling her tummy.

We found these cats in a large plastic barrel. The kids just had to hold the kittens.

The kittens made many new friends that day.

Can't leave anyone out. The mother cat got a great deal of attention.

As we gathered up the kids and left the barn we said "goodbye" to this black cat sleeping high up on this pile of hay bails. 

What's a homeschool trip to the farm without a splash in the mud?!

Canadian Pioneers Mini Co-Op - Week Two - Indoor Activities

For half of our time at the Co-Op we were indoors. Much of what we did indoors was a repeat of last week. Many of the kids didn't get to do all of the indoor activities and a couple of families missed the first week. Above is the Lincoln Blocks and the Preschool Threading/Sewing Set.The basket and pioneer game continued. This week as well and can be seen at the tables above.

A new activity this week was to sew their own book marks. They turned out great. Some children made pin cushions or dolls again.

Another new activity was to build little wooden homes.

Some of the kids headed outside as the sun came out to do some outdoor games that pioneers did, but it quickly turned into something else all together. We considered stopping them but after some strict rules and moms designated to go and watch them closely they burned wood and leaves with magnifying glasses.

The smaller kids looked for bugs with the magnifying glasses. It's funny how kids just take things in a whole new direction. Sometimes it's not even related, but in our group if it's educational and nobody is getting hurt we are happy to just leave them alone to learn what they want. The picture above is of a tiny millipede.

Canadian Pioneers Mini Co-Op - Week One

We had our first Pioneer Co-Op. It was fun! The turnout was great! This is the group watching and answering questions about Little House On The Prairie. This is an American story but similar to our own Canadian Pioneer Living.

We set up pioneer craft stations. There ended up being two cloth doll making stations. The kids learned that the pioneers made their own toys and couldn't go to a Walmart to purchase them. They usually used scraps that they had left from clothes to make dolls for their children.

They learned about corn dolls and about how the pioneers in Canada believed that they were for good luck for the next growing season. Here they are making their own small corn dolls.

They learned that children made games to play. Here they are weaving a little basket with yarn to play a game. We had to improvise on some of the items that kids used in the old days because we couldn't get them right now cheap enough (ie. peach pits). They will continue this project at home and/or next week. 

The kids got to play Pioneer games. Bobbing for apples was fun.

They played an indoor version of horse shoes. The weather didn't cooperate. 

They played an altered version of this Snap Apple. In pioneer times we'd use apples but to switch it up a bit we used doughnuts.

There are always kids who need something to do. They either aren't interested in an activity, are too young for it, or just need a break. They can go to this corner to play. We had log cabins to build and little puzzle boards to weave strings through.

I spent most of my time in the kitchen talking to the kids about how the pioneers would bake their own bread and we also talked about what they might have used for food colouring. We didn't have an oven so I used this simple recipe for making play-dough and each of them took a bag of play-dough home.