A long, long time ago, back when I was still staunchly anti-homeschool, I'd say things like, "I would never homeschool, well except maybe for middle school. Middle School is a mess."
Now that "never" has become our reality, it was a no-brainer that Aubree would come home for her middle school years. The only question was, what would her homeschool middle school experience look like?
Aubree is a super social girl and she loved almost everything about her public school experience. I was willing to bring her exclusively home, but I knew that might not be the very best way to meet her needs. "Surely," I thought, "there's got to be a way to combine the best of homeschool with the best of public school."
As Aubree's 6th grade year drew nearer, I started talking to like-minded friends and friends of friends. Over a year ago, we started planning our co-op in earnest. We had a lot of ideas, but we were starting from scratch, and so we went through a lot of iterations before we settled on what we hoped would be a winning solution.
From the beginning, I told Mark, "I feel like we are collecting a group of really wonderful parents! Their wonderful kids are just the bonus."
The basic outline of the co-op is as follows: Classes 4 days a week, for 5 hours per day. Parents teach and/or assist the classes. We have Monday/Wednesday classes, and Tuesday/Thursday classes. We schedule field trips on occasional Fridays. One family hosts the T/Th classes, another hosts the M/W classes. Amazingly, both families set up a classroom for our kids to use!
We have 6-9 kids in each class, mostly 6th graders, but a couple 7th graders. Each of these kids is officially homeschooled; their parents are ultimately responsible for their education. As parents, we've just chosen to work together to provide the best educational situation possible. Most of the other co-op kids are like Aubree, and have experience in both public school and homeschool. A couple have always been in public school and this is their first experience with homeschool. We ended up with a seriously fantastic group of kids.
Monday/Wednesday classes are as follows:
Math: We are using Math U See, but the beautiful thing about the way this class is structured, is that each kids truly works and learns at their own pace. When students gets to a new chapter, they take a pre-test. If they do well enough on their pre-test, they move right along to the next chapter. If they don't do well enough on the pre-test, they watch the instructional DVD and do worksheets until they feel they have a solid understanding, at which point they can take the final test. So Aubree, for example, is already on chapter 20 of Math U See, Zeta.
Literature: This is the class I'm teaching! Hurrah! I based my class off two books/curriculums - The Book Whisperer and Teaching the Classics. My primary focus is to get the kids reading, reading, reading! They have a 40-book challenge - reading books of their own choosing in a variety of genres. In addition, we are learning literary analysis. It's been such a blast so far.
Lunch/Cooking: This is one of Aubree's favorite parts of co-op! Her cooking teacher is so great about stepping back and really letting the kids do the work. They are primarily following this cooking curriculum, but adjust as they prefer (for example, on their birthdays, each kid gets to decide which treat they all make). I will do another post with more of the details of some of the amazing things they've made in cooking.
Ancient History: For history, we are following the same schedule as public school (ancient), but we are using History Odyssey - Ancients, Level 2. I think the students find this curriculum rather dry, so maybe we will look at switching it up for next year.
Art/Art History: Where the history curriculum might be dry, the art history projects are out of this world! We are less than three months into the school year, but the kids have already done some phenomenal projects, mostly ones that were researched, planned, and put together by the teacher to align closely with what the kids are learning in Ancient History. Aubree adores her art class!
Tuesday/Thursday classes include:
Earth Science: Again, we are following the public school schedule and doing earth science, but we are not using the public school textbook (which is titled ISSUES and earth science). We are using Earth Science and Astronomy for the Logic Stage. We also have a certified science teacher who is teaching this course for our kids. This teacher is passionate about science and it's so great to have her leading the class!
Writing: Yes, we separated out Literature and Writing, and I think it's working out quite well! Our writing teacher is a poet by training, and brings her love of writing to the forefront of all her teaching. It's a great fit for my aspiring-author Aubree (and the other kids as well). Among other pursuits, the students are participating in November's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
Speech/Debate/Logic: As we considered different class ideas for this co-op, some were introduced and discarded, but I felt very strongly that a speech/debate/logic class be mandatory. What better skills could a pre-teen/teen learn than the ability to think and express themselves clearly?! And once again, our teacher has experience and passion for this subject and the kids are excelling and loving the things they are learning. It's impressive!
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Lunch/Service Learning: The service learning component of our co-op is another of my favorite elements. In this class, the kids plan and carry-out service projects, big and small. I'll probably talk more about some of these in another blog, but they've already done things like volunteer at NorthWest Harvest, run a food-drive for our local food bank, and put together Operation Christmas Shoebox boxes. When they're not planning or doing service, this is also the time of the day when they have birthday and holiday celebrations. PARTY!!
Rotating Electives: Here's another fun, fun part of our co-op - all the "extra" things the kids wanted to do/learn we put in this rotating electives class. Their first elective was "Introduction to Construction." They learned how to use tools (including power tools), and built a chicken run. Then they made personal signs (and used wood burning tools to decorate their signs). Now they are in the middle of learning to crochet. Coming up the have a series of engineering classes, some student-led classes, a drama unit, a PE/Health class, and maybe even an amateur HAM radio course.
Both of the hosting families have homes on property, which means that between classes (there are built-in breaks) the kids have a chance to get outside and run around (another major difference from what they'd experience in public school middle school). Aubree recently told me about how they were playing Hide and Seek Tag, which evolved into Graveyard tag, and I thought, "I am so glad these kids can still be kids."
If that's not enough, the T/Th home is a mini-farm; they have 8 alpacas, 1 llama, 2 pet pigs, dogs, chickens... you get the idea. So, when they're not climbing trees, or playing in the leaves, Aubree and her friends are out playing with the animals.
My biggest concern planning and committing to this co-op was how it would affect my other kids. I had accepted the fact that it would end up being a sacrifice for them, and felt bad that they'd be dragged along to their big sister's "thing."
Through a miraculous and blessed turn of events, this co-op has ended up being one of the highlights of my boys' school year. On Mondays and Wednesdays (the days I teach), we arrive at 9:30. While another mom assists with the co-op math class, I watch her kids and my kids (she has a 7-year old, a 4- year old, and a 2-year old). During this hour, our big kids work diligently on their school work. They are diligent because they know if they finish their work first hour, the next hour (while I'm teaching literature), they get to PLAY!
Most of the time, when co-op math class is done, the boys go home with the other mom and have time to play with their new friends. They LOVE this part of their week. What a relief!
Now, Nellie is another story. She's a bit of a nightmare at co-op. I had dreams of her taking a morning nap while I taught, but you all know exactly how well that worked, right?! I tried setting up a pack-and-play for her to stay in and play while I taught. Another flop. Now she just walks around getting into stuff and generally creating a ruckus.
Of course, as with any big endeavor, there have been hiccups and changes and adjustments. Overall though, it has (literally) been a dream come true. The first day of classes, I really and truly wept with joy to see our labors come to fruition.
Aubree loves her co-op, and so do all of her friends, and so do my boys, and so do I!
PS You better believe I'm already planning to do something very similar when Bryce is in 6th grade!
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