Living By Daily Grace

Sep. 5, 2008 - First Day of Co-op

What a day our family had!!!! We are trying a new adventure in our homeschool journey this year. We have joined a co-op. This is a special co-op because it's organized by our church right now. All of the children that my kids go to church with each week are part of this co-op (at least most of them.)

I wasn't sure what to expect. One thing I did expect was to sit around with lots of time on my hands. And there were wonderful people that opened their home for those of us that live far away and couldn't just go home and wait for an hour. I did learn today that there wasn't as much time to sit around and do nothing. Once you finally sat down after getting toddlers inside a home, explain the rules, and go to the potty, it was time to leave to pick everyone up. HA!!!!

My three oldest were enrolled in a Science and PE class. My oldest dd was also enrolled in a writing class. The moms that put all this together did such a great job.

My greatest struggle with co-op this year was going to be the addition of a new class (not associated with the morning co-op but put together by several moms and myself.) We decided to join with other moms and form a Tapestry of Grace co-op. I was really excitec about this until I found out that the only time we could meet was at 3pm. YIKES!!!! All of our classes were finished at noon today. What in the world do you do with a toddler and a 3 yod who need naps between noon and 3pm. I made up my mind this morning that I just wasn't going to be able to participate. But then I got an idea. Although we live pretty far away, with one of the highways near us, it only takes about 25 minutes to get home. That would leave 2 hours for naptime. Then it would take us 25 minutes to get back. So I decided to give it a try. It was perfect. Not only did my little ones get to nap and rest but "I" got a nap as well. My older children played together quietly or played alone.

At 2:25 pm we were off again for the rest of the co-op day. They really had a good time with it. We're alot further ahead than most of the other families but my children are also the youngest in the class. I think being ahead helped their confidence. I was proud to see them participating and answering questions. Broncos Fan made it obvious to several moms that he LOVES history. Jennibear got to show off her neatly finished state and president cards. And I was really proud of Schmoo for being so patient even though she was bored through the discussion time. I let one of the other moms know that I was going to bring something for her to color while she listens to discussions in the future. It won't always be discussions but at least we'll be prepared in the future if we do. I brought my laptop so the Linebacker Starter Kit could watch videos for an hour. I was actually able to occupy K-Head for an hour by simply changing things up every 15 minutes. Pretzels do wanders for a 19 month old with nothing to do. I will be glad when Baby Songs will entertain him for a longer periods of time than just 3 minutes.

Most of the children in this co-op have done this before so they didn't share the same enthusiasm toward classes that my kids did. Jennibear LOVED her writing class. She reported to me that she was the only one that didn't cheer when her teacher announced there would be no homework for the follow week. I don't know what her teacher did today but JB simply fell in love with her. She waited to be the last one out the door so she would give her teacher a hug and tell he she would see her at church on Sunday. She's very excited about writing. I hope this enthusiasm stays with her when it does get hard. This was a VERY light day for her. But she was able to tell me what she learned and that was worth it.

Overall it was a good and successful day. I am glad we decided to participate this year. Now all I need to do is figure out how our schedule for Thursdays are going to play out so we don't leave the house looking like WWIII was fought here the night before. I hated walking into the house all messy. But the priority this week was figuring out how co-op was going to work. Now that we know, I can tackle Thursday's schedule and have my week pretty much organized for our family. And at least I will get 2 months to enjoy it before Baby A arrives and causes all things normal to fall apart.

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Sep. 5, 2008 - First Day of Co-op

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