|
Sep. 8, 2009
"Grammar Games" Co-op
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Today we had our first homeschool co-op class!
Just to explain in case you are confused...........
There are two parts to our local homeschooling group. The first part is your basic playdates at the park, talking online and getting support, advice and ideas from other homeschooling moms in your group, field trips, etc.
Then, if you want to take it a step further, you can enroll in co-op classes. It's optional, and adds more things to your schedule, but well worth it. We didn't do it over the summer, but are doing it this fall. I think they basically do it 3 times a year. Summer, fall/winter and winter/spring.
Co-op is free. In order to enroll your child in any classes or activities, you need to lead one yourself! It can be learning about schoolwork, a field trip, or just getting together and doing something fun. Since this is all new to me, I opted to host something 'fun'. I opened a Christmas Cookie Decorating co-op on December 15th. (Off the topic, but only 1 family signed up! Haha!! My listing was on the 2nd page, and not many of the 2nd pages classes were chosen. My sister is coming over with her 3 kids on that day as a pity slot! lol)
Anyway, people post different classes, what it's about, and the age restrictions. In a couple posts ago, I wrote exactly what I signed the kids up for.
Today was just for Ben! It was called "Grammar Games". They learned all about synonyms and antonyms, alliteration, onomatopoeia's and homonyms. Whew! It was held at one of the local libraries, in a meeting room.
He had a blast! I explained to him ahead of time that I might have to leave and just keep checking in on him, because it would be really really boring for Jack, Meg and Kate, and hard for them to sit there for 2 hours and be quiet! lol
I was right. I stayed for about 15 minutes and that's all the other 3 could take. So we left the room and went into the children's section. They loved that! They played with some table games, read books, and just entertained themselves. We kept going back every 20 minutes or so to check in on Ben. He was doing just great!
There was a lot more writing involved than the teacher had said, and that worried me, but Ben actually did fine. There was another 6 year old boy across from him who couldn't write many words at all, so it made me feel better. The class was for ages 6 and up, and there was even a 10 year old in the group! So I was concerned Ben would be a little over his head, but I think it's also good for him to be around kids of all ages. Definitely not something he would get in a traditional school!!
It was a hectic day though, because we had taken yesterday off for Labor Day, and then we had to get all of our school in this morning before lunch! Co-op was 2 hours long in the afternoon. Then we came home and only took a 30 minute nap before Daddy got home, and then we had to go run an errand! Whew!! Luckily, we don't have anything 'extra' planned for tomorrow, so we'll be able to resume a more relaxed pace.
Here are some pictures from today!
The teacher was reading books about each specific type of grammar they were learning about.
Ben is in the yellow shirt in the middle.
The rest of the group played so nicely in the Children's area!
Jack read books to himself.
Meg read books too!
Kate even looked through books! I'm so glad they all love being read to.
When I came back to check on Ben, they were all writing examples of alliteration on their paper.
Hard at work!
Alliteration is words that all start with the same letter. He didn't get time to finish all of it though.
They wrote their names and then had to think of 2 words for each letter!
BEN
B - Basketball, ball
E - Eat, eels
He really had a lot of fun, and felt like such a grown-up little guy! I was glad too, because it gives him a great chance to socialize with kids of ALL ages and families. Also, I love that he knows how to respect other teachers besides mommy. That's important too! I probably wouldn't have thought to teach them this kind of grammar stuff at this age either, so it's good for them all to be learning so much!!
|
| •
Post A Comment! •
Send to a Friend!
|
Comments
|
|
|
My Kids!
|
Posted by 
Sep. 9, 2009 - Great Job Ben!