What is co-op?

Several people have asked me what is a co-op. Simply put, it's short for cooperative learning. There are several different co-ops in the area. For us, our co-op is a class of 28 children at last count. It is broken up into 3 ages groups- preschool, K-2, and 3rd -5th. It is located in a local church that we get to use for free :o) The instructors are the moms. In general, most other co-ops have to pay for the location of their classes and hire teachers to teach the children.

The girls have had classes on government, art, and art appreciation. We are on a break right and are doing fun "social" activities for the children.

I found these two pictures of the girls to share with you on the co-op website. It was taken in Nov. on Career Day. Both girls want to be a missionary- Becca is willing to go where God calls her and Emily said she'd like to go to Florida because she has seen "lots of people there who must not know God". I was sad to miss them give their presentations but I was needed in the preschoolers class at the time. I was told Rebecca did great but she did have a cheat sheet of notes on the back of her poster.

I have a little funny story I'll share about Emily. The previous night before giving her presentation, we went to midweek Bible study at church. Since there is a Christian college near by, many of the students from the college come to our church. One of them being a family who is scheduled to go Zambia as missionaries. The girls asked Mrs. Donna some questions about being a missionary and what to expect when on the mission field. Emily listened intently to Mrs. Donna's replies. After Emily's presentation the next day, I asked how she did because she had to do it all from memory. She said that they had to do a little prompting by asking her questions. One of her replies was that she had to be willing to accept change, that they may eat foods that we aren't used to and there might different living types of homes and clothes. Doesn't really apply specifically to Florida but it's what Mrs. Donna had told them about going to different countries.

Today was a relaxed fun "Game Day". The girls got to play board games with their friends. I was able to take a much needed break to talk to adults and played a few "adult" games as well.

Here's Rebecca (in the purple shirt) playing a neat game of Homeschoolopoly.