Revisiting the Co-op

The first year that we moved here I decided to join a weekly co-op.   I thought it would be a great way for the kids to meet new friends in the area and for them to get the benefit of experiencing other teaching styles.   That first year was a flop.  Lindsey’s classes were all fun and play, no learning at all (ok, it was preschool, but at leas they could have worked on the alphabet).   Olivia’s classes sounded good in theory, but at the end of each day the only thing she could tell me about was lunch and recess.   At the end of the year she brought home a totally unused science work text…which explained why she never could tell me what they learned.

So here I am, several years later giving it another go.   The classes sound a lot more educational, and I’m really hoping it’s a great year.   Here are the class descriptions for each of the girls class schedule.

Olivia:

American Government:  Beginning with the constitution and taking a look at the structure of the federal governments 3 branches, checks and balances, elections, embassies, the cabinet and budget taxes. 

Science:  Exploring Creation with Botany will be the text used for the year as students explore the plant world.

Institute for Excellence in Writing:  Covering the basics of IEW, Units 1-5.  Includes 10 minutes of grammar each week.

Physical Education: Learning the basics of a variety of sport and participating in the Presidential Fitness Program.

Math for the fun of it: The main goal of this class is to make math fun and meaningful.  Units include basic operations, money and fractions.  Also included Dave Ramsey’s junior series on finances.

Lindsey:

Around the World:  Explore countries and their cultures; enjoy foods, games and crafts from around the world.  Appropriate discussion of religion, poverty and third world country issues throughout the year.

Meet the Masters:  Learn about 6 exciting artists.  Practice techniques of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Paul Gaugin and others.  Year end art show.

Oceans:  Learn all about the oceans, how they work, and the animal that live in them. 

Science Educations Essentials:  Straight from the Institute for Creation research in Dallas, TX, this science class will explore 5 areas; geologic processes, origin of life, genetic diversity, human heredity and structure of matter.

Physical Education:  Lear the basics of a variety of sports.

So, on paper it looks like it’s going to be a great year.