New Generation Co-op

We have been blessed to be involved in this co-op. We were on a waiting list and then we made it in in the middle of the summer. The kids have really enjoyed hanging out with these kids once a week. It meets in a school and all of the moms and a few dads take turns teaching various classes. And it's made up of families from all over the island who go to many different churches.

The day always starts with praise and worship and occasionally a testimonial or lesson. 

Then the kids do 3 hours of classes with lunch in between. 

Mason and Kaiah have taken Excellence in Writing,  Anatomy and Physiology, Drama, and Apologetics.

The highlights are usually dissections :) Mason and Kaiah have done several fish, sheep hearts, brains and lungs and have done several fun projects. 

Cambria has taken Art, Drama, and Marine Biology.  She wasn't quite ready for the writing class, so she's helped me out in the pre-school class as well. 

My contribution to the co-op was the first pre-school hour. We did the 5 in a Row curriculum, which was really quite fun! 

Here we are learning about the organs of the body after reading Madeleine.

We made a map of Geopolis, the city in the book Katy and the Big Snow.

And the kids learned to use chopsticks after reading the book about Ping. 

This is Cambria's art class getting ready to discuss everyone's art while sipping sparkling cider out of clear plastic cups... this was so cute! 

And she has really enjoyed learning about the creatures of the sea! This has been so great because we have seen MANY of the animals alive in the ocean right after we learned about them. Some fun ones are an octopus, a halibut, a stingray, dolphins, humpback whales, sea cucumbers, many tropical fish, snails, and green sea turtles! 

They have also dissected a few animals including a frog and a baby shark! (stinky)

 

Bria started the year painfully shy and pretty much mute... as she was among the younger ones in the class with poor reading/writing skills. Now she looks forward to sharing every week, has really taken off with reading and writing, and doing show and tell in bare feet! 

They also do a lot of fun experiments. I have really enjoyed getting to know these godly women and their children.

There have been fun parties for Christmas and various other celebrations including birthdays and baby showers. 

Another wonderful thing about this co-op is that we have had several opportunities to serve the seniors who meet at the same time in different parts of the campus. They have made little hand cutouts with encouraging verses on them, made a valentines banner, and put together a couple of musical/dance presentations.

And the neat thing is that they pray for us and our kids as well. 

 We are so thankful we have been able to participate in this co-op. The kids are definitely doing schoolwork and projects that I would not do at home, and Lochlan gets to have a little pre-school experience too. He loves his buddies there! 

We all do!