Midway through the year, we were asked to be part of another group. This is a new field trip group. As a group we take a field trip every other week. Each parent takes turns making the field trip arrangements. So far the group has taken field trips to a local grocery store, a local pet store, the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, Skyline Caverns, the Warren Heritage Society museum, and Blandy Farm State Arboretum.
I've been happy with this group too. The boys favorite trip so far has been Skyline Caverns. Our guide was a lot of fun. He joked with the kids and showed them tons of really neat stuff. They were all pretty enthralled by the anthracites, which have only been found in Skyline Caverns and one other cave in Germany. We have trips planned to the Bug Box and Herr's Snack Factory in the near future.
Having different people do the planning for each trip not only means less work for each individual parent, it also means that each parent brings new ideas for field trips. (I find that I get stuck in a mental rut--what is the nearest museum--when I am planning trips.) We also get group or educational rates for admission to most of our trips.
Some of the parents are a little more serious about this group than others. It is often difficult to give an exact number of attendees because many parents don't RSVP or even worse just don't show up the day of the field trip! But, the boys enjoy the field trips. I feel the trips help the boys to see that the stuff we learn about at home applies to places outside of our house and our family. This is also a new group, so I think it will evolve and stabilize.
I'll provide some links to the field trip locations below and I hope to provide more information about each of our trips in the future.
Giant Foods, Petco Pet Stores, A. C. Moore Craft Stores - www.fieldtripfactory.com
Blandy Farm State Arboretum - www.virginia.edu/blandy
Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum - www.discoverymuseum.net
Skyline Caverns - www.skylinecaverns.com
Warren Heritage Society - www.warrenheritagesociety.org
Showing posts with label homeschool group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool group. Show all posts
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Homeschool Co-op
When my husband and I began discussing the option to homeschool, he was very concerned about socialization. He'd had no contact with homeschooled children; and, I think he envisioned children that were extremely introverted when other children were around or completely wild, without any self-control. I was a little concerned about making sure the boys were able to function in an organized setting--follow directions of adult in charge (even if it isn't Mom), sit still, wait your turn, not talk when others are talking. What if they had to go back to school for some reason?
I didn't know very many people who homeschooled and wasn't sure what we were supposed to do, aside from our daily lessons. I saw a flyer for a homeschool co-op at our local library. I had no idea what a co-op was, but I looked up some information on the Internet and I e-mailed the coordinator for Kids' Day Out Co-op (KDOC). I found that homeschool co-ops differ from group to group, but the basic premise is all the parents contribute according to their interests and talents and the children's needs.
KDOC meets once a week from September to November and January to April. There was a nominal charge to cover the cost of supplies. We have been extremely happy with the group. Both of the boys looks forward to going to co-op each week. They enjoy seeing their friends and I think they like having someone other than me teach them.
The first half of the year the my 8-year old son participated in Science, American History, P.E. and Music lessons each week. The latter half they participated in Science, Spanish, P.E. and Drama. My 3-year old has been in the pre-school class. In Science the parent-teachers organized experiments and demonstration, a field trip to Blandy Farm State Arboretum, and a science fair among the co-op students. (They did provide information about a larger, juried homeschool science fair for those interested.) In preschool they focus on a weekly letter and do lots of fun stuff. Co-op also organized a fall trip to a farm. And, we will go on a spring farm trip in a couple of weeks.
I've assisted in American History, preschool, and Spanish classes this year. The regular contact with other homeschool parents is great. As a newbie, I felt I could ask the other parents questions about curriculum or organization. There are about 50 children and 20 parents that participate in KDOC.
If you live in or close to Frederick or Clark Counties in Virginia and are interested in the group you can contact the KDOC coordinator at kidsdayout@hotmail.com.
I didn't know very many people who homeschooled and wasn't sure what we were supposed to do, aside from our daily lessons. I saw a flyer for a homeschool co-op at our local library. I had no idea what a co-op was, but I looked up some information on the Internet and I e-mailed the coordinator for Kids' Day Out Co-op (KDOC). I found that homeschool co-ops differ from group to group, but the basic premise is all the parents contribute according to their interests and talents and the children's needs.
KDOC meets once a week from September to November and January to April. There was a nominal charge to cover the cost of supplies. We have been extremely happy with the group. Both of the boys looks forward to going to co-op each week. They enjoy seeing their friends and I think they like having someone other than me teach them.
The first half of the year the my 8-year old son participated in Science, American History, P.E. and Music lessons each week. The latter half they participated in Science, Spanish, P.E. and Drama. My 3-year old has been in the pre-school class. In Science the parent-teachers organized experiments and demonstration, a field trip to Blandy Farm State Arboretum, and a science fair among the co-op students. (They did provide information about a larger, juried homeschool science fair for those interested.) In preschool they focus on a weekly letter and do lots of fun stuff. Co-op also organized a fall trip to a farm. And, we will go on a spring farm trip in a couple of weeks.
I've assisted in American History, preschool, and Spanish classes this year. The regular contact with other homeschool parents is great. As a newbie, I felt I could ask the other parents questions about curriculum or organization. There are about 50 children and 20 parents that participate in KDOC.
If you live in or close to Frederick or Clark Counties in Virginia and are interested in the group you can contact the KDOC coordinator at kidsdayout@hotmail.com.
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