My Best Friends, and Theirs too

This year, we’ve been involved with a wonderful homeschool co-op group for 3-5 year olds. I’m actually the group’s fearless leader, though I often don’t feel qualified. The good news is that we make most decisions cooperatively and bear equal weight in teaching/running things. This semester we did Art, Speech, Science and Music.

I taught Music and loved it. The kids learned about basic music structure (notes, treble/bass clef, timing, pitch, rhythm, dynamics, keys, major/minor) during the first half of the semester. In the second half, they learned about the orchestra, classes of instruments, and how to train their ears to hear the different sounds. They also learned several songs and how to follow a conductors motions/rhythm.

My children learned a lot in the different classes. I wish I could give a full rundown of all that they did and took in, but time would escape. Perhaps needless to say, being part of this group has been such a delight, for both me and my boys.

On top of the teaching/learning, I get to see my best friends every week.

And my boys get to see their best friends every week. It works out so nicely.

Just recently, our co-op put on a Exhibition Night for the parents/church to demonstrate our learning. It wasn’t a flawless performance by any means, (and in fact, at several times during the rehearsal I thought I’d pull my hair out, 3-5 year olds have SO. MUCH. ENERGY), but in the end it made us all smile till our faces hurt. The kids really worked hard (though perhaps the teachers/parents worked harder??)

During the Exhibition Night, for Art class the children showed off their masterpieces by marching around choo choo train style holding their artwork over their heads for all to see. They also made a special table cloth with leaf prints for the Cookie Social after the performance.

For Speech Class they exhibited their vocal skills by introducing themselves and reciting a quotation by memory. Isaiah quoted Chris Thomas saying, “God does not put obstacles in our path so that we can remove them, but for us to depend on Him to remove them.” * A funny side note, as pictured above, Isaiah brought along his handmade microphone for the occasion, a wine cork with a push tack in the middle, hahahahahaha* While Joshua quoted Mahalia Jackson “Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.” They both seemed to thrive under pressure, no stage fright or shyness from either of them!

For Science class, each child answered a science question in turn, dealing with everything from the five senses to mammals. Joshua answered, “Name one of the five senses? (Sight). Then Isaiah’s turn: Give one example of how can we tell if something is alive? He answered: Breathing & Movement (he gave two examples, haha, little show-off).

Between class demonstrations, the children gave musical performances, singing our school song, “The Lord is My Shepherd” with hand motions, The Steadfast Love of the Lord, and All Things Bright & Beautiful (with each child singing a short solo) directed by yours truly.

It was a fun night and has been such a fun semester. We’ll start up again in January, continuing on with Music and Science, and adding in History and Reading Comprehension/English/Grammar. I can’t wait!