We are totally blessed to have an amazing homeschooling support group in our area, and our group organizes a spectacular enrichment class program. I've been part of this for 10 years now, and we've been in lots of different locations. We have been blessed to have several churches open their doors to us through the years. When I first joined, there were a handful of classes each hour, and probably 30-40 families participated. Now we have well over 100 families participating, and about a dozen classes for all ages are offered each hour, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and running throughout most of the day.
Yesterday was our first day back, and it was great to be back to that crazy chaos known as Monday Fun. I am teaching or co-teaching three classes this session, which runs up until the last week of November. This is the first time I've ever done co-teaching, and I am loving having a partner for preparation and class discussion. Sheila and I are teaching a literature circle, focusing on World War 2 literature. We had a rousing discussion about the war this past week. Next week we'll start discussing Number the Stars.
I'm teaching Basic Essay Writing as usual. I try to teach this class at least once each year, and hopefully I'll teach the second part in the spring. I love churning out dozens of new writers each year.
And the final class is a bit of a stretch for me but my co-teacher, Michelle, is a pro. We're teaching debate, and we have a class full of kids who love to argue. Our challenge is to turn their arguing into organized and thoughtful debate. Michelle's debating skills are much stronger and fresher than mine. I only had about six weeks of debate in high school, and that was long, long time ago. I'm enjoying relearning, though, and these kids are going to be fantastic at debate!
I have one free hour that I'm not teaching, and I'll enjoy just chatting with other moms during that time. It's fantastic to be in the midst of so many people on this same journey. Of course, my kids absolutely love Monday Fundays. And at the end of the day, we all come home and collapse. It's a good kind of tired.
Wow, that really sounds like a wonderful group! I wish we had something similar to that here. They are lucky to have you teaching. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was exhausting, but fun!
ReplyDeleteWe just joined our local coop yesterday, and I am so excited about this year! We only have 3 classes, 1 hr each, from 1-4 pm, just enough for us for now! The 4th-12th graders have a speech & creative writing class this year, we'll see how that goes- I have a 10th grader and a 4th grader among them!
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