Tots and Me... Growing Up Together: Homeschool co-op

Showing posts with label Homeschool co-op. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Littles Learning Link Up: The Four Seasons Plus a Autumn Leaf Tree

Each month you will find:

A seasonal round-up (usually toward the beginning of the month)
Posts where I share what I have been up to with my elementary-age children and the preschoolers I work with at our homeschool co-op (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme. Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up.

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

Here's a peek at what we have been up to in our homeschool.

Last week was our week off of school. We school 5 or 6 weeks on, 1 week off. Of course, we still had co-op. I wanted to do a fall unit, which looks like it will be more of a fall/autumn lesson. This year we are going to take the pre-k/k class on a couple of field trips. Next week we are heading to the fire station. When we get back to the camp, I plan on reading a book or two about fire safety/fire trucks and then we will do a craft based on that. And the following week, we are headed on a longer field trip which will take the full time of co-op. That brings us into November for the next meeting, so I will probably switch to a Thanksgiving theme for the few weeks we have left.

Time to share last week's lesson/crafts.

We started out by singing some songs about the four seasons and talking about them. I even brought a globe and a flashlight to demonstrate not just the earth traveling around the sun, but the earth spinning, giving us day and night.

Then we made "Four Seasons Tree" Books

For this project you will need:

cardstock (1 full sheet and 3 half sheets per child)

green construction paper

acrylic paint (pink (or red and white like I used), green, red, yellow, and orange)

brown crayon

glue sticks

stapler

The only thing I needed to do to get this prepared was draw a trunk onto the bottom of the full sheet of cardstock, draw branches on two of the half sheets, and cut out the green leaves for the summer tree.

We focused on one season at a time.

First was spring. The children just needed to make fingerprint buds and blossoms.

We did the green for the buds first.

Then added pink for the blossoms.

We set those aside to dry and worked on the summer leaves. This was simple. They just needed to glue the green leaves to the bottom of the half page of card stock. Older children could cut out their own leaves.

We then moved on to the fall/autumn tree.

We used q-tip bundles (a bunch of q-tips bundled together with a rubber band) to dab on fall colors. I put the red, yellow, and orange close together on the egg carton so they could get them all at the same time without mixing them together, so we could see all the colors.

Finally, for the winter tree, I had the children add branches with the brown crayon above the trunk on the full sheet of cardstock.

Here's a look at all of the parts together.

Then the books were put together. I stapled the tops so we could flip them while having the trunk stay the same.

Here's spring.

Then just flip the top to summer, which it appears I did not get a picture of.

Then flip to fall.

And winter

We set them aside to let them dry while the children went to snack and gym.

When they came back, we made Autumn Leaf Trees

For this craft all you need is:

brown construction paper

green construction paper

fall leaves

glue sticks

white glue

I prepped by cutting out the trunks and green leaf section of the tree. Again, older children could cut these by themselves. Honestly, when my children were this age, they would have been cutting these out by themselves, but in this group I have a range of ages, so I decided it would be simpler and quicker to have the parts ready beforehand.

We started out by using the glue stick to attach the leaves to the trunk. Then we put lots of white glue all over the leaves so the children could change the green leaves to colorful autumn leaves.

It was a simple craft, but I really liked the results.

We sang a couple of autumn songs and then we played a couple of games.

I had them use straws to blow a leaf across the table. They were supposed to see how far they could get it with one good blow.

They they raced in pairs across the floor, seeing who could blow their leaf to the finish line first.

Here's the words to the songs we sang.

I came up with the words myself.

First, the songs we sang at the beginning when we focused on the four seasons:

There Are Four Seasons

(to the tune of there are seven days)

There are four seasons

in a year

There are four seasons

in a year

First there’s spring and then there’s summer, then there’s fall and winter too

First there’s spring and then there’s summer, then there’s fall and winter too.

There are Four Seasons

(to the tune of Frere Jacque)

There are four seasons, there are four seasons

In a year, in a year

The seasons are a changing, the seasons are a changing

As we go, round the sun.

Spring turns to summer, summer turns to autumn

Seasons change, seasons change

Autumn turns to winter, winter turns to spring time

seasons change, seasons change

Then we sang the autumn songs we sang last fall.

Leaves are Falling

(To the tune of Running over)

Leaves are falling leaves are falling

Trees are bright and leaves are falling

Leaf piles we’ll make, we will rake and rake

When trees are bright and leaves are falling

Autumn Leaves

(To the tune of London Bridge)

Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down,

Autumn leaves are falling down

Lots of colors

Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down,

Red, and orange, yellow and brown

I love Autumn

We read three books.

The first two focused more on the different seasons.

Rainy, Sunny, Blowy, Snowy What are Seasons? by Jane Brocket.

Leaves by David Ezra Stein

The third one focused on fall.

It's Fall by Linda Glaser.

Let's take a look at that review schedule real quick:

Last week I posted three reviews. Phew. I posted reviews for the two newest books in the Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series from WorthyKids Books, plus Fun Family Chess and Wooden Building Planks from Brain Blox.

This week I have another three reviews to post. You will find reviews for Smartick math subscription, the Drawing Program from Creating a Masterpiece, and Excelerate Spanish. Next week I will share my review of a multiplication practice book from Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks.
And then in November you will find reviews for new books from Kregel Publications, plus books from Mattie Richardson, Elephant Learning Math Academy, and LitWits Kits.

Here are some things I would like to share with you:

Focusing on Fire Safety Round Up

Fall Leaves All Around Round Up

Pumpkin Fun Round Up

I'm not sure when I am going to get to that ocean themed round up. Sorry about that. I've been awfully busy with my new venture, being a Pampered Chef consultant.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there was only 1 wonderful post linked up.

Please, don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

Here's this week's featured post is:

Hilbert's Mazes shared Hand Drawn Pumpkin Farm Maze - Free Printable PDF.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.

I am sharing over at

Thursday, August 17, 2017

The 2017 Back to Homeschool Blog Hop: Homeschooling Outside the Home

Homeschooling Outside the Home

Welcome to the fourth day of the Homeschool Review Crew 2017 Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today my fellow Crew Mates and I are going to focus on homeschooling "Outside the Home."

Honestly, most of our homeschooling takes place in our home. I know it is said that we are learning all the time, so even when we go out, we are learning. I do agree with that. However, I am not comfortable counting every little thing we do and place we go as a "school day." Activities that I, personally, would count as school time outside of the home include homeschool co-op, field trips, phys. ed. and other classes at the YMCA. Do we do some of our lessons outside the house? Occasionally. For example, sometimes we go out to the yard to do some exploring, but, I don't consider that "homeschooling outside the home." To me our yard is part of our home. And we have been known to take work to doctor appointments, so I will count that as a school day.

Homeschool Co-op

We have been a part of our local homeschool co-op since Tabitha was in kindergarten. I wanted to make sure she had a chance to, yes, socialize and make friends. She knew some of the children who went already, through church and playgroup. And now she, and my other children, have made additional friends.

I appreciate the way our co-op is organized. All of the parents have to help either teach a class or be a helper. Personally, I enjoy being down in the preschool, coming up with crafts and reading stories. I don't think anyone who reads my blog would be surprised by this. I have also taught classes to the older groups. I prefer the K-3 group, though I have taught one class for the 4-8 group. I prefer to NOT teach high school however.

The school year is broken into different sessions. There is a fall session that lasts from the beginning of October to mid November. Our last day before the break is always a harvest type party with crafts and a special dish-to-pass lunch. Then we take off until the beginning of January. Each month (Jan through April) is a "session."

Each Wednesday we meet from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. There are three classes each session, one of which is always gym. And in the last few months of the school year, one class for the older two groups is always for getting ready for the end of year play. Other classes may be cooking, geography. art, science, economics, whatever different topics we come up with in our parent meeting that someone wants to or is at least willing to teach. We try to make it more hands-on and fun, things that may not be getting taught at home.

I love that they have taken the kids on different field trips that I wouldn't have been able to do with the children. They've been to such places as the bank, the post office, different farms in the area, the library, and the one ice cream shop.

Some co-op fun:

I asked each of the children what they liked the best about co-op and this is what they had to say.

Tabitha liked doing the play this past year. (She actually had a decent amount of lines too.) She like outdoor survival and the gym classes where they learned and played soccer and basketball. She also enjoys art.

Amelia likes gym the most. One of her favorite games is octopus tag.

Hannah enjoys art, gym, snack time, and field trips. She said her favorite trip was to the bank.

Harold just enjoys co-op. He enjoys doing the crafts, having snack and lunch, and playtime. Which is most of what they do down in preschool.

There are years I have debated not going to co-op, because there is a bit of a financial strain plus added stress, but the children enjoy it very much and get upset when I mention taking a break from it.

Moving on to:

Field Trips

We don't take field trips that often, but we do enjoy them when we can do so. Once again, there is the added cost, even if the destination itself is free or low cost, living in a rural area means there is going to be gas money and food money that needs to be spent. We do try to bring our own food, but it never fails that we end up having to buy something while we are out.

A couple of years ago we were reviewing the Field Trip Journal from Apologia. It was during this time that I really started looking into what might be available in the area (you know, that whole living in a rural area dilema). There are also places I had heard of, but had never gotten around to visiting in my 20-some years of living in the area.

Some fun, localish places to visit here in northern Pennsylvania (and western NY) are Animaland, the PA Grand Canyon, the Black Forest Trading Station, the Lumber Museum, Sinnemahoning State Park, and Rock City Park. These are all within a 1 hour drive from our home. For a bit of a longer drive we can also visit the Corning Museum of Glass, Erie Zoo, and the Pocono Raceway. Those are some of the places we have visited within the last couple of years.

Some field trip fun:

When I asked the children what their favorite field trip(s) were, all of them had the Erie Zoo in their answer.

Tabitha said, "I love animals and they have cute animals and the huge rhinos, and zebras, and all the animals there." It was a first time experience for her. She also liked Animaland but didn't care that is smelled. She did like getting to feed the animals.

Amelia loved the sand cat at the Erie Zoo, and Hannah just loved that there were animals. Harold said he liked Erie Zoo because he "got to see all the animals I never got to see before. He also mentioned liking Animaland, Rock City Park, and the Pocono Raceway.

The YMCA

We joined the local YMCA in January of 2016. At first the children didn't have much to do besides sitting in the Child Watch. However, this past fall they were able to take the ballet class, which they really enjoyed.

After the dance session was done, the Y offered a homeschool phys ed class which we took advantage of. Even though they have gym once a week at co-op, I thought it would be fun for them to interact with different children and learn some different activities. Sadly, there was only one other child who participated. So, it wasn't quite what we were hoping it would be. I guess it is all for the best, because I decided we wouldn't be doing it this year if they offered it again. This will save our finances a bit, plus keep me less stressed as I won't have to break our Monday's up anymore with trying to get to phys ed. Tabitha (and occasionally Amelia) joins me in Zumba once or twice a week.

So, that is the extent of our homeschooling outside the home. And as you can see, there will be even less this coming school year.

So, what kinds of activities are you involved in outside the home?

Tomorrow I will be sharing the post from my hubby: Dear Homeschool Mom. It's sort of become a tradition for him to contribute to these blog hop posts.

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