It didn't dawn on me until today that the co-op is sneaking up on us. We've had so much going on lately that we didn't even stop to look at the calendar beyond the date! A week from Monday will be our first day back to the co-op, and I can't even begin to tell you how happy that's going to make me.
The co-op is good for our family for a lot of reasons. It's not just good for the kids, but for the whole family. We all enjoyed the experience last time, but we didn't get to make it through to the end for a variety of reasons. This time our luck should be much better.
Socialization is the biggest and possibly most obvious reason for loving the co-op. You hear everywhere that the big concern with homeschooled kids is the social aspect. They don't get the interaction with other kids that most kids get in school. Now, I remember back when I was in school we were always told that school is not a place to socialize, but I do get it. Most classes have kids work together on projects, there's interaction in the form of class discussions. Things like gym class offer a chance to work as individuals and teams, but still be social. Then there's recess and lunch where kids get another chance to interact. Homeschool kids aren't exposed to that. While they do enjoy play dates, park days, and "afterschool" activities like classes and sports, it's good to have another chance to get out there and be social. The co-op is just one more excuse.
At the co-op, the kids get a chance to learn things they're not learning at home. Both of my older two are going to have an art class this year. Bunny Boo is going to have the second part to her chemistry class. Link is going to have a science class too. My littlest is going to have some arts and crafts project during snack time, or so I've been told. Link will have P.E. and Bunny Boo will be taking a theater class. While a lot of this is stuff they could do at home or through other classes and activities, it's still good for them to get out and spend time with other homeschool kids, make friends with other kids who understand what it's like to be homeschooled. It's also good for them to take classes that are designed for the co-op, so they travel from class to class with their friends and learn from other moms, moms that aren't me for a change of pace.
It's good for me too. I'm getting a chance to teach a class this semester. I'm going to be teaching theater. It's been a while since I've done anything with theater, so it should be fun. I can't wait in some ways, but at the same time I can only imagine how teachers must feel on the first day of school facing a whole bunch of kids they've probably never met. It's exciting, but scary. Thankfully, I think the class will be fun for everyone. It should be a good chance to adjust to teaching a class with something a little more loose and fluid than a more standard subject, like science or history. Theater is great because you can just go with the flow rather than follow a lesson plan.
Going to the co-op is an excuse to get out that I can't really talk myself out of. It's not free, so I feel a lot worse about missing out on it. It's easy to make excuses not to go to something when it's free. I can't count the number of times I've said "I'll go next week" about park days when we were low on gas. Most of the time we could work gas into the budget, but it was an excuse. "We need to put gas in the car and we really didn't plan for that. We'll just go next week." However, I always made sure we had the ability to go to the co-op if it was at all possible. We'd already paid for it, so it was far more worth it to find the money for the gas we needed to get out there.
The homeschool co-op has also been a great place for me to socialize. I get to talk to other moms, which is great because I often don't get a lot of social time myself. A good deal of the people I know are a lot of drama. They've always got some problem or another in their life, which makes them so much less fun to be around. These moms are so refreshing. We talk about kids, learning, traveling, and so much else. It's relaxing to be around them. Sure, I'm sure they have their own dramas, some of them possibly with the other moms at the co-op, but they don't really show it on the outside. It's not exposed for the world to see, which allows the environment to be calm, a place where I feel like I can let down my guard and really be myself. I know I look like the odd one out with dreads and piercings, especially when most of these moms tend to be so conservative on the outside at least, but none of them seem to judge me, or if they do I haven't noticed it. I just get to feel like a normal person, even if I am a little more obvious and outlandish on the outside. It really seems to be a place where what's on the inside matters.
The kids love it too. They can't wait to go back. The co-op has given Bunny Boo incentive to read. Link has started to work on his writing skills, even if he is just starting with his name. The littlest isn't really at the point of caring too much, but he's starting to become really social. I'd like to think that he's going to start making friends at the co-op this year, or at least other kids his age that he likes to pal around with. He doesn't play with others so well yet, but he's getting there. The co-op really has encouraged him to work on his own communication skills. I bet part of it is learning from all the other kids and seeing what they can do.
Then there's the simple mark of growth. I know when we go back everyone's going to be at least a little bit taller than the last time we saw them. Some of them might even seem a good deal more grown up. Especially the little ones are going to show a noticeable difference in the way they talk and how clearly they express themselves. It's going to be especially striking for my own kids, to see how much taller they are when standing next to the same tables and chairs, or on the stairway. I know they've all grown from the way their clothes fit and everything else they do, but the things at home are a hard mark of growth. They're around this stuff all the time, so their slow progression of growth isn't as noticeable as it would be in a place they visit less often.
I just can't wait until we're back at the co-op. It will feel so good to get back, even knowing it means getting up early to get everyone dressed and fed. It will mean fixing our current lack of routine. Baths will go back to being on regular nights instead of the "whenever's convenient" thing we've got going on now. Bed time will be enforced instead of this, "oh, I forgot and got dinner started late, so I guess everyone's going to bed late". It's been easier to have a schedule with the little one I'm caring for during the day around. She makes remembering to have lunch on time easy, and most days I start dinner not long after she leaves, but with nowhere to go in the morning it's a lot harder to be motivated. It's funny how having somewhere to go on a regular day makes it so much easier to build a schedule.
As much as I can't believe it's almost time for the co-op to start again, I'm also shocked at how fast time has flown! It wasn't all that long ago that the year started, or so it seemed. Now we're already about to dive into the co-op. I somehow seemed to think it was so much father away. At least it's something we're all eagerly anticipating!
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