Homeschool Thoughts

I have been considering joining a co-op next year to get my kids more involved in the "arts" and possibly more physical education (more than just riding their bikes up and down the driveway!). My question is, do I want to go big or small? Should I join in with my current HS group that I am involved in that meets about a half an hour away or try and find something closer? Can I actually teach a class for a co-op? I always wanted to be a teacher (I went to college for it, but didn't graduate), could this be my chance? Am I patient enough? All these questions, so little answers! :) I guess it's something to think about and consider, I do have a few months to makes my decisions, right? I never really thought much about it before because living in the UP we didn't have that as an option, there just weren't enough HSers around. Although if you have a co-op with 2 families in your kitchen I suppose you are doing better than not (if that be your desire). Now that my kids are getting older, I do have more things that are possible to be involved in.

I have been thinking about starting a group of Keepers of Faith for the kids in our group. For the girls it's called Keepers at Home and it teaches girls how to be mothers and wives and to be God fearing in the process. The boys group is called Contenders for the Faith teaches boys to become godly men who provide for their families and become the men that God wants them to be. I still have to see if there is any interest in them for our group. It's not a strictly Christian group so I suppose if some don't want to participate they don't have to.

I was also thinking about teaching Latin to the kids next year. Not that I know anything about it but a few different people have suggested this Prima Latina Christian Latin program that they say is really easy to understand, even for kindergarteners. Although it may be more practical to teach them something that they may actually use in the future like Spanish...it's not set in stone yet, just thinking about it. I just think it would be cool to learn it myself and to tell others that my second graders are learning Latin! How many public schools can say that?! HA!:) Who knows, maybe I can teach it in the co-op in a year or two!

I also had an idea that I haven't brought up with my group yet is to have a curriculum drive for hurricane victims. We are members of the Home School Legal Defense Association and in their most recent issue of The Home School Court Report they had an article about hs families that lost everything - it's sad to see how many hs families were affected by the hurricanes. Not only did they loose their homes but also their schools. I figured in an area like this there has to be a ton of hs families that have books and supplies that they are done with and their kids have outgrown. I know I have some stuff that I probably could sell but really don't know how to go about it and it's just sitting there being unused. Somebody who needs it may as well put it to good use. I will probably call HSLDA about it this week and see how we could go about doing it to make sure that it got to the right people.