The FHE co-op- Families Homeschooling for Excellence

I know I have mentioned before how much I love the co-op we belong to. It is perfect for us in every way. Last tuesday was the last day of this co-op session and we are ready to take a break for summer.
this term I taught WWII to the 7-10 year olds. It was amazing! One of the things about teaching your own children is that you never cease to continue learning things also. there were so many things I did not know about each of the subjects I have taught and I am grateful that I have the chance and oppurtunity to continue learning through this avenue.
I vividly remember when I first pulled Seri out of school we were in Germany and she wanted to learn about WWII. I knew it had something to do with Hitler and the Atom bomb, at least I thought, but I wasn't even sure if those two events were in the same war or one was WWI. We were standing in the library and I didn't even know what countries were involved in this war. I remember being stunned at my lack of knowledge, overwhelmed, and feeling that there were so many things I didn't know.... It was a very empty feeling.
So here is what we covered in our oh-so brief introduction to the war.
1- Hitlers rise to power, the pact with the USSR, which countries were the axis and how they started invading nearby countries.
2-Aushwitz and the Holocaust
3- The Americans get involved, how and why
4-Famous battles and the allied troops
5-War in the homefront and how it changed our world.
6 victory, how and why.

The kids totally ate it up and we made "candy bombers" resembling those dropped by American troops over Germany for the children, Posters representing some of the "Rosie the riveter" propaganda posters and planted Victory gardens.
We filled in maps with the names of the countries involved and color coded them accordidng to their alllegiances, and set up a risk game board and reinacted some of the major battles on it using the risk men.
All in all it was a very succesful class.
Now just for the sake of helping me remember I want to list the different classes I have taught in our co-op career.

Winter 2007- substitute
Spring 2007- Math-Times tales
Fall 2007- Forensics
Winter 2008- Forensics
Spring 2008- took off to have Tristan
Fall 2008- The constitution
Winter 2009- Little Known history
Amastad
Uss Indianapolis
Trail of Tears
Orphan Trains
Shakers
Salem witch Trials
Spring 2009- WWII

I am excited about next year because Sariah will be entering the pre-school class and I am going to be doing pre-school arts and crafts. While I enjoy learning it will be a relief to teach a class in which I don't have to mentally spend so much time on preperation. I need a break I think. I have also been toying with the idea of doing a "Readers Book Guild" for the older children. We'll see.

constitution bowl

the second semester of this year Seri took a class entitled "Key of Liberty". It was a very in depth study of the constitution. During the semester they analyzed the constitution, memorized the preamble, wrote their own constitution in a simulation experience, read reference books, and many other activities.
When Matt was trying to find all the books, movies and other articles on her list he mentioned that the class was more in depth than his high school and even college classes.
For the semester Seri enjoyed it. She did not have the same enthusiasm that she showed for her Shakespeare class but she did OK. I am not sure if it is because she missed the first semester so she never really fully got the benefits of the course or what but she did not complete very many of the expectations for this course.
she did her presentation on John Hancock and I did not help her one bit. She did great.
For the conclusion of this course they had a constitution bowl. I was shocked and amazed and what these children and my own daughter knew. She knows who all the delegates were and where they were from, what they believed. The questions asked covered things in the constitution, some of it I knew but a lot of I had no clue about. Not only would the children answer but they would then explain it and state what article, what section and what clause it could be found in!!!! Amazing!!!! I can't explain the pride I felt as my daughter sat there and answered these questions in this manner, getting them right! How many well educated adults don't even know how many articles there are?
I left grateful that my daughter now had this knowledge but overwhelmed at how much I do not know.

On a home schooling note it validates a lot of things that I have held true. One being that the parent does not have to be a genius to be able to teach their children effectively. There is no way I could have taught Seri even half of those things, but I can find her someone who can and will. I can't keep up with her in math hardly now (please note here that I have taken college math courses and passed them) but that does not mean that she can't follow the curriculum on her own with help from other mentors who can. It is insane to deem one person a "Professional" at teaching and then trust your child to gain a whole education through them. What I see often enough is teaching on a basic level. I want my children to learn through those that are passionate about a subject and who are therefore able to teach it with charisma and energy. From this, children truly learn. Not from a person who has sat through boring lectures for at least four years of "higher learning".