Landis Valley/Hands On House

Apr. 16, 2014

Our co-op took a field trip up to Landis Valley (Lancaster, PA) to tour a living history farm. They had displays and demonstrations of what life was like for the German/Mennonite/Amish community there 200-300 years ago.

It was a little over Seth's head for the most part, but he did love the Blacksmith (anything with ore is interesting, thanks to Minecraft). He also loved the sheep and was disappointed that this was as close as we got:

After a couple of hours of boredom (and a screaming baby), we decided to cross the parking lot and try out the Hands On House (a children's science center). Wish we would have done that from the beginning! 

Making the pinwheels spin using a pump

Following the instructions to assemble a "Thingy"

Self face-painting

Seth's creation

The kids had a great time killing germs, delivering mail, sorting corn and assembling flying birds. They would have stayed much longer if given the chance!

Mammoth Follies

Mar. 5th, 2014

We originally planned to see this play in January (when we were studying dinosaurs), but due to an itty-bitty snowstorm (less than 1/2 inch), the play was postponed until March. The kids were thrilled to finally get to go to the "dinosaur show".

Mammoth Follies isn't going to win any awards, but the kids were in heaven. They loved the giant puppets and the music. Catherine has been asking me to go back ever since we left!

Our group, after the show

Being dinosaurs

Seth's Body

Feb. 2014

Seth spent the month of February learning about his body during co-op. He made this Seth-sized model of the inside of his body that he got to bring home when it was all done. His favorite part was the large intestines (of course). 

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs!

January 2014

January was my first time teaching the our co-op. I got to choose my own theme and went with dinosaurs! I had a lot of fun putting together activities for the kids to do. I taught once each week, so these are some of the highlights:

Assembling playdough volcanoes (which we later filled with red food coloring, baking soda and vinegar)

I think we ended up exploding the volcanoes 3 or 4 times each. HUGE hit.

Matching dinosaurs to their fossilized footprints/imprints (made using baking soda clay)

The dinosaurs and their matches

We also made fossil cookies by smashing some dinosaurs into cookie dough:

They kept their form really well, even after baking:

Several of the kids weren't fans of the cookies since they weren't super sweet.

Oh, well. More for me! (They tasted like shortbread. Delicious).

We also hunted for "fossils" in chocolate chip cookies:

The kids decided the chips were fossilized dinosaur poop.

Why not.

And we assembled dinosaur skeletons using various kinds of pasta:

This was one of their favorite dinosaur activities

Of course, the best part was digging for fossils! I found some dinosaur skeletons at the dollar store, used this recipe to make the plaster mix, then threw some tools and goggles in our kiddie pool and set them loose. (Would highly recommend doing this outside if possible. Sadly, it was around 15 degrees this day so we were stuck inside):

Paleontologist Seth

It was definitely a little crazy trying to keep all five kids interested and focused, but I think they had fun and hopefully learned something! 

I also let Seth and Catherine have some fun popping "dinosaur eggs" (balloons with tiny dinosaurs inside):

Dinosaurs are a LOT of fun!

Halloween School Activities

October 28-30th, 2013

We finally got some use out of our number magnets and used them to make subtraction equations! We used some of the candy we got from our trunk-or-treat as manipulatives. "Seth got eight pieces of candy and ate five. How many were left?"

I also got brave and let the kids help make Halloween sugar cookies. They had a great time cutting them out and decorating them later with their friends.

We also had a lot of fun at our co-op Halloween party! We decorated cookies, sang songs, and wrapped each other up like mummies!

Kindle Co-op!

September 11th, 2013

Seth is blessed with several friends near his age who homeschool, so we were able to arrange a very small co-op. Once a week the kids meet at a home to learn about a science topic. They LOVE being together and the influence of his peers has been great for Seth (specifically in the writing area). We love our co-op!