In today’s blogpost, I outline a bit of my experience teaching at two homeschool co-ops, share details of a sample co-op lesson plan, and also pose a few questions :

• Do you teach at a homeschool co-op?
• Do you enjoy co-op lesson planning?
• If you found the right product, would you purchase a yearlong set of co-op lesson plans?
• If so, would you prefer a general outline, or open-and-go?

I would love your input. If you have thoughts on this, comment on this post or shoot me a message. I am working on a few new products right now, and wondering if open-and-go Co-Op Lesson Plans would be of high interest for busy homeschool moms.

As many of you know, Homeschool Co-Ops are one of the best ways to cultivate community, learn some amazing skills, and “share the load” of homeschooling with others!

We have been a part of two co-ops in our homeschooling journey, one of which was academic (first two years of homeschooling) and one of which is more socially-based, with elective style classes (all four years so far, of homeschooling!) Both types of co-ops have great advantages, which you can read more about in these posts!

Teaching at a Homeschool Co-Op

Several years ago, I taught a Beginner Spanish Class to 1st-2nd grade students at our homeschool co-op. It was an absolute blast, and luckily, I saved all of my lesson plans!

Throughout our time at two different co-ops the past four years, I have heard several moms express different sentiments about co-op classes. At our old co-op, all moms were required to teach. While moms were comfortable teaching their own children at home, many of them did not feel overly confident coming up with lesson plans, and teaching in a co-op context. I totally get that! I am a former teacher, so a lot of those skills come naturally to me. However, many homeschool moms are not former teachers, and do not feel as confident teaching other peoples’ kids-and that is ok!

In many cases, and many co-ops, that works out just fine, because teaching is not a requirement. At some co-ops, it is! Whether or not this is the case for you, I have written about a few basic tips to keep in mind, no matter what age you are teaching. You can check out those tips, here. I made this free PDF you can print off, or pass around to friends for reference too!

Homeschool Co-Op Spanish Class

We have been at our current co-op for four years. The first year, I was getting my bearings, and really trying to understand what homeschooling, and co-ops, were all about! I was able to help out in several classes, see what others teachers were doing, and formulate some ideas about what I may want to teach in the future.

That year, I had my daughter Violet in May, and we completed our family of six! That summer, I spent my time brainstorming and getting really excited about my first “classroom” teaching experience in nearly 9 years. I decided to teach a Beginner Spanish class to the 1st-2nd graders at our co-op!

That summer, my brain was exploding with ideas. I had a new baby, it was summertime, we were taking a break after our first year homeschooling, and life was very sweet. Our summer was a bit slower paced, and we had plenty of time to savor the sunshine, read dozens of new picture books, snuggle our newest addition, and…in my case, plan for a creative new adventure!

Best Practice for Teaching Spanish

As you may have read in previous posts, I have a long history learning and teaching Spanish! I also knew that amongst my 20-some kids I would have in class, most of them had not had much experience learning a foreign language yet.

Here were a few of my goals, going into the year:

• Structure the class with routine, especially since the kids only saw me twice per month. Routine helps kids know what to expect, which then helps with class flow and classroom management. I put together a loose framework of:
  • Morning Meeting: take attendance, check in with students, do a few simple activities on the whiteboard together, and go over the plan for the day
  • Group activities: these were done at (assigned) tables. I used the Scholastic Spanish Magazine, and got a class set for the year. Each student had their own copy, and the magazines are short; like 5-6 pages total. I would have them do activities in groups or partners.
  • Individual activities, like completing a “Todo Sobre Mi” (All About Me) poster and then practicing describing themselves in Spanish.
  • Group activities with movement: one of my favorites was during the clothing unit. We learned various items of clothing, and then practiced the words two ways. One of the ways, was that I brought a huge pile of all sorts of clothes from home, to the classroom. We would do races to the middle, in teams, to see who could grab the correct item first. (Directions in Spanish!)
• Plan to use music, and movement, every class period. Both music and movement are proven to enhance learning, and I have seen the fruits of that time and time again, in many teaching contexts. Each class period throughout the year, I had the kids singing + doing movements to several songs: one at the beginning of the class, one in the middle, and one at the end. Movement was also key–you want as much learning as possible to be active, not passive. Movement pretty much guarantees that!
• Personalize the learning: I did a few things to make the class more personal. For example, I created two giant “Guess Who” boards (in Spanish: Adivina Quien), so that we could practice our colors, and body parts vocabulary words while playing a game that included all of our classmates!

Open-And-Go Co-Op Lesson Plans

As I begin my third year teaching at our co-op this year, I thought about how nice it would be to browse open-and-go co-op lesson plans. I am a former teacher, and do enjoy piecemealing together my own eclectic mix of methods, to form each class.

However, 1) my circumstances within homeschooling are different every year, because life is unpredictable! Even though my background is in teaching, it would be nice to be able to have a set of co-op lesson plans ready-made, to use at some point in the future. And, 2) many homeschool moms are not former teachers! Many homeschool moms are working hard with their own kids at home, and don’t have the time, energy or interest to be writing lesson plans each month for their co-op class.

For this reason, I am working on a new project this fall. I think it would be awesome to provide Year Long Co-Op Lesson Plans for busy homeschool moms. I am leaning towards an open-and-go model, where every single thing you’ll need for each class period is included, right in the PDF. What are your thoughts? Do you know a mom who may benefit from this?

The school year has started, but many co-ops switch classes midyear. I also know, there are some planners in this bunch! If you think this would be useful for you, or someone you know, shoot me a message, or leave a comment below.

I would love to hear the Co-Op Class Ideas you’d love to see in published form!

With love,

Cait