Last Day & What A Great One It Was!

Today was our last day official day of co-op for the year. We have had such a great time learning together. We started our day with prayer & then begin our geography lesson. The middle schoolers & high schoolers did their world geography in the next room. Here is Boo & her friends presenting their report on Israel.

Princess wanted to be a big girl today & joined us for our lesson. Here she is coloring a page on China.

Working on their maps while they listen to Mrs. Jen.

She always impresses me at how good she is with the little ones.

The kids proudly hold up their paper lanterns for the camera.

Bugs coloring his fish kite.

Back to the big kids!

Here is Sweet Pea presenting her report on Afghanistan.

Best buds!

Miss Kristi cracked me up when she jumped in the photo at the last second! Lol!

This was actually taken in the dark. Miss Abby did part of their science lesson by flashlight. The kids loved that! They all had several turns at looking at slides under her microscope. Cool!

Prairie Primer was party time today!

We played games that Laura & Mary enjoyed.

A lively game of Drop the Handkerchief.

Run, Bugs! Run!

There were lots of giggles as we played Blind Man's Bluff.

Blind Man! Bluff!

Princess loved getting in on the fun.

We played Poor Kitty too.

There was only one who could keep a straight face. Lol!

And what's a party without CAKE?

We brought cupcakes to share with everyone to celebrate Princess' recent birthday.

The kids broke out in cheers when the surprise of cupcakes was revealed.

Princess joined in the excitement.

She loved it when everyone sang to her.

Big smiles!

Yummy!

I think you can guess what her favorite part was. =0)

Their final fun in history was to make up their own country. The kids were incredibly creative! Elvis even made up his own song.

While finishing up some fun worksheets Bugs called out for help. I was across the room & made my way over to help him. Before I got there one of our sweet girls responded & helped him with the entire sheet. I was very touched by her kindness & immediate response. This is one of my favorite things about having all our kids of various ages together instead of separating them by each grade level.

Helping to clean up at the end of the day.

Friends!

Love those smiles!

See my baby? She has become quite the little mommy. =0)

We have enjoyed our co-op immesely this year. We have learned so much & had a ton of fun doing it. We've made many great friends too. We are already planning & looking forward to next year. Each time we start to talk about it I get super excited! I can hardly wait until August!

Homeschool Co-op Christmas Party

Our Homeschool Co-op Party was a lot of fun. Sadly only Bugsy & I were able to attend from our family. All the other kids were too sick to go. =( We missed them but were able to bring their ornaments for the swap & bring theirs home in return. They were glad about that. It was great to see all our friends before Christmas & hang out together.

Ms. Jody

Listening to instructions for the first game.
Abby did an amazing job planning & leading all the games.

Thank you, Abby!

The first game the kids all took their shoes & socks off. They rolled their socks into balls & tried to toss them into the container.

The 2nd game was a snowman game. Using a roll of toilet paper, 3 paper buttons with tape on them & streamer scarves the kids raced to make their partners into snow boys & girls. LOL!

Bugsy looked so stink'in cute!

The last game was very creative. The kids each drew a shape on their paper. Then when Abby told them they moved on to the next paper on their left. They then added anything they wanted to that paper. Abby let them draw for less than a minute & then gave them the signal to move on. They did this until they arrived back at their original spot. It was really cool to see the end results.

Ready to shuffle to the next drawing.

Drawing as it progresses.

Next was the ornament swap!

I already posted pics of this in an earlier post. We had lunch & desserts (we all brought one to share) too! A great party with great friends!

Homemade Ornaments

Our family co-op group decided to do an ornament swap. The vote for homemade ornaments was unanimous! I volunteered to set up the exchange list. I wrote down all the names on slips of paper, folded them and then put them all in a cup. I shook them up & then drew out 2 names. These were buddies to exchange ornaments. I did this over & over until everyone had a buddy. It was the easiest way to draw names since I was doing it alone. I think it worked out very well! =0)

Bugsy made a Christmas tree for his buddy.

Elvis made a snowman for his buddy.

Sweet Pea ended up with 2 buddies. There were an odd # of children & she happily agreed to have 2 buddies. She made this dinosaur for her first buddy.

And she made this butterfly for her second buddy.

Boo Bear made this kitty cat for her buddy.

(This is a close up from the party as Boo wrapped it b/f I could take a photo at home. Lol!)

I helped him add some garland to fancy up his tree.

This is the ornament Bugs received in return! He is thrilled with it!

She was happy with her pink, bejeweled butterfly.

Here is Bugsy's buddy receiving the ornament he made for her.

Boo Bear's buddy loved the kitty cat Boo made for her!

Do you think he likes the dinosaur Sweet Pea made for him? Lol! He promptly named it "Jurassic".

And Elvis' buddy sent thank yous home to Elvis!

Sadly Boo Bear, Elvis, Sweet Pea & Princess all had to miss the party. They have all been very sick. Bugsy & I went alone. It was fun but it felt strange not to have the others with us. Their friends sent their swap ornaments home & they were able to open them yesterday. They are all now proudly hanging on our Christmas tree! =0)