Co-op Share Night

Monday, May 2nd was our Homeschool Share Night for the co-op that we joined this year.  It was a wonderful co-op year getting to know families and make new friends.  It wasn't without challenges - our family fought a lot of sickness this year which affected our attendance.  The co-op is also an hour from us, which just makes jumping into all the extras a little more difficult.  Overall, we absolutely loved it, it was completely our speed, and we are very excited to commit to the group again this fall.  Another bonus of co-op was that it is in the same town as Aunt Annette, which means we got bi-monthly visits with her most months, and those are memories the kids and I will treasure always.  

We invited Aunt Annette to be our guest to Share Night and took her to Pizza Ranch for supper before we went.  She's such a trooper - we can be a lot to handle but she checks in with each of the kids' individual lives/interests and acts like our chaos is completely normal.  HA!

I started videoing the little things my children were in so that the grandparents, aunts, and uncles could watch, and then realized that those encapsulated 3 of the 4 age groups for the co-op, so I recorded the last group, also. 

The presentation started with the song the kids have been working on all year.  It's been one of my favorite parts of co-op.  Music really speaks to my soul and I wish I were better about teaching it at home.

Then we presented the classes that the K-2 students did.  I went first with K-2 art.  We sang our primary colors song and demonstrated our color mixing skills.

Then the kids, with Miss Courtney, spoke about their favorite parts of their PE class.

They finished with an adorable skit from Miss Sara's Poetry/Literature class.  Don't skip this video!

My doggy and dish are on the right.

Next up was Xavier's group of 3-5/6th graders.

First his presentation of their favorite things from Miss Crystal's PE class.

Then a bit of what they learned in Miss Sara's Cultures/Geography class.  Sara was really good to bring in a lot of cultural foods and cooking in this class and I was proud of how Xavier tried so many things.  Enjoying food has always been something he's struggled with and he's come so far.  

Last was their presentation from the Anatomy class with Miss Alana.  This class led to a lot of "mom, did you know....?" discussions throughout the year.

Moving right along, Natalee's class of 6-8th graders was next.

Natalee was very nervous to present her writing and we are so proud of her and very thankful for Miss Tami and how positive she kept this class this year.

Then her chemistry class presented, and she again had speaking and reading parts and did them beautifully.  Miss Rachel did a lovely job making Chemistry fun when I'm certain mom would have made it a drag.

Her art class didn't have a stage presentation, but had many works of art on the tables for us to look at later.

I didn't have children in the high school classes (soon enough!), but enjoyed their presentations a lot.

Evalynn was plenty "extra" during the sharing so if the videos have shuffling and sighing, it's me, "momming."  I blame the lemonade she drank at Pizza Ranch.  Ha.  Between Annette, Mike, and I we kept her contained at least.

After all the presentations, we went out to the tables to look at all the projects, art work, and photos from the year.  I didn't take great pictures but did snap a few.  

Natalee's art work:

She made a checkers board!  A woven, laminated mat, and clay pieces.

The K-2 art work I kept to present this year included inspiration from Franz Marc, Jackson Pollock, and Pablo Picasso.

The Picasso faces were our last project and were a lot of fun.

The kids took Aunt Annette through their displays and then it was time to tear down and head for home!

What a fun full year.  In true "teacher mom" fashion, my mind is already rolling ideas for next year!

(The entire evening as a compilation):