Fall Co-op - Week 9 - Earning Money

Today's co-op class was about "How to Earn Money" - it was geared towards the middle school/high school students. The kids discussed whether or not they earn allowance, what chores/jobs they have to do to earn the allowance, etc. The instructor then led the kids to throw out ideas about jobs they could do during these youthful years: babysitting, fast food employee, bagger/cashier at a grocery store, etc.

It gave the kids something to think about. It put the wheels in motion about "earning" their pocket change, instead of being "handed" everything.

Here's my ray of sunshine (Claudia) listening attentively...hopefully, taking it all in, lol.

I don't normally post any pics of Claudia during her PE class, because the pics are usually not of her alone and I want to respect the privacy of the other students. Today, however, I got some of her alone at clean up time.

This one is fuzzy, but it was funny, so I posted it anyway.

Fall Co-op - Week 8 - Engineering

Another day of Engineering - fun building with marshmallows and toothpicks.

If you'll notice the instruction sheet, there are many ways to build the structures.

Claudia's finished product looks awesome! The instructor told me that her structure was probably the sturdiest of all the projects, because of the way she chose to build it...yay!!

Fall Festival - with GGM

Every year, our Christian homeschool group has what they call the "Fall Festival", which has been held at our house for the last 2 years. Our group is not big into Halloween, so the kids don't dress up - we just have a big old party and it's tons of fun!

We had:

• a chili contest
• hay rides (a special thanks to the Larkins family that donated their truck/trailer/driver)
• a smores station - we set up our fire pit for the occasion
• picture station
• plenty of pot luck items...yum!
• last year, we had a scarecrow contest...we missed that this year :(

Here are some pics to mark the occasion...

We start out with our picture station...doesn't it look great?!

Next, we have our fire pit and smores stations.

 This year, we placed the smores station a little to close to the fire pit (not thinking, of course) and most of the chocolate melted to soon - it was a mess :(

Smores are supposed to be messy anyways, though, so oh well, lol

On to the food...

We start out with the chili - everyone who wanted to enter the contest, brought their crock pots full of yummies. The cute purple bags for the votes were perfect.

A tasty selection of desserts...

 Plenty of drinks on hand...

As for the hayrides...I have some great pics of the kids, but for privacy reasons, I won't post those.

I got some excellent family pics also (of the group members' families), but I won't post those either.

We had a smaller turn out this year, than last year - several families stayed away, due to illness (they were missed). Those who did attend, however, seemed to have a great time, so all was a success!!

Fall Co-op - Week 7 - Reptile Day

The Suncoast Herpetology Society came in today to show off their awesome reptiles. Claudia is not into reptiles, so I wasn't able to get any pics with her and the animals :(

For more info on the reptiles, go to their website at
http://www.kingsnake.com/suncoastherpsociety/SHSHome.htm

 

Bowling - with GGM

We only had a few kids from our homeschool group turn out for bowling today, which is fine - you don't need a large group to have fun!

Only posting pics of MY kids (for privacy reasons).

 

 

Florida Concerts Olive Grove - Field Trip with GGM

Today was a beautiful day at the Olive Grove in Brooksville, FL - the weather was perfect for an outdoor field trip!

The folks at the Olive Grove were great. They started out showing us their olive trees and explaining all the benefits of the olive leaves.

An Olive Tree

Then we were given pieces of bread, to sample 2 different kinds of olive oil - I didn't realize there were different flavors.

My girls next to the olive tree

We also got to make oil lamps
while we were there.

All in all...an interesting field trip.

Fall Co-op - Week 6 - Engineering

Today was the first of a few Engineering classes at Co-op. Structures were built out of spaghetti and marshmallows.

 

Bowling with a friend, after Co-op

Claudia and her friend from our homeschool group decided to go bowling today. It was one of Claudia's best games...yay!

Claudia

Her friend.

The final score...NICE! That's my girl!

Fall Co-op - Week 4 - Sewing Pillowcases

Sewing class during Co-op today went really well. Unfortunately, there weren't enough sewing machines available for everyone to work at the same time. Since the class is only 1 hr long, there wasn't enough time for all of the kids to finish their pillowcases. They did, however, get some good practice with the sewing machine and ironing - good skills to have, for sure. Go Home Ec!!

 

Fall Co-op - Week 1 - Stepping Stones

The kids made stepping stones today during Co-op. I don't think we used enough water - they were cracking :( but the stones looked great when they were done.

 

My ray of sunshine...always so pleasant, lol

 

 

Annual Pool Party - with GGM

Every year, the GGM group has their annual pool party at the New Port Richey Recreation and Aquatic Center. The facility is beautiful, with 4 huge pools. The lap pool is awesome for the little kids and the moms, who want to sit with them and hang out (no pics of that pool, sorry).

The slides and diving boards are awesome!

 Snack break!

Claudia and her cousin enjoying some yummies.