Hi everyone! Well, here we are on the doorstep of an exciting year full of
God's blessings...yet to be revealed. There has already been a tremendous
amount of planning and preparation in getting ready for the GRACE year, with a
few remaining details yet to fall into place.
“G.R.A.C.E.”
Homeschool Co-op
Growing Relationships
And Cultivating Enrichment
Information
Guide…2013-2014
G.R.A.C.E.
Co-op Goals and Mission Statement
Our
goal as a Christian faith based co-op is to provide education, physical
activity and opportunities for parents and children alike to build
relationships with one another. We
believe God created all that we have, and in all we do He is to be
glorified. We desire to encourage and
challenge the children in their learning and physical skills and to have a shared
learning experience with other children.
We see our time spent as a wonderful opportunity to enrich the lives of
our children with like-minded families who share a similar Christian faith and
values.
Commitment
and Involvement
To
ensure that our co-op runs smoothly, we ask each family to commit to attending
the co-op for the entire school year. Families
that have their children participating in the activities must have at least one
parent actively involved in the co-op meetings/activities. G.R.A.C.E. is intended for parents and children
to experience together. If a parent or
family seems to have irregular attendance without explanation, someone on the
leadership team will visit with them about their involvement in the co-op. Obviously, illness related absences, as well
as family matters and adverse weather conditions are considered to be excused. We feel that without the commitment to attend
and help out it would be unfair to the other families involved with G.R.A.C.E.. When you receive the weekly reminder, please
RSVP to indicate if you will NOT be attending and who will be covering your
“helping responsibility” if you are signed up to help. Often guest speakers and teachers ask for the
number of students in order to plan for and provide adequate resources for
their lessons.
Mothers
will be asked to help supervise/facilitate a group of kids 10 different dates
throughout the year (1/2 by Dec 19th and ½ after Jan 1st)
in which you will be involved in the activities of co-op that day. On all other days, you may choose to “sign-out”
from 12:15-2:45 , as long
as you have a cell phone with you and leave an emergency contact number. If your child is under 1 yr old, you will be
asked to bring him/her with you. IF you
cannot make it on your assigned day, you need to find a substitute for
yourself. We are committed to providing
adequate adult help for each assigned area…if that requires us to hire someone
to fill your place, that financial responsibility will become yours. Perhaps it would be helpful to form a 2-3
person “team” that you can call on to trade places with each other as needed.
Age
Group Options/Expectations:
Red - 0-18 months…may nap/nurse, crawl,
toddle, calmer-quiet room
Orange - 18mo-4
yrs…plays with toys, listens to stories, simple projects, play outside
Yellow - 4-6
yrs (preK,-1st gr)…potty trained, follows directions, colors, cuts,
listens to leader, 10-15 min attention span
Green - 6-8 yrs (1st-3rd
gr)…reads with help, writes/copies independently with little help, 15-20
min attention span, colors, cuts, paints, learns skills easily
Blue - 8-10 yrs (3rd-4th
gr)…reads and writes completely independently, longer attention span
Purple - 10-12
yrs (5th-6th gr)…reads and writes completely
independently, longer attention span
Teen Scene - ages 12
and up,…able to work/volunteer off site, can speak and interact with adults,
able to do some study and group discussion, independent group activities and
interaction
*** In the case of each
color (age) group, the child must be the minimum age by Sept 12th
(our first GRACE gathering)
Annual
Fee:
We will collect $20 ($1.25 per week)for each
child that participates in G.R.A.C.E that is 12 month or older as of 9/12/13 . This covers our usage fee to the church, snacks,
materials needed for activities on site, postage, photo copying and other week
to week costs. Each year we try to purchase
additional phy ed equipment and musical instruments that are needed for our
activities, as well as classroom supplies.
This does not cover any
outside activity fees such as bowling, swimming, Prairie Woods, etc. You may pay all of your family’s fees in
August or ½ at the mom’s mtg in August and ½ in January. We will also be collecting an optional $3 per
family at the beginning of the year if you would like the annual photo
directory that will be available on Oct 10th.
Weather
and Other cancellations
Weather
may be a factor in the happenings of G.R.A.C.E.
If the Willmar 10 am the day of G.R.A.C.E. if we are
cancelling due to weather or a church related event. Please check your email (or call someone in
the co-op or on the leadership team if you are away from your home phone) for a
change in day and/or time. In some
cases, a rescheduled date may be possible.
Leadership
Team: consists of 8 moms, eager to help us in any way.
Please
contact the leadership team if you have any questions regarding any aspect of
G.R.A.C.E. Again, we desire our group to
be Christ centered, fun, interactive and a great opportunity for the children
to learn and build relationships.
*New
families who agree with the mission statement and have read the information
guide may join at any time throughout the year based on openings in each age
group. Suggestions for new families
should be given to Paula for contacting.
Importance
of Email:
Please
remember to check your email each Monday/Tuesday before we meet on Thursday and
read it carefully so you are aware of all communications! This is our main form of communication and it
can be very effective if everyone is committed to checking it! Sometimes the kids will be asked to bring
something special from home for a lesson or activity. This information is then included in the
weekly email that comes to your email box the Monday prior to our Thursday
co-op.
Monthly Mom’s Night
Out:
In
response to moms who are looking for a time of connecting, encouraging, and
just being in the presence of other homeschooling moms (without kids present),
we will have a monthly mom’s night out. The
dates, time and location will be communicated via email in September.
Time/Schedule
Thursday afternoons
Check
in and registration will start at 11:40 . Please
be punctual, as we will be starting on time.
A detailed, year long schedule of topics, activities, etc. will be
distributed to each family. Our daily
schedule will be as follows:
Discovery Zone Music Exploration Physical Ed
12-12:40 8-10 yrs 6-8 yrs 4-6 yrs 10-12
yrs & Teens
(Blue) (Green) (Yellow) (Purple)
(Green) (Yellow) (Purple) (Blue)
*1:30-2:10 *4-6
yrs 10-12 yrs *8-10 yrs 6-8 yrs
(Yellow) (Purple) (Blue) (Green)
2:15-2:55 10-12 yrs 8-10 yrs 6-8 yrs 4-6 yrs
(Purple) (Blue) (Green) (Yellow)
*denotes snack time
during the end/start of the rotation
“Extra Thursday”
afternoons
These
dates are set aside for additional opportunities for families to take part
in. Some of them require additional
fees, others do not. Your involvement in
these activities is completely optional, although we encourage you to take part
in as many as you can. These provide
great opportunities for the kids to interact in informal settings, as well as
mothers! You will be asked to sign up
and pay for them in advance (usually 2 wks), as many other them require
reservation or advance registration.
Red
and Orange
When
helping in these groups, parents will be actively involved with the children in
the group on a flexible schedule that may include free play, directed games, simple
singing and music activities, or reading stories.
Rotations
for Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple groups:
Discovery
Zone
When
moms who have signed up to help with these age groups are at the Discovery Zone
rotation, they are responsible for helping set up and clean up as needed. The moms will be in the room to help out if
needed during the teaching period and please keep kids focused and respectful
at all times. We desire to make this a
fun and valued learning experience for the children and a positive experience
for the teacher, by having assistance with classroom behavior. Plan to sit with and among the kids.
Teaching
time can cover many topics. This year
our focus is on exposing our kids to many different jobs/careers and people
roles in the community. It will include guest
speakers from outside of our group. Any
parent may volunteer to share with the group if they would like to. Contact
a leadership member if you are interested or have a contact of someone outside of the group
for the future.
Physical
Education
The
focus of the Phy Ed time is to learn games, sports, teamwork, skills, build
endurance and to have fun. This year we
will include football (boys)/cheerleading (girls), volleyball, soccer, softball
and kickball/dodgeball. We also include
the parachute and playground games for the younger kids. We will go bowling and swimming as additional
(optional) events. We also try to
implement stretching and warm up running.
When moms are at this rotation with their group, they should help keep
kids focused, quiet, paying attention and participating, allowing the
instructor to teach rather than focus their attention on “crowd control”.
Music
The fall and early winter weeks will be focused
primarily on the history of music and it’s development around the world.
Children preK-6th grade will be working on basic aspects of music
and music theory (at age appropriate levels)that will be a part of our annual Spring Celebration in May.
Exploration
This rotation provides an in-depth study (3
weeks) on 3 different topics throughout the year. This rotation will also include some art
projects and group activities.
Teen Scene
This
“12 years and up” group is intended to give this age group an opportunity to
extend the friendships and time together beyond their elementary/middle school
years. Their afternoons together include
joining the Purple group for the Phy Ed rotation and an additional rotation. We are also planning to included some
exposure to various careers through guest visits. The rest of the time they will meet
independently. There will also be
off-site occasions for a service project and a couple of fun group activities. This group has 2 adult leaders and may
require additional adult helpers as needed.
Miscellaneous
Information:
·
All
children in color groups Orange-Purple and Teen Scene will get a daily snack.
Each family will be asked to provide snacks 2 times throughout the year. You may choose to pay $5 for each of those
assigned weeks if you would rather have GRACE provide them on your behalf.
·
ALL
kids in all color groups and teen group will be asked to wear a sticky name tag
for the entire afternoon.
·
All
helping parents must have a head count of the group before they leave a
rotation and again once they enter the next rotation. EVERY TIME
·
No
child, any age, may leave the group alone.
An adult must go along.
·
Great
resources to take note of:
GRACE Newsletter
MACHE.org
(Minnesota Christian
Home
HSLDF
YMCA – Homeschool Phy Ed program meets once a
month
Science and Art Enrichment classes – are also available, see a leadership member.
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