Dad taught a class this past year at our co-op called Crazy Contraptions. How our co-op works is that right after we finish the school year, each family completes an end of year survey. One of the sections on the form asks what the students would be interested in learning about and what classes the parents would be interested in teaching the following year. Those suggestions are turned into a prospective class list and sent back out to families for a first round of voting, each child choosing up to five courses. That's the step we are at right now. Soon, we'll get the second round and will probably have to choose a top three. I do admit, there has been a time or two I've pretended I couldn't count and selected four classes for a kid. That usually happens when one of the older punks really wants to choose a class, I'd rather they not take. I include their list and my preference with an explanation.
Anyhoo, an unsuspecting parent is sometimes asked to teach an instructorless class. Enter, Micah. LOL In the end, the students in the class ended up being younger than anticipated (he had ten boys twelve and younger), so the projects became a bit easier after the first one. Here are some of the Crazy Contraptions the boys ended up making.
A walking robot thingy.
A do nothing box thingy.
A working catapult.
Rube Goldberg machines.
Paper and duct tape rockets.
Hovercraft.
They also made the rattlesnake egg pranks (remember those?). The boys were so excited the next time we met to tell us all about who they frightened. And Micah took in a Jacob's ladder he made.
Mrs. A and I helped with class almost every week. We also invited Mrs. M, Mrs. P, Mr. R, and Mr. C to help out once or thrice (the punks are loving that word lately). Co-op is a great example of gaining knowledge for our kiddos from people outside of our home (though, in this case, it was Dad).
What are some ways you share your talents with others or borrow from other adults and older kiddos for your children?
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