Co off

Yescherday was the co off. It was loud eaven thou I made some new frends at the co off. It was at the church. It was a bit to loud for me. Mom siad she sind up for Ben and Zoë. When I was in my clas it was qwit, like really qwite. I loved it so much. The end.

Last week we met with our co-op for the first time. I was nervous about signing up for a co-op because...interacting with people is...not my favourite thing. But, as Alexander wrote in his (school) journal, I signed up because Benjamin and Zoë were hankering for some more peer interaction during the day.

At FHE, Andrew was reading the schedule and came across a little entry about "co off" on the calendar.

"Zoë, did you make this entry for 'co off'?'" 

"No!" she said indignantly. "I think I know how to spell co-op!"

She is a phenomenal speller (she never would have been tripped up by 'bananas' or 'vacation' like Miriam and Rachel were ('bannas' and 'vaction,' respectively) in a spelling bee). 

"Wait—co off?" I asked. "That would be Alexander."

"Oh, that's right! They're logged in on the same account!"

Because Apple only lets you have four child accounts in one family account, unfortunately. 

So, in spite of feeling overwhelmed at co-op last week, Alexander was evidently excited enough about it to make his own entry in the family calendar (even though I had already made an entry there myself (I'm not sure if he can see that, though, because although I know it's shared with Andrew, I don't know if it's shared with Alexander). 

Anyway, if you can't read what Alexander wrote about (on August 31), it says:

Yesterday was the co-op. It was loud even though I made some new friends at the co-op. It was at the church. It was a bit too loud for me. Mom said she signed up for Ben and Zoë. When I was in my class it was quiet, like really quiet. I loved it so much. The end.

In fact, when we picked him up at the end of class last week and asked him how it was, he said, "Everyone in my class is just, like, five. Ugh."

"You're five," we pointed out.

"Yeah, but they're five, too! That's so boring!" 

Obviously he's not quite used to hanging out with kids his own age, but he had a great time today, anyway. In his first class they learned about flags and maps, which is something he's been obsessively researching the past little while, so he acted like a little Hermione Granger—shooting his little hand up to answer every question the teacher asked.

"Who can tell me how many stars our flag has?"

"50!"

"Who can tell me how many stripes our..."

"13!"

"Yes. Our flag has 13 stripes. And who can tell me what col..."

"Red, white, and blue!"

"Does anyone know any other flags?"

"I know Germany has three stripes! Black on the top, then red, then yellow! And Canada has two red bars on a white field with a maple leaf in the middle! And..."

"That's great, Alexander... That's good. Thank you. We should just have you teach this class, apparently."

So he had a great day.

We won't talk about how in his next class he offered the fact that "the skin is actually the body's largest organ."

He was just on a roll today. 

Zoë was just excited to see her new BFF Loran.

Phoebe attended nursery with Rachel (who will be teaching nursery next semester) because she (Phoebe) was put off by the teachers when they said, "Oh, I'll take her." That remark just shut her down entirely. She was like, "This entire environment is hostile. I will not for one minute let them think they can take me." Had they invited her in to play...she may have done so (but that's a huge maybe). Anyway, Phoebe needed a little more support, so Rachel went to nursery with her. 

But, Rachel might actually enjoy the mock trial class that Benjamin and Miriam are in. It's taught by a lawyer and everything! Miriam thought it was wonderful!

I'm teaching ukulele to the oldest group of kids, but neither Miriam or Rachel attended my class today. Miriam took the opportunity to practice the organ for an hour. And Rachel (as I mentioned) went to the nursery). 

For the second hour, I was a "parent-helper" for the 4–5 STEAM class. I don't have anyone in the 4–5 class (though I do have kids in nursery, K–1, 2–3, and the "upper grades" class (grades 6+)). Parent helpers just try to make sure the room doesn't devolve into absolute chaos (so I helped hand out supplies and things but didn't have to do any planning or anything). It was actually kind of a novelty to be away from all six of my kids for an entire hour!

It was a fun—if overwhelming—two hours. I'm just glad it's every other week so we can relax before next time...