It's Educational!

Who says you can't have a Homeschool Co-Op in the Dominican?

Every Thursday afternoon from 1pm-5pm we have other homeschooling kids and teens over to the house for fellowship and learning.  We have the kids break into two groups- elementary and middle/high school- while going through 4 different sessions.

Here's our current line-up of classes...

Elementary group:

Spanish 1- The kids have been learning the Spanish terms for the parts of the body.  Miss Shayna is an amazing Spanish teacher!

                                           


Mission- Minded Geography- Barb teaches the children about various countries and how to pray for the people living there.  She has such a heart for the nations and a desire to bring in "living textbooks" for the children to learn from.  Just last week we had a missionary, Haleigh, (click on her name to see her blog!) from Canada come share her pride for her country.  The kids ate it up!

Worship Dance- Terica has such a passion for praise ministry and we are so blessed to have her lead the girls in worshiping the Lord through dance.  Anyone interested, elementary through high school, can participate and they've already lead worship dance twice at New Life Church.

Science- A hands-on approach to learning is the best! Jen and Jenni have done an awesome job engaging the little ones in the world of science. From the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment to learning about our taste buds through taste tests to the reaction of oil and water, the kids have thoroughly enjoyed the lessons.

Middle and High School group:

Chopped: International- You know teens... always hungry! And these kids have such a passion for cooking and trying new things in the kitchen.  The teens are separated into two teams to compete in preparing the best plate, judged by presentation and taste.  Just like the TV show Chopped, the teams are given ingredients and told to make something.  We've had delicious dishes and desserts... often coinciding with the country our little ones are learning about.  This is a favorite class, for sure! (And the teachers enjoy being the judges, too).

Spanish 2- Shayna challenges the group with more difficult lessons than the little ones. Many of the teens already know some Spanish, but are being challenged on a deeper level so that they can go out and speak in the land where they live!

Math Solutions- (Currently under construction).... We began the season with this class since I have a degree in math education and heard that there was a need.  However, there wasn't much interest and you would have thought the kids were being tortured.  I don't EVER want students to feel this way! So after much prayer, I decided to switch gears.  I gave out my contact information for any math help the teens may want to seek privately.  Today, as an alternative, we discussed the possible idea of filming commercials of various mission opportunities for the English church and the teens were all so excited! Praying for a focus and that the Lord empties me out to be used by His Spirit in whatever way He desires.

Finding Your Identity in Christ- Pam leads this class as our teens explore who God created them to be.  Through personality profiling, the teens will be discovering their strengths, weaknesses, how they work with others, and how the Lord perfectly designed and molded them to carry out a purpose in this world to glorify His Name.  Pretty sweet!

We have a team arriving tomorrow that will be with us through next weekend.  In the beautiful chaos of having a mission team here, instead of hosting the Co-Op as usual, we've invited the teens to join us on the field.  This group has just begun and I can't wait to see all the Lord plans to do this year in and through each person here!