I'm looking for topic ideas. Our local hs group has a middle school/high school age co-op, for ages 12 to 16 (right now). We meet three times a month, for two hours each session. The kids study one topic for an entire month. We're brainstorming ideas for next year right now, and I wondered if any of you creative people out there had any to add. These can be things taught by parents, field trips, invited speakers, or any combination of these. To give you an idea of what we're looking for, here are some things we've already done or have planned: Scrabble/Banagrams as language arts instruction/springboard (word roots, prefixes, suffixes, portmanteau words) Renaissance inventions (research invention and share w/ group, experiments ie. pendulum since clock advancements occurred at that time) "Design Squad" - with a certain given amount of materials (cups, string, tape, cellophane--for example) build a structure to perform a specific purpose (a PBS show idea) Bridges - learn about types, find them out and about, research one, build toothpick bridges and test strengths Megacooking - learn how to mulitply recipes to cook in large batches and freeze/store Wild edibles - finding nutritious food in nature Poetry in music - select a song and analyze it's lyrics as poetry Financial education for teens - field trips and/or public speakers from banks & financial advisors: how savings and checking accounts work, loans (especially student loans), investing in the stock market, planning for college and retirement Consumer testing - chemistry with a practical purpose: test products for effectiveness (ie. which shampoo is best based on pH, foam retention, etc done in a chem lab) Thanks in advance for any ideas! Carol
How about a life skills class? Our coop this year is doing it with the 7th-10th graders. They're covering stuff like balancing a checkbook, doing laundry, ironing correctly, staying organized, etc. I'm jealous, wish I was a Highschooler so I could go to this class!!!
I would like some place my child could do science experiments. We can handle science at home, no problem. But the mess and time of experiments, especially with younger children under foot, drives me nuts. I also would like to see a speech class. This is usually a half credit class in high school. In a smaller setting like a coop, meeting once a week would be perfect. And a writers club and book discussion might be nice. But the above two, if you had those, I would sooo be there in your class. Oh..art or music appreciation/theory would be good. You could do that once a week and it is often required for high school in many places. How about debate or logic?
Oh..life skills..I love that!! I would go for that too. That was a good idea to the person who mentioned it.
I'm teaching a life skill class right now with our coop! We have 5th - 12th grades. It's kind of a stretch sometime to find things that will fit all the ages. One of my most successful classes was a career choice class. I was a career counselor and academic advisor several years ago, so it's right up my alley. I explained the 6 career clusters described by Holland and the students worked at figuring out which clusters fit them, and we brainstormed ideas for careers that fit into each cluster. It was a good class! We've also done some cooking, some brain teaser games, and I'm planning a class on time management. Our last class for the year will be inviting a panel of homeschool graduates to discuss life after homeschool. The students will have a chance to ask questions and there will be a general discussion about finding jobs, going to college etc. It's been a fun year, but I think I'm ready to work with some slightly younger students next year. Edie
I remember when I was in school we had a egg rocket contest, We built some rockets to protect our eggs and launched them, it's a great spring board for a physics lesson on velocity. It was also alot of fun!!
Toastmaster has a public speaking book for older kids. Not all children would enjoy this class but it would be good for them to be able to do it. We all need to talk to a crowd sometime in our life. A class centered around plays or movies that the kids would go see. A class on cartooning may be fun. This could fit under art and/or English.
