The Heritage Christian Online School Newsletter - Homeschooling and Distance Learning Articles, Resources, and Insight!

Learning Camps in the "Far East"

by Kirk Christison

Well I can’t say I have put on a HCOS Learning Camp yet.  But here in the Cranbrook area, homeschoolers are plenty busy.  This year a number of home school families got together and formed a “co-op”.   We meet together every Friday.  Our schedule goes like this.  At 11:00 a.m. we meet at the church basement.  The kids are divided into two groups, the younger group (ages 5 – 9), and the older group (ages 10 – 15).  We have 10 kids in the younger group, and 12 kids in the older group.  The two groups go to separate rooms for their first activity/workshop, until 12:10 p.m.  Then we all come together for 20 minutes and eat our sack lunches together.  After lunch the two groups switch rooms and have their next class. At 12:30 p.m., we are ready to start the next set of activities/workshops, which continue for a 1hour and 10 minutes, ending at 1:40 p.m.  We charge $1.00 per child per time to cover the cost of the church rental fee.

The parents are the teachers, and each family is responsible for teaching one set of activities/workshops for one month, (four Fridays).  We have all committed to running the co-op from September, to the end of March.  The parents volunteered what subject or activities/workshop they would like to teach, and to which age level/group.

The topics, which are being taught this year, are as follows:

So far the kids are enjoying the co-op, and the parents are doing a fantastic job of teaching.
As well as the learning activities at the co-op, there are a number of other ongoing activities for students to sign up for.

• Home School Skate and Swim.  This is every Thursday at the Cranbrook Leisure Center.  Students skate for 1 hour, and then they all go to the pool for the next hour.  At the pool, Red Cross Swimming Instructors teach the students their swimming lessons, then they end off with “free swim” at the end.
• Hockey Skills 101. Last year one of the local home school moms realized that the kids in public school spend part of their PE class at the rink each year, where hockey coaches teach the students skating, and hockey skills.  She thought it would be good for home school kids to get the same opportunities.  So she talked to the local coaches, and the Cranbrook Leisure Centre, and they were for it if she could get 10 kids together every Monday for 5 weeks. This year, the first 5 weeks have gone so well that they are running a second 5-week session for the kids.
• Home School Ski Day. Each winter home schooling families have made an arrangement with the local ski hill, (Kimberley Alpine Resort.) Starting in January, and ending in April, home schoolers go to the ski hill each Wednesday, and start the day off with a mandatory lesson, which the students enjoy. (My son Erik learned German, Spanish, and some Japanese, as he road up the lift with his ski instructor.) The Instructors are great, and the home school students get to know each other well over the winter months. I have taken the leadership role in this for this winter, since the previous leader moved away.