This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Handling Homeschool Co-op Lunchtime. This post is running concurrently on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.
Handling Homeschool Co-op Lunchtime
Want some guiding principles for healthily handling homeschool co-op lunchtime chaos. First off, we need to acknowledge what we expect (whether it is realistic or not):
- We expect teenagers to bring their lunches, eat them and clean up without making disasters.
- We expect teenagers to handle themselves well.
- We expect all the co-op moms to pull their weight.
It doesn’t always work out that way. Here’s help:
Acknowledge that we homeschool moms have SO much to do during homeschool lunchtime! We’d love to simply have downtime and visit together. However, we often have to stomp a lunch fire (hopefully not literally), chase a younger, monitor some cleaning.
By our experience, these principles help:
- Have clear expectations, clearly expressed
- Plan during the summer so you start off well (one cool idea is having group meals at least on special occasions)
- Have a person in charge to oversee lunchtime setup and/or cleanup, a *buck stops here* mom or teen
- Also, there needs to be support people who back him/her up or switch off
- Make sure expectations and authority limits are clear for all in charge
- Communicate with the young people well
- For young drivers, may they leave co-op to go get lunch?
- Where can people have food?
- Are there any off-limits foods?
- Chore lists for each homeschooler (and each mom)
If everyone is going to bring their own lunches (rather than a group lunch), at home these principles will help:
- Have clear expectations, clearly expressed
- Plan during the summer so you start off well
- Communicate with the young people well
- Chore lists for each homeschooler (and each mom) for lunch preparation and after-co-op cleanup
Enjoy this advice on homeschool co-op lunchtime. Also, you’ll love these posts.
Co-op advice:
- Starting a co-op teens like
- Organizational help for co-op startups
- Nuts and Bolts of starting co-ops
- Why and how to start co-ops
- For more practical planning tips for teaching homeschool co-ops, check out this post.
HSHSP Ep 85: Healthily Handling Homeschool Mean-Moms with Dr. Melanie Wilson
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Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Handling Homeschool Co-op Lunchtime
