The Important Thing About You

Homeschooling (like most parts of life) has different needs during different seasons, and during my current season, attending our one-day-a-week of co-op feels like I’ve been thrown a rescue life-line.

We discovered co-op half-way through last year–after kinks had been worked out and all the assignments had been made, so I was able to spend the three hours of my kids’ class time hanging back in the mother’s room: gleaning ideas, routines, friendship, and support.

This year, slightly more confident and ready to contribute time and talents–I’m teaching one of the 1st/2nd grade classes, titled Learning Through Literature. It’s basically storytime for big kids and we read a story and then participate in activities that coordinate with the weekly book.

For the first week of class I chose to share The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown. I love this classic! It’s not flashy, but its simplicity and repetition draws kids in. In case you’re not familiar, the author describes basic objects (like an apple, or a shoe) through patterned verse–listing the topic, main idea, and details. By the end kids are familiar enough with the patterned verse that it leads perfectly into recreating their own verse.

After reading and discussing the book together, we went around the room and had everyone share something they thought was important. Several kids said a house is important, so we chose to write a shared verse about “houses,” beginning with a brainstorming session.

When we were finished discussing “important” things about houses I had the kids do some independent writing about themselves. The activity was a good way to learn some things about the kids–both their interests and their academic levels.

Emmy was in my class, and on the way home I asked how she liked co-op. “Your class was my favorite!” she said. “Because we got to write!” Melted my heart that she loved being in my class and that she loves writing.

(FREE Important Book writing activity printables here!)