Notes for New Members

Introduction

 

Nitty Gritty Time Stuff

 

Schedules may be viewd here

 

Parent Chores - OK, what am I supposed to do?

 

 

Announcements

 

 

Wrangers - set up time, and break time -

 

Actively look for bored children and get them doing something constructive.  Bring board games and interesting things for rainy days.  Recruit them, play with them. Do not let them be noisy inside, because the church's pastor is studying upstairs.  At break time, take the clip board outside, so you know who is inside playing board games, and who is outside running off their energy.  Recruit kids to run off energy, run off energy with them. Do whatever you can to get them to run off energy!

co-op coordinator

 

Organize the planning meeting, make decisions when a tie breaker is needed, interface with the church, interface with the church custodian, run the e-mail communications, organize the web site, organize the planning charts, encourage the members, do whatever needs doing that others cannot or will not do to make the coop run smoothly, listen to members ideas, look for resources, and pray for the coop.

 

Floating Subs

 

Most of the time you will cover for the missing helper, but sometimes you will be handed a book and a classroom of children.  Your most important job is to make sure that we never have a closed door with only one adult. For propriety, avoiding actual abuse of children, and because that makes the church's insurance company happy.  The church that is not charging us rent!

 

Floor officer

 

Wander the building, listen for upset children.  Since we have to have 2 adults in any class, it can be awkward to get naughty/distraught/hurting/ and-or upset children to their parents to be loved/disciplined/medicated/who knows?  Your job is to connect children to their parents when there is trouble, makeing sure that there are always 2 adults in each classroom.  You have a big clipboard with everyone's location on it, be familiar with it.  You also must give the teachers their 5 min warning, our class times are weird, and no-one is a clock watcher.

Librarian

Display the books attractively that are to borrow, organize the give away table, put the books back in the cabinet when co-op is done. Gently contact folks who are overdue in their books, and tell them not to lend them to friends who are not in co-op, we've lost books and videos that way.

 

Set up and Take Down Chief

 

Get all those volunteers moving, kick the chatters outside (or up the road to Dunkin Doughnuts) get it tidy, get out of there.  (So I can lock the doors and go home ;-)  There is a pocket chart of the chores we have to do, move the cards around so the volunteers know what needs doing, and when it is done.  You can even pass the cards out to your volunteers so they know what to do.

Treasurer

Make sure our volunteers do not use too much of their own money on there classes: we don't want anyone penalized for volunteering to teach! If the money is all gone between semesters that is fine.  If there is no money for the traditional $50 in a card for the church, fine (it embarrasses the pastor anyhow).  Most of these ladies hate to ask for money, but re-emburse them anyway.  We keep things loose, most of the time when an ambitious class runs, the others have been cheap.

Winsomely remind the members to bring in their $10 in Fall, $6 in Spring.  Keep track of who has brought in money, and who has not, they will not remember.

Nursery

Sometimes the homeschool mom with gifts in teaching (not just tutoring) has little kids and cannot watch her own while she is teaching.  play with the babies, protect them, summon the floor manager if they are inconsolable.  Make sure we have 2 adults in there at all times.

 

Here are 5 things we can do to be gracious and prepared:
       
        1 Pray for our co-operative effort.
       
        2  If someone bothers you in co-op, either forgive them without
             mentioning it, or obey Matthew 18:15 "If your brother sins
             against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of
             you..."  If we discuss our problems with other people (other than for
             coaching on how to deal with them), or if we don't speak to our friend
            about it, we are disobeying the Lord.  (YIKES!)
       
        3 Prepare your kids to mind another adult...but no brainless
            obedience, we don't want to put them in that situation.  I mean
           something like this, "Respect and obey your teacher; unless they tell
           you to do something wrong, (which probably won't happen) or you have
           some important information that they don't know; in that case appeal
           to them tactfully."
       
          You may need to practice what "appealing tactfully," sounds like
          with them!
       
          Why do we need to tell our kids this?  It may not be obvious to
          them.  I once asked a young homeschooled teen to explain to me
          why some of his acquaintances at a function would not stand in line and
          wait for my attention, no matter how often I told them too, especially
          as they were usually so docile.  His response was, "Oh, We have to obey
          you too?  I bet they thought it was optional."  Why was I not going to
          the kids directly?  I forgot about Matthew 18 and I was hopping mad.
          But back to my point, how many other homeschooled kids truly don't know
          that non-parental adults must also be respected?  I wouldn't obey a
          usurper either!  So, lets alert our own kids that a co-op adult is not
          out of line to give them instruction, and warn them that disobedience
          will have repercussions.
       
          Summarizing point 3, let's make things easier on each other by
          prepping our own kids to be respectful and co-operative.  Help
          them to practice appealing to authority winsomely.   If another co-op
          parent or hired teacher lets you know that your child did misbehave,
          make sure appropriate consequences occur, aside from a reprimand here
          and there, we will NOT be disciplining each other's children.  But since
          we are all on the campus, parents can discipline their own quickly.
       
        4 Insist that any child under your supervision at co-op treats
            the other children respectfully.  (If they don't, let their
          parent know.)
       
        5 Let other parents know what your expectations are of their
           children while you are supervising them, so that we put up a
          united front.
       
        Will these 5 guidelines  work?  Well, no, that would be
        legalism. 

          James tells us where fights and quarrels come from,
besides miscommunication, early lunch, missed nap time, Friday-itis,
growth spurts, and maybe even refined sugar!  It's our job to faithfully
lay out the rules, enforce consequences, teach our kids that they are
sinners in need of a savior, and pray for them.  All these problems are
opportunities to glorify our Lord by our obedience to him in
trouble...and if we are all on the same page, there may not be much
trouble in the first place!

 

Just what is a Kid Wrangler anyway?

I was watching ZOOM the other day on PBSkids, when they did a behind the scenes tour. They have a “kid wrangler,” to make sure they get on set on time, eat nutritious snacks, get their homework done, and call their parents if they have a problem. I think its meant to be a joke since Hollywood calls animal trainers wranglers. I once had a ballerina live upstairs. She 'wrangled' the child dancers at Boston Ballet for the nutcracker. Did you know that they have a water cooler and cups on stage behind the huge Christmas tree so that the dancers stay hydrated?

What do our kid wranglers do?

• Provide a chance for our kids to not get too wild during the 15 min break.
• Remind the wiggly ones to use the bathroom. Since there are only 4 bathrooms, this takes a while.
• Bring board games and building toys for them. (You can also ask others who are not kid wranglers to bring something.)
• Be sure these are unpacked on the side tables before the kids get out of their 1st hour class. This is a good idea for set up time too, since not all kids can help all of the time. The little kids could get super loud at this point, but since my pastor is upstairs finishing his sermon, they may not.
• Many of the children will want to go outside to the swings. Bring them out by all means, just make sure that one of you has a watch, counts noses and gets the kids inside before their classes start. Keep an eye on rough housing that turns serious and remind the kids about peacekeeping.

Your work enables the other adults to get a drink, and maybe use the bathroom, even if the children don't. You can also see what games from someone else's collection would be a good Christmas present at your house while you're at it!

The Role of a Teacher's Helper

Why do we need helpers?

• "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor." Ecclesiastes 4:9
• No one has 4 arms.
• No one has eyes in the back of their heads.
• No one person can give one-on-one attention to a student that need counseling and Supervise a class at the same time.
• Most people lose their voices after half an hour of teaching.
• It's more efficient if one person sets the table with activities while another finishes up a lesson on a story rug.
• The church's insurance likes us to have 2 adults in a classroom at all times.

What to do? (Known as Crowd Control)

• Watch the children, not the lesson presentation.
• If someone is upset, sick, distracted or distracting, help them to focus on that lesson or go get the floor officer.
• Sometimes you should plant yourself between chatty or fighting kids.
• If you are fair, consistent and strict, those wiggly boys will adore you - its one of those mysteries of life.
• Be prepared for wild questions about the lesson, since you are the up close and personal grown up, you might be honored with their confidences.
• You may be asked to help decorate, shop, or prepare object lessons.

Tips for lead teachers (that you probably already know, but that I wish I had known earlier!)

You have challenging material to present, and lots of kids, so I gave you helpers, but now you have even more work to do; not only must you figure out what to do with the kids, and understand the material, but now you must guild the helpers. If they don't feel busy, or led, they might start standing in the corner chatting, and may actually distract your students.

So how do you do this anyway? Here's what I've learned:

1. Pray for your co-operative efforts.
2. Have you got your basin and towel? A Christian leader is a servant leader. Be prepared to do what others can't or won't do in order to run your class excellently to the Glory of God.
3. You aren't being bossy so don't feel guilty. If you are gracious, people will appreciate knowing what to do. These are Busy Christian Moms who love their kids, otherwise they wouldn't be here. But they do want to know what is expected of them.
4. When you communicate...
   
   1. Always remember that these folks are volunteers.
   2. Briefly tell them why they need to do whatever it is that you want them to do.
   3. Keep the vision bright (what are we all working toward anyhow?)
   4. Don't forget to say thank you often (they are volunteers after all, appreciation is their salary)
   5. E-mail, snail-mail and telephone them - catching someone in the hall at co-op is not enough.
5. People will disappear if they don’t feel useful, they look to you to tell them what to do. This can be in writing, it can be before they come, but this is a big part of your job. And, you do need these people's help, because you have a lot of kids to manage, and you will loose your voice maintaining discipline without them, and do you really want to cut out/paint/shop for all of those craft/science supplies yourself?
6. Sue Anderson's formula for delegating because Jethro was right! (See Exodus)
   
   1. Make a list of everything that needs to get done.
   2. Cross off the things that only you can do.
   3. Assign the other things to the other people.
   4. Thank them for their work.
   5. (Very hard part) Don't fuss at them if it is not done exactly the way you would have done it, but if it must be done in one and only one way, be sure you give them the specific instructions, and to tell them why it must be done this way in time for them to do it. You are working with some of the most independent people on the planet, they will improvise, and some of their ideas will be great! Beware though, if you get perfectionistic on them, they might not come back, and you do need them!
   6. Procrastination will kill you.
   7. Keep your eyes and ear open all the time for good teachers and managers – then copy them like mad.
   8. Always prepare a few extra supplies, you don't want to have to tell your own child, "we can do this at home, so you will have to go short right now." (Just trust me on this one, its important.)
   9. Some obvious things:
      1. Learn the names (I'm bad at this!)
      2. Don’t know “kids,” know These Kids.
      3. Prepare more than you think you can finish in 45 min, so that they won't get bored (groups of bored kids are trouble!) But prioritize what is vital to do at co-op, and what needs a group. The rest they can finish at home.
      4. Call for that floor officer if you have a naughty, distraught or sick child

Conclusion: There are few things so satisfying as bringing an excellent effort out of a group of people: Your helpers will feel happy, our kids will learn, make friends and memories, and God will be glorified.