On the very first day of Kate's school, I got to school a little early to pick her up. All of the kindergartners were playing on the playground and Kate's PE teacher was out with them. She said, "I have to ask you a huge favor. I have to run to the bathroom really quick. Would you stay with the kids for 3 minutes while I go inside?" I did. About a minute after she left, a darling little blonde girl started to walk away from the play ground. Oh great! I was going to lose one of the kids. I quickly told her to stay on the play ground. She gave me a funny look. I didn't realize her mom was sitting right there and she was just going over to have a chat with her mom. I apologized and started chatting with the mom. We had a great conversation, but after going home, I couldn't remember her name. Kate spent the rest of the afternoon talking about school, and all about her new friend Lucy. Lucy this, Lucy that, Mom can we please play with Lucy sometime? That night I called my mom and we talked about the day. I told her how Kate had spent all afternoon talking about Lucy. My mom laughed and said, "Did Lucy want a new best friend? Because it sounds like she's got one!"
The next day I went to play group with some friends to the park. I was telling them all about Kate's school and about the nice mom I had met the day before. Not 10 minutes later, I saw the cute little blonde girl, her brother, and her mom at the park. She recognized me, and we started talking again. It turned out we are in the same Stake at church! I think at that point we exchanged phone numbers (making friends as an adult is totally like dating; first you get a number, then you go out on a first play day, then if it goes well you go to each others' houses.....) and I finally learned her name, Laura. Pretty soon we were getting together every other week.
Around Christmastime, Laura suggested that we start doing some co-op learning. I am so glad she did! We've been getting together once a week for several months now and it has been such an incredible blessing. I look forward to it every week. The four kids, Kate, James, Lucy, and Morris, enjoy each other so much and really work well together. Laura has incredibly fun ideas and is constantly teaching me so much.We've studies habitats, cooking, math, body systems, famous people, and all sorts of other great stuff.
Here are some of the things we've done:
Rescuing animals from ice when we studied the Arctic.
Making play-dough grasslands.
Writing books about the Ocean.
Making guacamole.
Playing chess.
Playing math games.
Making food rainbows.
Dissecting owl pellets. Laura's cute dad came and taught the kids about owls.
Making berry ice cream.
Learning about Florence Nightingale and how to dress a wound.
I am so grateful that Kate's PE teacher had to make a trip to the bathroom, because I'm not sure I would have met this wonderful family otherwise!
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