Our first year as a co-op is complete as of April. It's been a great journey so far. We have learned a great deal and are excited to apply that to next year's format. We will be making some changes to further improve our time together.  
First , we plan to drop the time between classes and change the lunch period to a shorter snack time. This will allow the schedule to be condensed enough that we will allow our schedule to be condensed enough to be done before Lunch. 
We also hope to have our first extra curricular offered. This will be a swimming class offered after lunch on co-op days. The cost of having the class will be split among those who sign up. 
In the mean time, we will be having summer activities. 
Though the months of June, July and August we plan on getting together every other week. Some of these will be educational expeditions, and some will be simply fun activities.
Look forward to more fun information being posted as we finalize our class rosters and summaries. There are many exciting things to come, from the Helena Homeschool Enrichment Co-op!

We have some exciting news for Spring Semester! We will be offering some fun new classes. First, in the nursery, our three year olds have been doing some fun activities beyond just free play, which we are hoping to keep up. The Kindergarten through second grade are going to be doing a sign language course instead of art class for the semester. The 3rd through 7th grade class will be doing recycled art and maybe a little robotics. All three of the classes will be doing a semester of music, and P.E.
Also, we would like to offer a class for teens this next semester. This would be a team study course. Students would spend several weeks designing and constructing projects, which would then compete for a title. The class would be during our normal co-op hours of 9:30 – 1:00 and would include a lunch break and a 45 min P.E. class as well.
If you are interested in this, or our any of our other co-op classes please let us know as soon as possible. Priority enrollment ends January 4th. Co-op runs from Jan 17th through April 15th . We have a two week “try it” policy, so let us know if you would like to plan a visit.
 You can contact us on the "Sign up" page

These last two weeks of co-op, our kids got to do something really special. I had never been on any major service project before, so our Co-leader planned a really good one. The kids had the honor of making Christmas cards and learning Christmas carols to share with the service men and women at our local veterans hospital. It was amazing to see both the faces of the vets and the faces of the children light up as they greeted each other. All ages from one year old to 12 years old were able to greet a vet face to face and give them a card. I had no idea how such a simple thing on our part could have such a powerful impact on all of us. I am so thankful to the teachers that planned and facilitated this project. It was great! I hope we get to do it again next year!

I have posted almost nothing mid year about the co-op. It has been a really good first semester. Every week goes better than I think it will. Great friendships have formed between the kids. We've made some great projects, and learned some fun games. We've made many adjustments over the course of the semester, and find things going smoother all the time. We had far fewer teachers than originally expected, which required flexibility, but we worked through it. I am more excited than ever for this next semester and all the Ideas we have for it!

Tomorrow is the first day of co-op and we are so excited. We have a great committed core team, and several people who are enjoying our two week try-out program. Our classes are looking to be nice sizes. Pencils are sharpened, balls are aired up. Let the fun begin.
If you are interested in the co-op but haven't had the chance to apply by the deadline, go to the "sign up" page to schedule a visit, or to join. We will consider applications throughout the semester, if the applicant is serious.

This Thursday, August 22nd we will be having a potluck picnic. This is a time to turn in applications, nail down volunteer spots, meet each other, and get the kids acquainted. It looks like we are going to have a really good sized group this semester. It will be a fun time for everyone. So if you are interested in joining but are just not sure, why don't you come on down and join us. If you decide you're in, all the papers will be there, if not, then no problem. We will have fun, with no pressure. Hope to see you there,

Today the online application was completed and posted. You can now go to the "Sign up" page to both register to visit, and to apply to join. Also on that page you will find a web version of our hand book that you can download. This will much more clearly outline how our co-op will work and what we stand for. We look forward to hearing from you. Remember you may email us anytime for more information.

Also, for co-ops in other towns. A couple of co-ops in other areas gave us the ideas to build our new plan this semester. They let us us their documents and schedules as a starting point to write ours. They talked with us on the phone and advised us on how to get started. If you want to start a co-op in your town or maybe you have one that needs to be re-structured, we would be happy to talk to you about how we got started, and let you know how this next semester goes.

As of last night our final drafts of the new and greatly improved sign-up documents are finished! We have already seen a huge amount of interest in the Helena homes school community. This affirms our belief that God has raised us up and blessed this effort because our community needs something like this. We are very excited for the start of this new semester!
So, some extra information many of you have asked for:
The Semester will begin on Friday September 6th and finish on the December 13th. The last two weeks will not be our regular classes but instead the second week we plan on visiting the veterans home, and the week prior to that we will be preparing songs and gifts for that. We will also take November 29th off for the week of Thanksgiving.
The cost of joining is $5 per child or $20 per family, per semester, whichever is less. We will soon have a co-op bank account available, so you can make checks to HHEC instead of Chris...because that's just awkward. This cost will cover the website fees, teaching materials, and any other expenses. After we build up a reasonable reserve for supplies, we plan to give the remainder to our facility hosts, as they so generously allow us the use of the building for free.
To sign up you will need to fill out a one time application, then read through the Co-op Handbook, and then submit a Semester commitment form. If none of us know you, we may also ask to chat with you a little just to get to know you. The application preference deadline is set for August 26th (two weeks prior to the semester start. Late applications may be turned away depending on how the current enrollment looks.
We hope you consider joining us. If we all do our part this should be a really great year!
If we are slow to respond to contacts in the next two weeks, that is because the co-op head will be celebrating her sister's wedding and her ten year anniversary. We promise to have your requests processed as fast as we can. :)

Tomorrow is the big  HACHE Picnic. Show up to meet us, and to sign up and to get more information. I am bringing Co-op tags so it will be easy to recognize those in the co-op.

Due to some scheduling conflicts, our co-op wasn't able to fit a trip to Seiben in. So the Mom's Club, a support group for at home parents that Beth is a big part of, allowed members of the Co-op to tag along. We got to see a multitude of lambs, some of them having just been born! We also saw Peacocks, and hens, and a tiny baby rabbit warming himself in the sun, quite close. Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying themselves.