HSHSP Ep 125: Healthily Handling Homeschool Co-op Lunchtime Chaos

This week on HSHSP Ep 125: Helpfully Handling Homeschool Co-op Lunchtime Chaos.

HSHSP Ep 125: Helpfully Handling Homeschool Co-op Lunchtime Chaos

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

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