Favorite Co-ops

Since I've been thinking about getting ready to leave Elk Grove I've felt a little saddened at the prospects of leaving behind some good friends that I've made here. And it occurred to me that I met all of them, almost exclusively, through the various co-op groups that I've been involved in. I truly love serving others and have found the most joy here from being a part of these groups. So, I thought I'd share the joy and let you know what these different groups have been about. In chronological order they are:

Book Club: When I first moved here this was one group I started attending right away. We met monthly at a different members home and discussed the "book of the month". It was always a fun, social event with good food, good friends, and intelligent discussion with other adult women. I liked that the books were suggested by other members of the group and then voted on. I felt like we were always able to get a good variety and everyone's ideas were validated. I have to confess that I didn't always finish the book or even really read it, but that was okay with everyone there. Sadly, I had to quit the group after only about 8 months due to Richard's work schedule, but I enjoyed the time I did spend.

Dinner Co-op: This I did with my friend Laura Blum, who has moved to Hawaii, and I have missed her now for 3 1/2 years. We had a lot of fun making meals for each other. Here's how it worked. We each picked a day of the week. She had Tuesday and I had Thursday. On our day we would make dinner for our own family and for the other family and take it over. It was a great opportunity to try other people's recipes and also try new recipes that you might not otherwise have done. Because, in an effort to impress your friend, you might also impress your family. I made some of my best and ate some of my best meals during that time. I do remember that my family always thought Laura's meals were really saucy and her family thought my meals were really dry--just differences in personal tastes. We did this for about 9 months and then she moved. She had previously done it as a threesome. You would just have to make more on your day.

Babysitting Co-op: I had been having the idea to do this for quite some time when a great gal in my ward, Kristin Claridge, came along with the same idea and a little more initiative. She put the whole thing together with cutsie little "bucks" and everything. It was very well done. Here's how it worked. She announced at church, at "park day", at preschools, etc. what she was doing and created a list of people who were interested. On the sign up sheet you indicated what time/times you were available to "work". All you had to do was set that time aside and be available and willing to take kids during your time. Every weekday, morning and afternoon, was taken care of. So, if you wanted to go shopping without kids, go to your doctor appointment, or whatever, you just called and let the person who had that time slot know that you needed them and it was done. You paid with "baby bucks" (or something) and of course, earned more bucks the more you worked. I loved it. I have seen other versions that use a schedule posted on the computer, and other more technological strategies since then, but it was great for me.

Music Makers: This was started here locally by my friend Cheryl Forbes. It was designed to be a musical experience for baby (newborn to K) and Mom. Moms took turns leading the group for a month at a time or would sign up with a partner so they only had to do part of the lesson or part of the month. The group started out with a welcome song (the same every time), circle time songs, rhythm and movement, good-bye song and a story. It was fun to see how different moms changed it up every month and I learned lots of kid songs that I never knew before (and I always thought I had a pretty good repertoire). This group has morphed over time and we are just about to graduate for good. Yes, I'm feeling old.

Joyschool: If you aren't familiar with Joyschool you can get the whole scoop here. But basically it is a co-op preschool. Moms take turns teaching the pre-designed and fully directed lessons. You register to use the lessons and then just prepare them as instructed. It's really easy and a great, cost effective alternative to regular preschool. The kids just love it when their mom is the "teacher" and "school" is at their own house. Lauren did this for a year and then Ellie did it the next year. I was able to arrange nearly every lesson to coordinate with the lessons I had previously taught and so prep time was reduced to almost nothing the second year. It was great.

Biggest Loser: In an effort to motivate myself and also friends of mine with whom I had discussed the issue on occassion, I launched the Biggest Loser Club. 12 people signed up and about 6 lasted the entire 12 weeks. The idea here was that the group would meet weekly, weigh in, discuss what was working for them, bring up pitfalls and let the group troubleshoot in an effort to encourage, inform and motivate dieters. I didn't want it to be costly, so I didn't charge much for the experience, however, if I did it again I would probably make the weekly meeting have a payment of $3 for weight gain, $2 for no weight loss, $1 for 1 lb. loss, and $0 for more than that. The money would go into a kitty and the kitty would be given to the biggest loser at the end of the 12 weeks. We didn't end up with much of a reward the way we did it. I would also use groups instead of individuals, because people are more motivated if they think they are letting the group down rather than just themselves.

Service Group: I got this idea out of the Ensign about a year and a half ago. My friends and I have been doing it since Jan. 2007 and it's been so excellent. You get a small group (we use 4) and you take turns doing a service for one person a month. For example, we meet every third Thursday. On our first meeting we went to Suzette's house and she wanted to clean out and organize her garage. A daunting task if you had to do it by yourself. But, we all got together and had her garage cleaned out, swept out, organized, built a storage shelf unit, and got her D.I. pile ready to go in 3 hours. The kids just played around us. We have since painted baseboards, thoroughly cleaned a kitchen, washed windows, steam cleaned carpets, organized boxes of kids clothes, painted a fence, etc. Whatever task you have to do that seems like too much for one day is the perfect task for this group. Besides that it is a great excuse just to get together and hang out once a month.

So, now you know what keeps me busy. I just hope that I will be able to find some fun things like these in Naperville. I'm sure I will. They have been lifesavers for my sanity in the realm of "stay-at-homers". Maybe you found something that sparked an idea in you. Go for it. You won't regret it.