Conquering the Co-op Morning!

If you participate in a Homeschool Co-op or Classical Community then you know that the morning of co-op is the most hectic morning of the week. There are always the things that you you CANNOT forget which just add extra stress.Then of course for our family it's always a challenge to find shoes for everyone especially for the 3 year old twins.

Our small  co-op is working it's way through Mystery of History II and AIG Heaven & Earth we are  in the 2 year of a 4 year cycle and our 5 families come together bi-weekly to do the Art,  History projects, and science experiments.
co-op instead of my normal reusable grocery bag. In my co-op bag I packed Mommy scissors, ruler, single hole punch, sharpies, pens & a Red Wallet Expanding Art Portfolio envelopes (the large brown items sticking out of the back of the bag), these items never leave the bag. I also have a few transient items I take to co-op: my Homeschool Planner, my daily planner  and any curriculum books I need for the week. I never unpack this bag and it enables to easily get everyone's work home without worrying about getting glue or paint on me, kids or the bag. I put each child's name on their portfolio and I did buy ones for the twins because they participate in the nursery program at our co-op.

So this year I purchased a bag from Wal-Mart for $9.99 so I could have a cute dedicated bag just for

At our co-op we can leave a tote of supplies at the church. But if we couldn't I'd probably do something like Jamie did at The Unlikely Homeschool and have individual boxes for each child. And, it looks like she may have bought her nifty co-op bag from ThirtyOne.

My suggestions for a co-op bag:

Credit: The Unlikely Homeschool

1. Have a dedicated co-op bag!
2. As you think of/remember things you need to take to co-op put them into your bag. I mean as soon as you think of them. If you are anything like me you won;t remember later and you definitely won't remember in the morning in the midst of that chaos. 
3. Have separate supplies that you can take back and forth to co-op without having to load and unload the box.
4. Put your transient supplies into your bag as soon as you can .
5. Keep it well stocked

Whether it's ThirtyOne , Wal-Mart or Goodwill your bag will be a blessing to your busy co-op/community mornings. I'd love to know what you keep in your co-op bag or what I'm missing in mine. 

This post is connected to Living & Learning at Home's Trivium Tuesdays & We are that Family's Works-for-Me Wednesday