Co-op yesterday started out a little strangely. Jonah had sliced his thumb pretty badly a week and half ago (on a Ravioli can) and had to get stitches. Co-op day marked the day the stitches were to come out. So he removed them (he wanted to be Rambo and stitch his own wound in the first place, but that didn’t happen). Connor watched, the moms oversaw the operation, and the girls hid downstairs in the family room.
Once the operating room was closed for the day, we got down to Consumer Math, Financial Literacy, and Economics. Homework since the last meeting was all about figuring taxes on income, and understanding how sales tax is calculated. We discussed various types of business structures and how they change the taxation of the owners, partners or shareholders. Since all three co-op moms own or are partners in small businesses, it’s a subject we care about.
Homework for next time is to work on understanding Budgets — the principles behind having one, the many ways to structure one, the pros and cons of different types of budgets paired with different types of personalities.
Our DVD lectures for the day were on Calories and The Heart. We learned a lot about Basal Metabolic Rates and why Carlie burns more calories than some of us because she jiggles her legs all the time when she’s sitting down. Apparently this is called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or some such thing. We also learned about how it’s possible to be skinny-fat (low body weight, poor ratio of body fat to lean muscle), and how gaining lean muscle mass (increasing pounds on the scale) actually raises your BMR so that you burn more calories even at rest.
Geography time! Everyone shared the results of their research on various countries (of their choosing) and the economic systems in place there. We got a glimpse of Spain, New Zealand, Kazkhstan, Aregentina and Cuba. Connor taught us about New Zealand’s unusual relationship with Great Britain’s economy….what was that system called again, Connor?
We’re spending next session on US Geography, and we divided up research for homework:
- Jillian will study languages (areas of concentration throughout the US)
- Jonah will study natural resources
- Connor will study topography
- Carlie will study urban areas
- Kendall will study water.
High School Geography and Economics 
Great coop! The form of economy was Protectionism, where internal trade is free, but trading with other nations is restricted by a mother country.
I liked talking about the government shut down haha was that this past co-op? I can’t remember but i also liked learning about the fact that muscle burns more calories than fat so if you keep your muscle mass high you will need more calories to function therefore you store less in body fat.