Wrapping up the School Year

 We finished our school year right before Memorial Day. Adele finished Kindergarten and Esther finished Second Grade. I was proud of us for finishing most of our curriculum! I wanted to write an overview of what we did this year, mostly for my personal record keeping. I don't think I ever wrote on about our plans at the beginning of the year.

We homeschool through a program called My Tech High. It exists in various forms in most states I think. Basically what it is is an online charter school that reimburses you for the funds you use to homeschool your children. All  I have to do is submit a schedule of what subjects I'm teaching, then submit a report each week of the school year for what we did that week. It's very simple 3-5 sentences and they are okay with me being very general. Then I submit receipts and they reimburse me the costs of books, curriculum, school supplies, community classes, and even educational toys (legos and magnatiles count!). It has really been a huge blessing to us and enabled me to buy way more things than I would otherwise. I believe it is totally possible to homeschool without this, but it has made my life so much easier. I can just buy books instead of going to the library super often, and I can keep the little ones entertained with educational toys to keep them happy while I help the girls with school work. 

For math we still use The Good and The Beautiful. Both girls thrive in math and say math is their favorite subject because of this curriculum. Adele finished level K up in May. Adele flew through this and I think I can get her through levels 1 and 2 this next school year. She begs to do several lessons a day. Esther is about 2/3rds of the way through level 2, she was a little behind because we started with a different math curriculum in first grade and I ended up switching her to TGTB part way through the year. Anyways she will probably finish level 2 in the Fall and then start on level 3. We were using the old levels but will be switching to the new levels this coming year. My Tech High won't reimburse us for TGTB because it's a religious curriculum. Still I love it so much that I don't mind buying it myself. 

For Language Arts we did several things. I had the girls do copy work into a journal a couple times a week and then draw a picture to go with it. They loved this and it was really cute. The both did All About Reading. Esther flew through level 2 and has improved SO much in her reading. It is really starting to click with her. AAR has been an amazing fit for her and the phonetic approach and slow lessons was exactly what she needed. Adele made it about halfway through AAR level 1 and then started struggling. I don't know if it's because the curriculum isn't a good fit or if it's because she's too young. We took several breaks and had her read BOB books or TGTB early readers and she has done well with those. She will probable finish AAR level 1 in the fall. For handwriting we did TGTB, which the girls mostly like. 

For part of My Tech High the girls have to do a technology class. I chose to do the Kiwi Crates one and they really loved it. They didn't even know it was school they had so much fun with it. They got a box each month and each box had two or three projects so we would spread those throughout the month. It was a lot of work for me because they needed a ton of help with each one. But I'm never good about doing fun school projects so I was glad they got that out of it. 

This year Esther started piano lessons. She takes them from a sister in our ward and has done well with them. She sometimes gets anxiety about practicing, but as long as Leland and I sit there and help her she's willing to do it. I don't know if it's because she has Leland and I to help her, or if she just has natural musical talent but she has done really well and is learning fast. It has been fun to watch her learn something new (and not have to be the one to teach her). I once heard of a homeschool mom who made piano lessons mandatory for her children until high school and  we will probably adopt that for all our kids too. It's just so beneficial and a great lifelong skill to have. (We might need to get a second piano someday to accommodate all that practicing though!)

For Science this year we did a little forest school co-op with some homeschool friends of ours. We used the Exploring Nature with Children Curriculum, I brought the books and my friend brought the activities. We met at a forest/nature park with a pond and the kids always have a blast there. We didn't make it every week but we did most weeks. It was really fun to see the changing of the seasons and all that goes along with that. From the pond freezing in the winter and ice skating on it, to seeing in thaw in the spring and be filled with mother and baby ducks. We found a tiny hummingbird nest and the kids were able to see the eggs and then come back the next week and see the pea sized baby hummingbirds. I digress, but everyone knows I love nature. I am not always great at the formal academics side of homeschool but I can make sure my kids spend a lot of time in nature and I'm hoping that makes up for a lot, at least at these young ages. Esther was also able to do a science class at our local nature center. She went twice a month for the first semester. This was a great social opportunity for her and she had a lot of fun. 

For social studies we learned about American History this year. I didn't use a curriculum but instead used my friend Becky's Book List. It was a really great and relaxed way for us to do American History. We started last fall with the explorers, then learned about the pilgrims, a lot about Native Americans, and into the revolutionary war and founding of the United States. I wasn't great at doing this every week, but looking back we actually did cover a lot. And we did it all through stories which is the best way to do it. Next year we will continue and learn about the westward expansion, slavery and the civil war. 

Each day for we start with a morning devotional where we study scriputres together (Come Follow Me) work on scripture memorization (this year we did the articles of faith), daily affirmations, calendar, prayer, hymn, and a story plus a learning song. This year the kids had been asking to learn spanish so we did a gentle introduction to spanish. 

Everyday at lunch time I read a chapter book aloud to the kids. As we've had more little ones this has been hard to maintain but I'm determined to keep it going. The kids generally sit so well and will listen to almost anything while they eat. I'm not sure how much they get out of each book, espically some of the harder ones like The Wind in the Willows. Still, I absolutely adore reading to them. It's one of the first reasons I wanted to homeschool them because I couldn't bear the thought of not being the one to read all these beautiful books with them. Here is a list of the chapter books I read to the kids this year:

Black Beauty by Anna Stowell

Charlotte's Rose by A.E. Edwards

Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Mary of the Mayflower by Diane Stevenson Stone

Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Amelia Houghton

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Betsy's Little Star by Caroline Hardwood

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Ragweed by Avi

The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O Dell

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Midsummer Tomten and the Little Rabbits by Ulf Stark

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

If there is a movie to go along with the books then we watch those after. My favorites to read with the kids were Peter Pan and The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. We watched Finding Neverland with the kids which is one of the few movies I love. The kids were so into Narnia when we read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, it was magical. 

These were all the formal subjects we did, but I like to think the kids had a lot of unschooling in there too. They have lots of free time to play and draw and create and I try to enrich their education with lots of field trips, family vacations, educational books around the house etc. Homeschooling has been so wonderful for our family. Even though its work, it's so worth it. It's not perfect, far from it. I have to "school" around our lives that include babies and the craziness of foster care. I lose my temper and I wish my house was cleaner very often. Still, at the end of the day, I wouldn't have it any other way. I never even contemplate sending them off to public school because having all of us home together just feels so right.