I'm not quite sure where we are on a "normal school calendar," but the weather is telling me it's time for us to be done. As spring warms and summer approaches we are doing our best to spend more time outside, and are looking forward to planning and planting our garden very soon. It's been a good, full school year and we are ready for a change of pace! We will finish up this week and then call it a year. Here's a summary of what we've done.
Daily Routine...
...was similar to last year. Wake up, play, breakfast, play, get dressed, play, once Mom is ready (aka caffeinated) we gathered on the couch for Morning Time, which depending on the day included two or more of the following: Bible stories or devotional, memory verse practice, picture books, and a song or two. Then Baby Sister did about an hour of independent playtime in her room while we knocked out the bulk of our school. One thing that changed this year was that each day I gave Big Brother a short list of school items that he could do without me (do you hear the angels singing??), which he worked on while I worked individually with Middle Brother & Little Brother. I read chapter books aloud during lunch, and we would finish up any leftover school later after afternoon rest time.
Materials We Used...
...for Big Brother (2nd Grade):
Math: he finished Shiller Math Book 3 (though we plan to review/reinforce some of the concepts over the summer) as well as two Kumon workbooks that we used for supplemental practice, and an Usborne Telling Time Activity book.
Science: we read together all of Apologia's Young Explorers Astronomy course, and completed most of the experiments. He also filled out most of the pages in the accompanying Notebooking Journal.
History: we read together all of Story of the World Volume 2.
Reading: he read 11 chapter books that I assigned him, as well as a large number of picture books (on his own) and atlases (just for fun).
Other: he completed most of Building Thinking Skills Level 1, half of Maps Charts and Graphs Book D, and most of the Good and the Beautiful Handwriting Level 3. He drew more maps than I can count and has a remarkable grasp of world geography.
...for Middle Brother (Kindergarten):
Math: he finished Shiller Math Book 1 as well as the Kumon Addition workbook.
Phonics: he completed Logic of English Level B and most of Level C. He read all of the Bob Books in Set 2 as well as five chapter books.
Science: he finished half of the Building Blocks of Science Book K and also listened to the Astronomy course I read to Big Brother and participated in our experiments.
Other: he completed Building Thinking Skills Primary and half of The Rhythm of Handwriting. He spent a lot of time playing board games and card games with his brothers and became very fluent in telling time and counting money.
...for Little Brother (4K preschool):
Phonics: he completed Logic of English Level A, and is very proud of it!
Other: he spent most of his days listening to what his brothers were doing and absorbing all the learning that was happening around him. Because of that, not through any teaching on my part, he knows every state in the US by sight, all the continents and oceans, and most of the 1-10 addition facts. He is not a genius by any means - he still struggles to remember all the letter sounds and consistently writes his name backwards - but this is just an example of how children are literal sponges at this age and can learn incredible amounts on their own when given the right conditions.
...for all the children:
Read Alouds: I read 9 chapter books to all four children during lunch times throughout the year.
Bible: together we read through The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible (two times), The Lamb (two times), and The Children's Bible by Anne de Vries. We also worked on memorizing 15 passages from the Bible.
Art: most of our art supplies are freely accessible to the children, which means that we go through an ungodly amount of paper each and every day. Not a day goes by without some sort of coloring, drawing, cutting or gluing. It's messy, but that is the price of creativity! We also do occasional painting or beading or other organized art projects throughout the year.
Extracurriculars: all three boys took swim lessons this spring; the older two took a sports class at the YMCA last fall and piano lessons all year; we made frequent visits to the library, zoo, and horticultural center; two family road trips this spring; many nature walks at local parks throughout the year.
I am filled with gratitude as I reflect back on our year together, the ups and downs, the growth I have seen in each of our children, and all the memories we have made. What a gift it is to be able to spend these precious days of their childhood together! We plan now to take a few weeks completely off of school, plant a garden, celebrate some birthdays, and then begin our looser summer schedule after that.
Upward and onward, friends!
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