Our school year is almost/basically/pretty much/maybe finished. I told the children that sometime next week will be our Official Last Day of School, which doesn't actually mean a whole lot because I always have Plans For Education Which Will Happen During the Summer - but still, it's nice to mark the change of seasons and reflect on our accomplishments. Our typical "last day of school" tradition is to take pictures, get donuts, and make Unreasonably Ambitious Plans of all we want to do this summer. The kids love it.
Wisconsin springs are such a tease. We enjoyed summer-like temperatures two weeks ago and even spent a lovely morning at the beach (and in the water), and then three days later it was snowing again. However, despite random flurries of snow, we are winding down our school work and looking forward to a change of pace.
I do love this time of year - looking back at all we've done (I never realize how much it is until I take the time to write it down) and thinking forward to the coming year. I love planning what we might do next fall, looking for new books, and anticipating all the adventures to come! I love hearing the birds return, watching the trees leaf out and blossom, and the hope of sunny days and warmer weather.
Here's a recap of our school year with some of the resources we used!
Daily Routine
This has been similar to last year. We do not have a set start time, but after breakfast the kids do their chores and then usually play for a bit while I get my life organized and maybe even brush my hair; once I am ready I put Baby Brother upstairs for his Independent Playtime and the rest of us gather in the living room for our Morning Time. We sing a song together at the piano (except for the days when some of us have sore throats - and it's very interesting how an increase in sore throats tends to correlate with the least favorite hymns) and then read through our Bible story book, either our science or history book, and maybe some poetry too if we're feeling ambitious. I let the kids do "something quiet" while I am reading which is usually either drawing or playing with blocks or passionately arguing about Whose Blocks Are Whose. After reading, resolving arguments, and reading some more, Big Brother and Middle Brother will split off for their independent work (usually a list of three or four items to work through) and I have some focused time with Little Brother or Little Sister or, on a good day, both. This Morning Time has been slowly lengthening and I am coming to view it as one of the key foundations to our school life. As the kids get a little older we are now able to read for more than 2.5 minutes at a time and I am seeing the value of us all being together, enjoying good books and music and poetry as a family, and being able to talk about them - whether it be the three year old proudly demonstrating that she's memorized all three verses of our hymn, or the six year old giggling about how our body is made up of "tissues" and some of them are called "nervous tissues" (much laughter was generated that day), or the eight year old explaining to me exactly why Gehazi lied to the prophet Elisha.
The point is that we all share the stories and the ideas and, like a true feast, each of us takes away something different to feed our different minds. I've got a hunch this will only get better as we get older, and I can't wait.
For Big Brother (10 years old, finishing 4th grade)
Math: This year we finished up our review of Shiller Math book 3 (in which I went back, picked out the lessons that he wasn't completely comfortable with yet, and did more review problems from those lessons) and then began Book 4. We also used a few Kumon workbooks to review and drill multiplication, addition, and subtraction (as I still feel that Shiller doesn't include quite enough review to really feel fluent in these concepts).
Language Arts: This guy has had amazing reading and spelling skills ever since the beginning - so we don't work on those at all. I've been assigning him a section to read out of a few different books each day, and then he will narrate what he has read (which simply means he tells me about it). He finished seven chapter books throughout the course of this year. He also continues to enjoy cursive and we finished about half of Handwriting 4 from The Good and the Beautiful.
Science and History: This year we finished Apologia's Zoology 1 book (that we started last year) and got through about half of the Human Anatomy and Physiology book. We read these together as a family, and the three older boys also had the Notebooking Journals to go with them - about once a week they did a page in their journal. We also finished reading Volume 3 of The Story of the World and would often talk about what we read but did not do any other activities to go with it.
Other: He finished 1/3 of Building Thinking Skills Level 2, and started both speech and occupational therapy.
For Middle Brother (8 years old, finishing 2nd grade)
Math: We started Shiller Math book 3 and got through about a third of it. As I noticed with Big Brother, this level is more difficult and contains a lot of new material which slows down our progress. Both boys made it through books 1 and 2 in less than a year but then have taken much longer to get through this level - which is fine! Now I know what to expect, and I foresee that we'll likely be in book 3 for all of next year as well.
Language Arts: We are nearly done with Logic of English Level D and I expect to finish it up in the next two weeks. He has been reading well for quite some time now (and once that happens I tend to back off the phonics work), but he is not a natural speller like his older brother, so we need to keep reviewing and practicing spelling. He wanted to learn cursive this year so we started Handwriting 3 from The Good and the Beautiful and made it through about half of the book. He also read seven chapter books that I assigned to him.
Science and History: Same as above, because we read this all together - we finished Apologia's Zoology 1 book, did half of the Human Anatomy and Physiology book, and finished Story of the World Volume 3.
Other: He completed 1/3 of Building Thinking Skills Level 1, filled out a Journal, completed Math Analogies Level 1 and 1/3 of Mathematical Reasoning Level C.
For Little Brother (almost 7 years old, finishing 1st grade)
Math: I'm going to go ahead and say that we finished Book 1 of our Shiller math curriculum. Now, we didn't do very much of it (shhhhh, don't tell) - but as we worked through it I realized, "Wait, he actually knows all this already!" I am not sure if it is because of the math we have done at Classical Conversations or from picking it up from his brothers, but I suddenly realized that everything in Book 1 was too easy. Review can be good, but I'm also not going to insult his intelligence by making him do work that's several levels below him. So, we'll be moving on to Book 2 this summer!
Language Arts: His reading has really taken off this year, which is so exciting! He finished Logic of English Level B and I am pleased with how well he is reading. This opens up a whole new world of learning opportunities! Side note: he's about to turn seven, and he's now at the same reading level that his oldest brother reached at age four. Is one better than the other? NOT IN THE LEAST. One child was ready at four, and one was ready at 6.5. Children are not machines, nor robots, nor one-size-fits-all-mini-adults; rather, they are each gloriously unique - which means their education should also be unique. Ahem. Now, besides reading, he still needs a lot of help with spelling and handwriting, so we'll continue to work hard on those during the coming year.
Science and History: Same as above, because we read this all together - we finished Apologia's Zoology 1 book, did half of the Human Anatomy and Physiology book, and finished Story of the World Volume 3.
Other: He completed half of Beginning Math Analogies from the Critical Thinking Company and half of Explode the Code Book 1.
For Little Sister (almost 4 years old, finishing preschool) and Baby Brother (1.5 years old, finishing pre-pre-preschool)
Clearly these two are not in "school" yet, but they are an important part of our family and therefore of our school life. Baby Brother is in a much better place than he was a year ago, for which I am grateful. He sleeps fairly well now - still not as consistently as his older siblings do, but we are moving in that direction. He's also in great danger of being excessively spoiled by four adoring siblings who are constantly showering him with toys and snacks and attention. It's a rough life.
We have not yet started any formal curriculum with Little Sister - I hope to try just a little bit next year - but she is absorbing and participating in all that happens around her. She listens while we read and she colors while the older boys do math and she does her best to learn every board game and card game that her siblings are playing. Through reading some alphabet and number books, and a little bit of practice, she now is mostly able to identify all of the numbers and letters. Comparison is inevitable ("Her brother knew these when he was two!") but I also must remember that each child is an individual and most of these comparisons do not matter at all. I can give her an environment that encourages learning, I can read to her good books full of beautiful ideas, and I can help her learn habits that will set her up for success, but I cannot change who she is nor her individual timetable for learning.
Recently I drove past a preschool/daycare type facility that proudly advertised "98% OF OUR GRADUATES CAN READ!" and my first reaction was a deep sadness. These "graduates" can't be more than four or five years old - and what would possess someone to believe that 98% of four/five year olds should be reading? Do you really think they are all ready for this (not insignificant) developmental milestone? Yes, reading is important and even crucial (eventually) - but why do you think that learning to read is the most important thing these little ones should be doing right now? And what about the 2% who don't? Will they (and their poor parents) now believe that they are less intelligent or less capable than the others? And finally, even more important than their ability to decipher words, do they love reading? I hope so, but I also know there's no better way to exterminate a child's love for books than to force him to read them himself long before he is ready.
*deep breath, steps off soapbox*
What We Did All Together
Read Alouds: We finished eight chapter books and they were so good! We do not write about these or take quizzes or anything else - we read them over lunch time and it is simply for the purpose of enjoying good literature together.
Art: besides the art projects they did at Classical Conversations, we have not done any formal art curriculum or projects - but the children are creating something every. single. day. They have now started expanding their repertoire beyond the usual crayons/markers/scissors/paper/glue to include fabrics and felts, household utensils ("C'mon guys! WHERE'S MY SPATULA??"), and any unattended items from the recycling bin. I don't know if I should laugh or cry but it's incredibly creative and incredibly messy. I'm pretty sure I need a side gig planting trees just to counteract the amount of paper materials my offspring have consumed.
Bible: we read through two-thirds of The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos and learned five new hymns together.
Geography: I'm just going to brag a tiny bit and say that we do zero geography "work" because all three boys can draw any country in the world AND identify any country based on its shape, location, or flag. They know much more than I do which is amazing and humbling and it's almost 100% self-taught.
Extracurriculars: we took road trips to Michigan, Georgia (twice), Washington DC, Ohio, and Minnesota (three times). The older two boys did weekly piano lessons, two piano festivals, and one recital. The three older boys did weekly choir rehearsals, three performances for our homeschool group, and one recital. The three older boys did two sessions of swimming lessons. We visited the library about twice a month, did weekly walks around our neighborhood or at nearby nature centers, and as much outdoor play time as we could squeeze in. We visited the zoo five times and the Domes twice. We completed two unit studies: A Connected Christmas and An Expectant Easter. The three older boys completed their second year of Classical Conversations and I completed my first year of tutoring!
Whew! It was a full year, and I am honestly grateful for all this time together. We still have so many faults and issues and areas in desperate need of improvement (this is me too, not just them) but at the same time I look back at this year with gratitude for answered prayers, beautiful memories, and real, significant learning that happened. We are growing, and that's all that anyone can ask for.
Upward and onward!
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