Joshua had several different speaking parts in this year’s school program. I was so excited and nervous for him. You would’ve thought I was the one with lines.
Well, if you’re new here you might not realize that I’m sort of a reluctant teacher. It’s not that I don’t possess the joy of teaching. Sometimes it is fun. The thing is that I cannot enjoy having so many things to do. There’s a fourth grader to teach, a third grader to teach, and a toddler running around. I finally threw in the hat and sent Daniel to pre-school, but it’s only three days per week, so sometimes he’s home too.
Then there’s the blog, the meals, I should at least talk to my husband occasionally (sarcasm. It’s just sarcasm), and the laundry, and heaven forbid, social outings or extracurricular activities.
It is not my cup of tea. I was not built to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and try to do so many things at one time. In the words of my adorable 2-year-old nephew in the swimming pool last year, “Don’t like it. Don’t like it. Don’t like it.”
I feel like I have so many things to do that I can’t do any of them well, because that’s exactly how it is.
So yes, this is the HAPPIEST season of all. Why? Because the school year is ending!!! I calculated very carefully. We will reach exactly 180 days on May the 24th.
We are all so ready for summer.
So we have a few pictures of the end-of-year-Classical Conversations program for ya and a little synopsis of what we covered at our humble little school. It was an intense year.
For Joshua, this year was all about learning the parts of speech and how to write essays. Each 4th-6th grade student diagrammed a sentence for the program.
Nonna and Alan. I was thankful we got to have a grandparent with us for the program. Living so far away from everyone, this is a rarity for us.
Caleb did a great job too. His class all recited their science facts together. They recited the parts of the atmosphere, types of leaves and leaf parts, and types of volcanoes.
These two were happy to be audience members. JD loves Daniel with the sort of undying devotion that only a sweet little sibling can give.
Not the best photo of Dan, but look at how HAPPY JD is! He’s ready for Mom to be done teaching and become his personal servant again.
What We Learned About This Year:
161 events and people in a chronological timeline (We love our time line song. Check it out here.)
44 U.S. Presidents– This is Caleb’s favorite memory work. He says them at lightning speed.
24 history sentences to add depth to our timeline
144 locations and geographic features in Africa, Europe, and the Old World
Caleb’s freehand watercolor world painting
24 biology and earth science facts including the classifications of living things and each continent’s highest mountain) Joshua totally rocked the highest mountains on each continent. I still can’t tell you them, but Joshua can.
5 Latin noun cases and noun endings and their singular and plural declensions
English Grammar Facts (including 53 prepositions, 23 helping verbs, and 12 linking verbs)
Multiplication tables up to 15×15, common squares and cubes, as well as basic geometry formulas and unit conversions
Oh! And we read the most interesting history text-book I’ve ever read. I’m pleased as punch to tell you that we finished the entire book. Alan even enjoyed getting in on this one. He would read it to them before bed at night. Home school is flexible like that!:
You may remember how I ran off all the corresponding activity sheets to go with Story of the World last summer. I thought we’d do so many of them. We did like 5, but that’s okay. We were perfectly happy to listen, learn, and memorize.
Joshua even wrote essays on the Trojan War and Greek mythology.
So now we’ve started on volume II. Caleb enjoys listening to the stories in the car, and Joshua enjoys reading them during silent reading time.
Joshua is 80% of the way through Teaching Textbooks Math 4, which was a much better fit for him than the A Beka curriculum, mostly because it took ME out of the equation. Ha!
Caleb is still doing well with his A Beka math. He’s our math stud. Joshua’s our master speller.
It was a hard year. I brought on board a reading tutor, a part-time nanny (just on Fridays), several doctors (for me), and a cleaning lady just to make it sort of work. But it’s almost done! CC is done! AWANA will be done as of next Wednesday (Thank goodness!), and school will totally be finished May 24th. I’m counting the hours.
Meanwhile, I have not had a fever today, so whoo-hoo!!! Now I’m off to feed the children and head to Joshua’s baseball game!
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Ah, the end of the school year is always so exciting. It's certainly a weight lifted off every parent's shoulders, especially if they are homeschooling their children. It sounds like you have had a hectic year, but you finally made it through! There is no shame in hiring on extra help when you need it; everyone needs an extra hand every now and then! Congrats on making it through the school year! Thanks for sharing!
We're so different in this respect--I thrive on the busy-ness. If I don' t stay busy I tend to get bored, then depressed. I wish we lived closer so I could have taken some of the weight for you this year. (But I ain't gonna lie--I'm glad it's over, too. lol)
Some people do. My husband thinks that I do, but I only thrive if the busyness is in doing the right things. My particular set up here just didn't quite fit. Busyness is good. Not enjoying your job is bad. Teaching is not my calling. Way not! You do much better with it. It is a gigantic blessing to be rocking what you do. Your work does inspire me and calm me down.
You have a beautiful family :). Those busy seasons can be so difficult and trying. I'm not made for those times either. I love the slower pace of summer as well. I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing summer with your precious people. Blessings to you all!
LOVE this post! Awesome pictures of all of the boys. Josh looks so grown up. Makes me tear up. Caleb's water painting - wow! Very impressive. I've never been able to paint squat with water colors. Sweetness with Daniel and JD, who "is ready to get his personal servant again" - ha! I had forgotten all about "don't like it, don't like it, don't like it." Too funny. I'm so jealous of Nonna getting see all of that - but happy for her, of course. I wish I could've been there, too! I am glad this year is coming to an end for you - you have persevered and will be all the stronger for it. This year has been a challenging year for you in so many ways. Thank you for inspiring me to press on when times are trying!
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4
“ Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply.” – Jane Austen
Wow, you amaze me homeschooling with a chronic illness. I am so ready to have the school year over and I don't homeschool! I have been having trouble balancing home, famity and blog too.