Wow. I haven’t blogged since December. That isn’t to say
that I haven’t had loads of witty comments, or never-ending stories of
homeschooling bliss, because I have. I just haven’t felt the muse strong enough
to sit in front of the computer and type it out. Laziness? I has it.
What brought on this blog out of the blue? Today is our
official last day of school for this year! I think I hear angels singing. It
seems like we just started (ahem, that was July, deary) and here we are,
finally FINALLY finishing. Well, finishing is an inexact term. Medium and Small
did completely finish their spelling curriculum. Medium is a natural speller.
Honestly, I don’t think I taught him anything this year, but we did go through
all four books, Level 1-4, of All About Spelling, so that counts. Small
completed Level 1 and 2, but still struggles with basics. Next year (and by
next year I mean whenever I randomly decide to start again, probably in July)
before moving onto Level 3 we’ll do some major reviewing. I’m actually debating
switching him to Abeka for Language Arts, but haven’t quite given up completely
on All About Spelling. Both Small and Medium are just a chapter away from the last chapter of their Math U
See books, which we will finish next week. Yes, we’ll still do math after today, but
compared to an actual full school day, a few minutes of math for those two will
be gravy. For Grammar (or English,
Language Arts, Communication Arts….whatever you prefer to call it) they both
are still working through Rod & Staff, 2nd grade and 4th
grade, but R&S does soooo much review I’m completely OK with stopping
before we finish the book. I read all the time how most public school classes
don’t completely finish a book and am trying to let myself off the hook on it.
We touched on the important things in the remaining chapters and are calling it
good, for now. Medium loves Rod & Staff and wants to move onto 5th
grade in it, but as stated above, Small might be making a switch to
Abeka. Roadtrip USA Geography has been so much fun and they’ve learned a lot,
but my lofty goal of doing two states a week instead of the recommended one
didn’t pan out. We’re ending with our study of the Midwest States, and will
pick it back up to finish when “school” resumes. Mystery of History is the same: finding a
good stopping point, picking up again next year. The only difference will be
with Large because….
He will be an 8th grader next year. I know, you’re
all shaking your heads thinking, “but just yesterday he was sucking his thumb
while twirling your hair for naps.” But sadly, he is a full-fledged teenager
now, which his brothers love to tease him about, with much-appreciated comments
about the beginning stages of “pit hair”, but I digress. Most 8th
graders study some form of Civics/American History, and since he and I are WAY
more interested in the government and its sorry state of affairs how it
works, he won't do history with little brothers and I’m currently on the hunt for a great curriculum for him. He’s finished in Grammar, at a
good stopping point in typing, and finished his last “literature” book this
week. BUT, he is not as far along in Science (Apologia General Science) as I
would like, so in addition to finishing up Zeta in Math U See, he gets the
added bonus of continuing science for the next few weeks. He tends to complain
about every. single. subject. And assignments. And moving off the couch. And coming out of his room. He doesn’t believe he needs to
know proper grammar, how to type, how the digestive system works, or how to
convert fractions and decimals, but by golly, HE’S GONNA! I tell him often to
try to be the smartest version of himself, to try to learn as much as possible
and not discount information as irrelevant or unnecessary just because his 13
year old mind doesn’t see a need for it. I'm patiently chalking his lack of interest in education to typical early teenage boy behavior and will tolerate it, for now. I'm hoping having the summer off, when he finishes his durn math and science, will be a refreshing break for both of us and he'll come into 8th grade with excitement and a smile. mmmmhmmmm.
Is this a daily struggle? Yes. Am I
going to continue to homeschool him? Yes, because it is completely 100% worth
it. The little moments of annoyance do not, in the bigger picture, compare to
the many many moments of laughter and happiness we have together while being
free of the public school schedule. I would say bring on the sleeping in, going
where we want when we want, but thanks to homeschooling, we have that already. So I guess I can say,
bring on floating in the lake without doing math first, and visits to Branson
without turning the trip into a writing lesson. Let's all take a moment to breathe deep, because it's Summer Summer Summertime. Summatime. Time to sit back and unwind.
