Last Day of School… already!

WOW!!  We made it… we survived the first year of homeschooling…with FLYING colors!  I am so proud of the progress that we made and that we were able to finish everything that I wanted to before this baby boy arrives!  That is a feat in and of itself!  I was sure that there would be a few days just hanging out there that would need to be finished with the newborn at home!  I am SO GLAD that we ended when we did!

Grace has enjoyed school so much and has just about begged me to keep on going… but I think that the daily grind of school will be a blessing when we return in the fall.  This will give her something to look forward to… school and Sparks!  She has truly blossomed this year…. she is reading, adding, subtracting, drawing, spelling, problem-solving, creative writing, and MORE.  Did I mention reading?  What a WHIZ!  She can read EVERY book on our shelves… she even attempts the chapter books!  She loves reading to Hannah and Josiah and even to me…. I have to ask to read books to her…. she would rather do it herself…sniff, sniff! I am also proud that she completed all of her verses for Cubbies.  She loved doing all of the sections along with the special, optional section for each week.  We claim the Psalm: “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.” 

Hannah didn’t want much to do with school in September… I gave her small projects to do to occupy her time, keep her busy and learn a little in the process, but she was NOT into it.  As the year progress she became REALLY interested, mostly because Grace told her that if she learned her letters and sounds then she could read, too!  That was motivation for this 2 year old!  She immediately wanted to know what the letters were and started seeing print all around her.  She even started writing H A.  She now knows N as well.  She loves the little books that I read with her, the letter book that we made as well as the small projects that I give her.  She has truly blown me away in the last few weeks… she knows nearly every letter and sound!  I have had to re-think my curriculum choice for her for the fall… we WILL do a preschool curriculum with her… she needs more than what I was anticipating!  YEAH!

As a fun way to end our morning, I put one of the ideas I saw on Pinterest to good use.  I squirted paint into Ziplock bags and then taped them to the table.  The kids used their fingers to create dots, letters, numbers, pictures, or whatever they wanted.  They were giggling and having a blast.  They traded spots several times and loved the new color to create with… Thanks again, Pinterest!

Yes, even Josiah got in on the action… he is the process of giving up his morning nap (yes, we ended school just in time) and he wasn’t AT ALL sleepy or whiny this morning so I kept him up and occupied!

Tomorrow we will take a field trip as a family to officially end the school year… not too sure where we will go,

but I am sure I will blog about it!  ;)