First Day of Summer Break!

I can't believe that we have made it to the end of our second year of homeschooling...first full year! It feels good to say that I no longer feel like a rookie at this!

It has been a great year. When I stop and really think about the things that my children know now that they didn't know a year ago, it makes me feel successful. I worried about how I would teach Patrick his multiplication facts....now he knows them so well. Carter has learned to multiply and divide. Madison can label the 8 parts of speech in a sentence and has graduated from using 4 squares for writing to note cards and research. I feel so good about all that they have learned about American History and our government, as well as their overview on the rest of the world...where we are in relation to it. As always, they loved Science..so did I. Carter is no longer behind in reading comprehension. He reads very well and comprehends as well as the other two.

These are the kind of things that I look back on and feel success because of, however, I also look back on the fun that we've had. We have laughed some days until we cried. We've made messes and messed up things that should have gone smoothly. We've winged it some days because school went a different direction than what was written in my book....these were days when we often learned more than any other time.

I've had days when I wanted to shut myself in my room and cry...days when Patrick did.....days when Madison would rather run laps than do math.....times when Carter took his failures(as he saw them) out on me. There were days when I took my moods out on the kids and days when we had about as much success with staying on task as we could have in the middle of an amusement park.

But then.............

There were the days when we spread all of our books out on the school table or school room floor and everything just fell into place. There were times when the day ended with books and papers all over the place, yet, a contentment in knowing that the kids had learned new things because of it. We have learned to stick to schedules that we set for ourselves and learned that it's okay if sometimes we don't. At times, I have overheard my children repeating to someone a bit of something that they learned from me.....times when I've heard them thank God for their teacher....their mom.

Yes, I would say that our second year of homeschooling was a success, but like all children, they are ready for summer break.

I let each one of them invite one friend over for the day to play and swim. Afterwards, Jeff and I took the three of them to the movies to see Shrek. I remember when school would let out for the summer..how significant it was. I wanted to make this day special in the same way.