Finally, the last semester. I really can't believe that we've FINISHED four years already!?!?! Where has the time gone?
Anyway, while the year may have started out well, I mentally bailed out near the end of May. I. was. just. done!
After talking with Jeremiah's speech therapist I understood why- our brains do best on a regular cycle of learning and rest (a maximum of 3 months learning and then time off to assimilate and process the information learned).
Unfortunately the January - June model of schooling doesn't work into that properly and so she seemed to think it completely normal for my brain to have shut down then (based on how long it had been since the spring break).
She actually advocated for year round schooling (three months on/one month off). I'm seriously considering it.
Well, for final term.
This spring was a bit odd for us, since my husband actually ended up being off for six weeks due to hernia surgery.
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| Geocaching with daddy- his first time! |
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| Getting in some 'cuddles' |
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| A trip to the fish hatchery |
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And the Beatty Museum of Biodiversity at UBC-
with Graham off, he could actually come on our field trips |
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| The largest whale skeleton ever found- a blue whale |
For some reason I assumed that him being off meant that I'd get lots of things done (not necessarily school stuff- more so just projects around the house). Well, that didn't happen- but we did managed to get through him being home that whole time without going nuts!
That was a huge answer to prayer.
But he did get to see a little bit more of the challenges that I face with our school days- in particular some not so nice attitudes that our boys have towards math and writing.
I know it's a heart attitude thing that is just showing up as a school thing- but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with day in and day out.
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| Creating their own plays/mock battles |
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MythBusters!
That show was AWESOME! |
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Elijah & Jeremiah got to go to rocket making camp
At launch day, Elijah won a rocket kit in one of the
launch competitions |
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| Jeremiah setting off one of his rockets |
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A misfire turned Elijah's rocket into a missile that went
straight into the ground- his figurine came out unharmed
despite his painful looking contortion |
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| There were some extra rockets for siblings to launch |
It was also the, 'oh my goodness- I have all THAT to get done still?' semester.
I absolutely loved the curriculum that we used this year- reading about all the missionaries and the countries that they lived in was fascinating. At least for the older two. By the end, Samuel was being forced to listen and the younger kids, well, I stopped trying to get them to listen before Christmas. But it was still really good.
The problem lied in the disconnect between our learning and our need to be accountable to our school and have things done to show that we'd learned the material according to the Government learning outcomes.
We had learned lots of things, but I now needed to figure out a way to prove it to our home support teacher.
Enter in my perfectionism- which pretty much had me paralyzed and unable to think of anything to do or how to do anything that the teacher had suggested.
I know I made it WAY more complicated than it needed to be, which meant that we didn't get it all done. And what DID get done wasn't done very well at all.
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Making & setting off volcanoes- a bit disappointing
compared to what we had hoped would happen |
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| Duct tape wars |
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The cake I make for Elijah's class- to represent
everything they studied this year |
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Noah got to hold the flag at his
end of term class presentation |
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| Samuel- listening to instructions @ Sports Day |
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| Noah enjoying himself @ Sports Day |
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| Elijah hamming it up @ Sports Day |
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| Jeremiah @ Sports Day |
But it got me to thinking about next year and what I could do differently.
I've managed to get some great resources for next year that are either gov't textbooks or a layperson's version of a gov't textbook. Now, when we do the reading/work- they have little check boxes where I mark off the learning outcomes. How sweet is that!
I guess it's the difference between a lightbulb and a laser. Both take the same amount of energy- one is just focused and the other isn't.
By having a laser-like focus for the 'have-to's', it should free up more time for us to get to the 'want to's' (at least in theory, anyway).
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| Our first trip to White Rock with the kids |
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| Getting our puppy |
Well, now we're on to summer break- officially.
My sister is here from Germany, so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post over the next 2 - 2 1/2 weeks, but I'll still try.
Enjoy!
Keeping it real, by the grace of God...
Tammy
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