This last quarter was super challenging as we were so anxious to be done! We enjoyed a break at the end of March and then pressed on toward the goal to finish at the end of May. It was a great relief to close the books for the final time. We sweetened the end of school by sharing a surprise with the kids on Mother's Day regarding a special trip in June. . .
We completed all of Kay Arthur's Inductive Studies for Kids with her study on prayer, so I needed to find another study for the kids to do. Ellie has a group of friends that we spend a great deal of time with. One of the moms suggested that the girls do a Bible study together. We chose the book "What Happens When Young Women Say Yes to God" by Lysa Terkeurst. The plan was for the girls to work on it on their own during the week and then discuss it when they were together. They managed to discuss several of the lessons, but never got through all of them as a group. Ellie completed the study on her own, however, and enjoyed it. She also began attending a weekly discipleship at church with the junior high group. For Josh, Dennis and I found the book "You Always Have a Friend in Jesus for Boys" by Jim George at our church's bookstore for him to work on. He liked it and did well with it.
We completed Part 1 of America the Beautiful. We covered the Mexican War, the Oregon Trail, the pony express, the Civil War and the early years afterward as well as about the life of cowboys. In addition we learned about John James Audubon, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Robert E. Lee and Fanny J. Crosby. We also got to know more about the Smithsonian Institute, Niagara Falls, Gettysburg, Yellowstone and Promontory Point in Utah.
Josh finished up his study of flying creatures by studying beetles, flies, true bugs; interesting insects such as dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, cicadas, praying mantises and finally, butterflies.
Ellie learned how to classify life with the Five-Kingdom System; about bones, muscles and skin; and how the body gets energy for life. She did not finish her book - she had three modules left. However, since the remaining material was about the human body and we studied anatomy and physiology last year, I felt OK with her not completing the text.
For language, Ellie continued with grammar supplements. She did her final book study on the book "God's Smuggler" which was about Brother Andrew, a Dutch factory worker, who smuggled Bibles into Soviet controlled Europe. Josh almost completed his language book. He only had two lessons left. His final book study was on C.S. Lewis' book "The Horse and His Boy."
Math was another subject we did not finish completely, but we made good progress.
Our field trips for this quarter were spent as a family. We spent three nights in
Carlsbad and visited Legoland, Sea World and the Museum of Making Music. In May, we went to Dennis' school to see their production of "The Little Mermaid;" and our final three field trip days took place during our surprise trip in June!
Josh finished his
golf lessons at the end of May. Ellie finished up the
club volleyball season at the beginning of June.
Usually I am someone who likes to "check off all the boxes" and complete all of our curriculum, even if it means working into summer. This year, however, I had a much more relaxed attitude. We didn't really have a summer last year due to the loss of Dennis' mom. We were still working to get her house ready to sell well into November which took a lot of time and found the kids and I sitting in her empty house on a few occasions trying to do schoolwork while contractors came and worked on the house. We also faced some health crises with my grandma and dad which interrupted our schooling because we were needed to help out. Club volleyball became a strain instead of a joy. By May, we all just wanted to be done! I had mixed feelings, like I hadn't done a good job of teaching this year. But then I had a conversation with my PSP administrator. She asked me about my school year and I shared with her all that had gone on during the year and how we hadn't finished all of our curriculum. She encouraged me by pointing out that the kids had learned more than just "book work." They had learned how to be flexible and to prioritize what was really important by following the Lord's directives to honor and serve their grandparents. I jokingly said that this hopefully means they'll take good care of their dad and me when we're old! Her encouragement helped me a lot and it reminded me that this is one of the reasons we have been committed to me being a SAHM and homeschooling our kiddos. Because of this chosen lifestyle, we have had the opportunity to be available to our parents and grandparents - to help and to serve them when needed. And while our bookwork may have suffered some, our kids still learned the material they did cover well and they learned so much more through practical daily living. And ultimately, I trust the Lord to fill in the gaps of our educational process. And on our last day of school, we began our countdown to our surprise trip. . . An Alaskan Disney Cruise!
