2023-2024 School Year Summary (5th, 3rd, and 2nd grades + 4K)

I don’t know how the public schools do it. Every spring, by the beginning of May – if not earlier – we lose interest in our books. The trees are budding, the flowers bursting open, the frogs in the ponds awaken, and we just can’t seem to spend the morning indoors. How do those plucky public school teachers keep going and keep their students’ interest? Frankly, I don’t believe it’s worth the fight. God created spring to be enjoyed outdoors and OUTDOORS WE SHALL BE. Huzzah!

The end of the winter got a little crazy and I’m so thankful for the exercise and fresh air that accompanies warmer weather. We all needed it! Because we are blessed with a fenced-in yard, I can send all five children outside without me and the short break is indescribably magical. Let the kids run and shout and let Mom bask in a few minutes of a quiet house: it’s a win-win for all. As I write, I can see a mother robin who made the questionable choice to build a nest in a nook at the top of our porch. From where she sits she has a perfect view into our living room, and every time I peek at her she’s staring at us with wide eyes and her beak slightly open as if she can’t believe the level of noise going on in this house. Neither can I, lady. Neither can I.

All that to say that we have finally logged our Official Last Day of School and sealed the deal with celebratory donuts from our favorite local shop. It’s been a busy year, a good and a full year, and I am once again so very grateful that I get to do this. We’re counting down seven more years until Big Brother graduates, and these loud busy days with all of us together won’t last. In fact I made a note for myself, recommended by Justin Whitmel Earley, listing out the coming years and who will be in the house when. The time doesn’t look quite so long when you scribble it down like this, and it encourages me to keep going and to love them well while I still have a chance. More on that later.

However, here’s the recap of our homeschool year! It’s a good amount, and I am always encouraged to see it all written out, but please also take note of the many things we did not do. WE DID NOT DO EVERYTHING! And that’s a good thing. You don’t have to cover every subject under the sun in order for your children to have a valuable learning experience. In fact, they’ll almost certainly enjoy it more and learn more if you do less.

Recap of Our Homeschool Year By Grade

BIG BROTHER (11 years old, finishing 5th grade)

• Handwriting: he completed Level 4 from The Good and the Beautiful
• Math: he completed Shiller Math Lesson Book 4
• Reading: he read through five chapter books and copied various sentences from each one
• Thinking Skills: he completed half of Building Thinking Skills Level 2
• He practiced piano most days and completed the first unit in an online typing program

MIDDLE BROTHER (9 years old, finishing 3rd grade)

• Handwriting: he completed Level 3 from The Good and the Beautiful and started Level 4
• Math: he completed Shiller Math level 3
• Reading: he read through five chapter books and copied various sentences from each one
• Thinking Skills: he completed half of Building Thinking Skills Level 1
• He practiced piano most days and completed the first unit in an online typing program

LITTLE BROTHER (almost 8 years old, finishing 2nd grade)

• Handwriting: he completed Level 1 from The Good and the Beautiful
• Math: he completed Shiller Math level 2
• Reading: he read through four chapter books and copied various sentences from each one
• Thinking Skills: he completed half of Building Thinking Skills Level 1
• Phonics: he completed Level B of Logic of English and started Level C
• He practiced piano most days and completed half of the first unit in an online typing program

LITTLE SISTER (almost 5 years old, finishing 4K)

Little Sister is alllllmmost to the end of her first phonics book! We started Logic of English Level A in the fall and will hopefully finish it up this summer. She has loved it, but sounding out words is still difficult for her and has not really clicked yet – totally normal – so once we finish the book we will take a break for the rest of the summer and then start up Level B in the fall. I am confident that she will start to read as soon as she is ready! This year she listened to what her brothers were doing but did not do any other official school work herself.

BABY BROTHER (2.5 years old, finishing his year of “I Will Do Everything Myself, So Help Me God” and, on a related note, “Multiple Tantrums Every Day”)

This little fellow was a difficult baby and is now a difficult toddler, surprise, surprise! However, I was reminded yesterday that sometimes what our most challenging children need (or any of our children, really) is connection with Mommy and Daddy. Not another discipline, not time alone, not screen time (although all of those can definitely be the right choice at certain times!) – instead, we sometimes need to draw them closer and let them join us in whatever we are trying to accomplish.

In this particular moment, he had a bad case of the pre-lunch hangry tantrums, and when he couldn’t stop throwing the trains his brothers were playing with, I asked him if he wanted to help me make lunch. He joyfully exclaimed “Yes!”, dropped the trains, and ran to the kitchen. His older siblings will often help with meal prep but, due to being the youngest and also at an age where I can’t trust him near hot stoves or sharp blades or anything remotely dangerous, he had not yet had a chance to help. So, we dragged a chair over to the counter, he clambered up, and I wracked my mind trying to figure out what he could possibly do to “help.”

Eventually we settled on me peeling oranges and him dropping the slices into a bowl. He was thrilled and perfectly happy – not a shadow of a tantrum on his face. At one point I heard him whispering contentedly, “Am helping Mommy.” After the oranges, I sliced cheese and he heaped them haphazardly on a plate, and then he “helped” me set the table, managing to only knock over one glass of water in the process.

Please note: I did not want to do this with him. I was tired, in a hurry, and feeling so very DONE with this needy toddler and his continual tantrums. However, it was still the right choice – just because it was hard does not mean it was bad – and that little bit of connection calmed his spirit in a way that nothing else would have done. There are plenty of times where we will not be able to let them join in, or say YES when they want to help, but when we can draw them in, the reward is often far greater than we expect.

Back to the long-term vision. I won’t bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that we have parented four toddlers before this guy and he is unlike all the others. In almost every area, he is harder and more challenging. However, as I ask myself frequently, how much longer will he be a toddler? Not that long. He is also our last toddler, barring an act of God, and I already know that there are parts of this stage I will miss. That tells me that there are parts of this stage I can love, even when it’s hard. Soon enough he’ll be talking more clearly instead of screaming, learning a bit of self-control instead of throwing himself on the floor with every frustration, and joining in on our conversations instead of interrupting them. A vision of the future, of the child and teen and man that I believe he will one day be, helps me to continue on with hope and patience.

OFF THE RABBIT TRAIL AND BACK TO THE RECAP OF OUR HOMESCHOOL YEAR:

What We Did With Everyone Together

We did Morning Time almost every day, almost every week. Each child narrated at least one portion of our reading each time. During Morning Time, we:

1. learned and sang 7 different hymns
2. finished The Child’s Story Bible (that we had started last year) and then started it over again
3. read approximately 20-25 fairy tales in various forms
4. finished Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy
5. read selected poems from Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright
6. read about half of D’Aulaires Greek Myths
7. read a handful of picture books related to American History (find my list here) and also half of Story of the World Volume 1

Apart from Morning Time and their individual work, the three older boys also:

1. completed two sessions of swim lessons
2. had weekly piano lessons, plus two piano festivals/competitions and one recital
3. participated in our homeschool choir and sang in three concerts

We also:

1. read 6 chapter books during our lunch times
2. finished up our 3rd full year of Classical Conversation, including our first year of Essentials
3. visited the zoo three times, the Domes twice, and the library every other week
4. took road trips to Georgia, Cincinnati, South Carolina, and Minnesota (twice)
5. watched our first complete solar eclipse!
6. got our first pet, a guinea pig named Piglet
7. made thousands of drawings and probably used up 563 trees-worth of paper

There you have it, a long-winded recap of our homeschool year! If you are still reading, I applaud your perseverance and thank you for your patience. Coming up next on the blog: posts on What is Charlotte Mason homeschooling, narration examples, our summer routine, and more.

Stay tuned and stay curious!