My kids would finish that by saying "Teachers let the monkeys out!"  No, wait.... maybe that's what I'd say!  Anyway.... We are officially done w/ our required days for this school year.  All that's left is for me to get everything logged & host Darci's graduation open house!

I keep thinking I'd like to be just a bit more structured next year, but we all love the unschooling lifestyle so much, it's hard to think about changing it.  However, the kids occasionally say they don't think they've learned much.  I've been thinking, if we throw some "unit-y type studies" in, or more "major discussions", maybe they could see how much they're learning.

Taryn is so close to probably being able to read, I think it would just take maybe of week of concentrated effort & she'd have it!  She was riding in the car w/ Darci one day & they pulled up to a stop sign.  Taryn immediately said, "S-T-O-P spells STOP!"  Darci was flabbergasted!  She started working w/ her on different words, so now she can spell horse, cat, dog, obviously stop, & I'm not sure what else.  She can finger spell as well as write at least some of them.  She's even been learning to tell time on a digital clock!  She'll be 5 in September, so I know it's about time.  She loves to be read to & "do schoolwork", so as long as that interest is there, I should milk it for all it's worth!

We'll see about adding some stuff w/ the bigger kids next year too.  I'd like to do a few experiments so they can see & do, rather than just read about it.  Caitlin is thinking about graduating at 17 also.  Darci's still not sure what she wants to do next year; right now she's really focused on photography.  Probably the best thing for me to do over the summer is to work on a "curriculum" of my own for each kid.    The things I think they need to know & how to get to that point.  For the most part, my philosophy of education is - as long as they know HOW to learn, WHERE to find answers, & WHAT kinds of questions to ask to get there, I've done my job.  Facts are just that....  I graduated 10th in my class of 360something, loved school, but I sure don't remember much of what I learned there.  (I'd have to go back & relearn anything to do w/ math & science especially.  )  History?  Some dates I remember, just b/c it was something "personal" to me.  One of the things I LOVE to read about is Russian history.  (Yeah, weird, I know...)  Did I get that at school?  Nope!  Hmmm.... not sure where I did pick that up.....

Anyway, I'm rambling here so I'm gonna stop for now.  I'm really gonna try to log some things over the summer so I can remember what we've done.

Ciao!