Another cold and raining day, ugh. I am quite ready for our summer weather to come back. We were in the mid 80's for almost a week, and now for the past two days we've been in the 40's with rain. I liked the mid 80's better. Though sleeping at night is a bit better now, I sleep better in cooler weather.
I'm seriously thinking of ending school tomorrow. I am thinking about what few things I want to keep the kids working on through the summer. Yes, we are a worksheet kind of family, and I will have my kids doing some worksheets through the summer. We finished Paulie's math about a week ago. I was printing up some math worksheets for him and realized that only in a week's time he had forgotten some of the basic math concepts. So I think I will have a sheet or two of math concepts a day and continue to work with him on memorizing his multiplication facts over the summer. Plus we are going to continue with his phonics and reading through the summer. And to keep his penmanship up so I will probably have him copy some spelling words. I know it sounds like a lot, but it wouldn't take him more than 1 hour a day to finish those things. Plus, just to get to the point of sleeping in again, not have an schedule we have to follow, will be nice. We will probably just get in a routine of after breakfast and morning chores are done he'll do his lessons, then he'll be done for the day. I think for me personally, not having to have it done at a certain time will be a great relief.
I haven't decided yet what Sarah will be keeping up with during the summer. She has about 20 pages left in her Daily Grams book so I'll have her finish that up. But she doesn't usually forget to many math concepts or things through the summer, so I don't know that I need to keep her going on lesson type stuff. She reads a lot, to the point that sometimes we are telling her to put the book down and do some crafts or play outside. So what I'll probably have her do is some sort of craft through the summer. I've been wanting to have her start a cross-stitch sampler, so maybe we'll get that started. She enjoys doing crafts, but books just call out to her. Actually I'm going to be doing some searching about being a librarian. She is really interested in working in a library and I thought it would be great to start to work that into her lessons, especially in a few years when she starts high school. So I'll be searching around to see what's needed to be a librarian. How fun.
I've also been thinking about what to do with all the papers, art projects and such that we accumulate throughout the year. I actually have two big rubbermaid bins that I have all, yes all, their paperwork from the past few years. I know, ridiculous, but I just always have a hard time throwing out their work. It always made me feel like I was being a horrible mom. But I read today on a blog about different things people do with end of year things. And I liked some of what they did. One mom makes a mini scrapbook album, making a list of books they read, putting in some of their work, things like that. Then another mom takes a picture at the end of the school year, so the mom on the blog I read is going to put those things together. I think I'm going to do something similar. I think I'm going to get one of those pocket folders that has 3 paper hole clips in them. I will probably take some of their work and put it there, I took pictures at the beginning of the school year, and I will take pictures of their graduation at the homeschool group for their end of school year pictures. Making a bit of a scrapbook page with those. Maybe even write something out as to what we did all year. And then after putting that together, I'll throw out everything else. That will be a hard thing to do, but truly, I can't keep every piece of work they do. It's getting out of hand, and I'm running out of space. And when I think about it, I don't have any class work from when I was younger, and I'm ok with that. Truly, I wouldn't want to carry all that around anyway. Now I'm just trying to decide what I want to do with all the papers I've saved through the years. I might just get rid of them all and start with this year keeping these kinds of thing. I know that might be shocking to some, but I truly can be such a pack rat, and I'm trying to learn to get rid of things. So those are my thoughts right now. I'll let you know what actually gets done.
Uggggg..... multiplication.... YUCK!!! I started PC on it in the 3rd grade. I think he has finally got it in the 6th grade. Poor kid has horrible memory skills and it really hurts him in stuff like memorizing math facts and spelling. I'm still even having trouble getting him to capitalize the first letter of a sentence and put a period at the end and we have been working on that since 1st grade!!! I always put a sampling of PC's work in a portfolio (3- ring binder) at the end of the year. If we choose not to do testing (which I don't do) then we have to show a certified teacher a sample of their work, so a portfolio works well and then I just keep the portfolio so if any questions about his education arises, I have a sample of his work to show.
Sorry I've not been around we're trying to wrap up school before our month long break/vacation in June. I understand the whole packrat thing. I was so afraid to get rid of anything for fear "I'd need it". Well after 10 years in a box it was very straightforward I didn't need it after all. Just image how enriched someone else's life might become when then "find" one of your treasures huh?
Hang in there the sun is bound to shine in this state eventually!!!!
Okay. Here's where I confess that I haven't thrown out anything in five years of homeschooling. And I've moved three times! How sad is that? I think I will make that my project this year. You are right. We don't need to continue lugging it all around!
It's cool and rainy here too!
Yes, i have stacks of school papers hanging around here. I do have notebooks for them, but i have sadly not kept up with it this year. I really need to get on top of that and do some major culling.
I have to tell my boys to stop reading, too. Once they are outside, they are fine, but left to their own, they'd stay put in their little reading worlds.
This blog is so I can share my journey with the Lord, my journey as a wife and mother, and my journey as a homeschool mom. I pray that you will see the Lord in my life through happy and sad times, and that this blog glorifies the Lord.
This is an award and tag free zone, thank you.
So what I'll probably have her do is some sort of craft through the summer. I've been wanting to have her start a cross-stitch sampler, so maybe we'll get that started. She enjoys doing crafts, but books just call out to her. Actually I'm going to be doing some searching about being a librarian. She is really interested in working in a library and I thought it would be great to start to work that into her lessons, especially in a few years when she starts high school. So I'll be searching around to see what's needed to be a librarian. How fun. 
I know, ridiculous, but I just always have a hard time throwing out their work. It always made me feel like I was being a horrible mom. But I read today on a blog about different things people do with end of year things. And I liked some of what they did. One mom makes a mini scrapbook album, making a list of books they read, putting in some of their work, things like that. Then another mom takes a picture at the end of the school year, so the mom on the blog I read is going to put those things together. I think I'm going to do something similar. I think I'm going to get one of those pocket folders that has 3 paper hole clips in them. I will probably take some of their work and put it there, I took pictures at the beginning of the school year, and I will take pictures of their graduation at the homeschool group for their end of school year pictures. Making a bit of a scrapbook page with those. Maybe even write something out as to what we did all year. And then after putting that together, I'll throw out everything else. 
That will be a hard thing to do, but truly, I can't keep every piece of work they do. It's getting out of hand, and I'm running out of space. And when I think about it, I don't have any class work from when I was younger, and I'm ok with that. Truly, I wouldn't want to carry all that around anyway. Now I'm just trying to decide what I want to do with all the papers I've saved through the years. I might just get rid of them all and start with this year keeping these kinds of thing. I know that might be shocking to some, but I truly can be such a pack rat, and I'm trying to learn to get rid of things. So those are my thoughts right now. I'll let you know what actually gets done.
