Hmm not that our family sticks strickly with the school year but I know heading into school holidays it's best to go very light with our already 'loose' schedule. And it seems premarture to be finishing at the end of June (in Australia the school year ends in December) and yet, that's when school finishes here in Holland and the summer vacation starts.

For some reason, too, I'm feeling so good about heading into these holidays. The main reason for this is for the first time in my homeschooling career I'm no longer responsible for recording what work we have done on a day to day basis, eventhough, the recording is still happening. The reason why? My partner-in-life, who shares this learning journey with me, discovered some months back an online schedule system (if you go to the SimplyCM website you can check it out too, free for one month) which he has been playing with and is now using for keeps. The peace that has descended on this home is incredible: a major pressure has been taken off me allowing me to get on with teaching the children. And secondly, Marcel is directly involved in such a way that draws on one of his strenghs as a person - in areas where he has an interest (eg. finances and homeschooling) he keeps fantastic records! So most days when he gets home from work he logs on and in five to ten minutes has recorded for that day what has been 'worked on' and what has been 'completed'. Both of us are seeing tangibly how much work is getting done throughout the day. It is so motivating to me because we are only recording the learning that you can see/touch which in a funny way gives me a lot of peace because I also know there is alot of learning that can't be seen or will bare fruit sometime down the track.

I also head into the holiday season knowing more about my eldest son and his needs as a learner. For this visual spatial mum has a dear son who thrives on structure, who needs a step-by-step (dare I say it) workbook approach. We have started a new maths program and starting from the beginning we are flying through it filling in any gaps and for the first time in awhile my son loves maths. His sisters are loving the new program too! Even our youngest, as if through osmosis is chatting about tens and hundreds - it's a joy to see. Over the holidays we will have an informal season of maths before starting into a more routine schedule when things slow down and become more normal in the lesson pace. Must say it's a pretty wild pace right now and unpredicatable - some days we spend 2 hours on maths and other days it's around 30 minutes so I'm going with the flow and enjoying the ride.

So, that's us with wrapping up this school year. For those of you here in Holland, whether you are wrapping up for your school year or continuing on as usual, I want nothing but the best for you and your family. For my friends back in Australia enjoy the season of winter and stay warm!