K and I finished her first year of homeschooling a few weeks ago and I think it was a success! Although her health was pretty good for the most part, she still had enough issues that it made me very thankful not to have to wake her up early and shoo her out the door when she wasn’t feeling her best. She had a nasty respiratory infection back in the fall, a lot of GI issues during the winter, and bouts of pain that seemed to come and go…but being out of school meant that she did not really acquire any contagious infections this year which was awesome! For her health, homeschooling was definitely a win!

 I feel like she learned a lot this year, too. The hardest parts were long division and two digit multiplication, but we survived! Otherwise, it was pretty smooth sailing. She is such a smart kid and strong reader, so that really made most of school very easy for her. It also made it possible for her to continue working when I was busy with Josephine at the end of the year.

I do wish we had been able to do more out of the house/social activities this year, like museum classes and field trips, but with me being pregnant (nausea and vomiting in the fall/due in the spring), it was hard to sign up for much! She is such a social kid that I know she would love interacting with a wider world of people, so hopefully next year we will be able to do a bit more in that arena. We did a few things this year; farm field trip, the Nutcracker, Valentine’s Party with other homeschooling friends, but there are so many available opportunities for her to explore!

I interviewed K about her year and these were her answers:

Favorite Continent(s): Asia and Australia

Favorite Ecosystem: Tundra

Favorite Subject: Reading

Biggest Challenge: Math/2 digit multiplication

Favorite Part of Science: Order Lepidoptera in Flying Creatures

Favorite Part of Bible: Windows on the World (a study of differen cultures/religions)

Favorite Part of Math: Nothing/Addition, if forced to pick something

Favorite Part of Geography: Pretend travels

Favorite Part of Art: Designing a house

Favorite Part of LA/Spelling: Adjectives

What are you looking forward to next year: Art and Egypt/the pyramids

This year our main curriculum was geography centered, next year it will be focused on early history, up to the Greeks. We are going to keep using Teaching Textbooks for math and Apologia for extra science (she picked Chemistry and Physics, eek!), but I think we may try something new for LA. Overall, I’m really pleased with how our year went, even though my pregnancy and Josephine’s arrival complicated things just a bit, and we are looking forward to next year…after we enjoy a nice long lazy summer!