Winding Down

School has been winding down.  It’s been winding down for awhile.  Some days we skip it all together, and some days we do half days.  It’s actually been a few weeks since we’ve had a “full day.”  I always feel the need to explain that because I have no idea who is reading this, and what sort of perspective you reader are coming from.  It always leads to some comparison saying “We never took days off during the year, when public school took time off all the time” and I’ll talk about which part of the curriculum we finished, and which part I intend on doing part time through the summer.  I hate defending myself via comparison with the public schools because I believe comparing those two types of schooling is like apples and oranges, and is therefore not ever quite accurate.  I hate feeling that somehow the government has the perfect standard that I’m still comparing my children’s education to.

The weather has been good, and there’s been lots of playing outside.  There’s been a lot of t.v. watching too, if I’m honest.  There’s been lots of piano practice in preparation for next weekend’s recital.  There’s been a few year end parties with homeschool friends.

Like many of my homeschooling friends, our school winded down for the summer not when the curriculum had run out, or we had reached a certain date on the calender.  School was done when I burned out.  Since then we’ve been on my summer plan: some school on some days, depending on our schedule.  So far, that’s been working fine.

There were some subjects that we did well with this year, and there were some subjects I didn’t do so well with.  I think for the most part, when things got tough, we stuck to the basics and dropped some electives.  I still feel badly that we didn’t get through subjects like ‘Latin’ because for awhile it was just a lot to do.  I keep telling myself that there’s always next year.

We didn’t finish one of our history books.  We’re perhaps 3/4 of the way through it.  Yesterday I ordered the audio version of it, and we can listen to it all over again this summer.  I’ve heard the audio version is really good.  We didn’t do as many history activities as I wanted to.

So it’s time for a break.  We’re still going to look for opportunities to learn.  We’re still going to practice piano, and there will still be about 3 math sheets per week.  I think we’ll be doing some science here and there too.  Not because I feel we’re behind, but I want a habit of learning with the kids.  If anything, I think Silje and David are still ahead in the comparison game, but if I’m not playing the comparison game, than it doesn’t matter if they’re “ahead” and I can make happen what every teacher wishes their kids would do: not back track and forget everything over the summer.

I really need to spend some time regrouping.  All of the materials for next year are assembled, and I need to start organizing my mind around all of it.  I think the transition for David from kindergarten to 1st grade is going to be significantly different.

First, I’m going to finish writing the knitting pattern due at the magazine at the end of the month.  I was hoping to have it done 2 weeks ahead of time so that I’d have time to spare.  It could be done in less than 2 days if I didn’t have children, but since I do, it may get closer to that deadline.  So I’m going to work on that for awhile.  I’m just doing my bit day by day, and I’m pretty sure once I’m done all those little bits will come together beautifully.  So far the project is going according to plan, which isn’t always the case.  So I need to start devoting some more time to that.  That and the garden.

We finally got the garden planted, at least seed-wise.  There’s still some plants on my porch that need to be transplanted to the ground.  Silje was a huge help in getting the seeds in this year.  I think she cut my time out there by a third.  She loves being in the garden so much.

This wonderful weather has been taking Knut away from us.  I think Spring planting started right around the time I started burning out.  The kids have been going on lots of tractor rides with him this last week.  First Silje got to go, then David.  The next day, it was Elias’ turn, and I wish I had a picture of his face when I told him that Daddy had chosen him to spend time on the tractor with him all morning.  It was surprise and glee, and a sigh of relief that Daddy actually remember him.  The kids have each been having a great time having that one on one time with him.  When each of them returns home, it’s like their reset button has been set and the bickering goes down…for a few hours.