End of the School Year

Well, it isn't the end of the school year yet, but I do find myself critiquing what worked for us this past year.  And what didn't.  I find myself thinking about our goals for next year.  What I want to accomplish.  This year is going to be a little different.  At least I think so.

My goals have changed a little.  My desires for my family and each of our roles in the family are changing, growing, evolving.  And our school days need to reflect that.  Our school days are our life.  And whatever life brings us.  Which many days don't look anything like a traditional school day.

My goal is to continue school through the end of May.  We are taking the month of June off and then I hope to be ready to start again the second week of July.  There are two main reasons for this.  First, summer in our state is brutally hot so why not take advantage of our indoor time and do school so that when the beautiful days are here we can take advantage of them.  Secondly, I want to be flexible during our school year.  When field trips come up, opportunities to serve and other circumstances that life throws our way, we can take the time off of "school" and participate in those unexpected things.  And I won't feel so guilty!

I am also taking a different approach to school.  I am still following Amblesideonline  loosely but I am looking forward to tailoring our school day to each child, with the realization I cannot fit all I want to do with each child within each day.  Our family worship time is a must, Math is a must, reading to each child and spending time with each individual child is a must.  Gardening, cooking and maintaining a house and yard are skills I want my children to grow on.  The rest is all just added bonuses that I will fit in each day, as time allows.  (Science, time line, music, art, Spanish, Latin/Greek, language arts, writing, history etc.)

Less is best.  I started taking that approach after the holidays and have been amazed at how relaxed our days have been and how much we have accomplished.  This coming year I will have to find more creative ways to do school.  We will be at ballet three times a week.  And we still plan to volunteer at the transition community and Meals on Wheels.  Not to mention soccer, basketball and baseball for Boop.

Shakespeare will be on CD in the car.  And the hours we will be at ballet will be for reading and other things that the kids can do individually.  Wednesdays will be for Art, Music, Geography, Timeline, and Latin/Greek.  The rest of the week we will continue to stick loosely to our daily schedule.

I love that I have flexibility and can tailor school to each child.  I love that we have flexibility in that we can do life as a part of school.  Or school as a part of life.  I love that I can change things up.  I just love having the kids at home. . . .