No more pencils, no more books.........

No more Teacher's dirty looks! Hopefully!

I was planning to "do school" until May 29. But I am so tired of it! We have well over 1,000 hours, T. and B. are both done with (enough) math, we are done with science, done (enough) with spelling....they each have one book to finish that they are reading for history, and I have one I am reading aloud to them that we are halfway through. I think we will finish that and that's it.

I have a hard time differentiating "school" from "life". I guess I look at "school" as things they have to sit down to do - math, grammar, etc. Or maybe it is the stuff I have to make them do that constitutes school! We read aloud every night before bed - picture books with J. and H. and chapter with T. and B. We are reading Where The Red Fern Grows now. I think of that as literature. And we are reading a devotion a day from Training Hearts, Teaching Minds, which is based on the Westminster Catechism. So, that could be Bible. They are working on their Awana handbooks this summer (Bible) and we will do art (Art Pacs) because we need to have some projects going together. But mainly in the summer we play in the yard, work on the garden, go to the pool, and do church activities and library activities. Most of which I could (and do) record as "school/hours". But don't tell them, or they won't want to do any of it.......

I am so looking forward to getting everything ready for next year, taking some time to relax and reflect on what we did this year. I am moving to more things that the older boys can do on their own, and that seems to work well. They only need Mom to read so much to them. This was their first year to really work independently, and it has gone well. Plus, I need that time to get the little guys off to a good start.

So, almost done......