End of year

It is the beginning of November and we as a family are exhausted! As I sit on the couch here and ponder this, I am noticing a pattern over the last four years. By the end of October we get TIRED.

So, taking this into account, I will plan my year next year around it, and start our school holiday the beginning of November. We will start school the first of February like we have done the past two years. This will give the children a three month holiday and me enough time to plan the next school year.

So what have we done this year?

Lets start with Caleb. Caleb has worked hard this year. His spelling has improved greatly. His reading aloud has improved - he still needs to work on it but the growth has been great. Writing has improved - he does not enjoy it but the easier it becomes the more he will enjoy doing it. We have done a good couple of main lessons this year. Starting with a joint main lesson with Hannah:

1. Man and Animal. (4 weeks)
2. Grade 5 Geometry (3 weeks)
3. Man and Animal (3 weeks)
4. Rome (6 weeks) - this was too long and I will make it into two blocks next time
5. Footprints on Our Land (3 months)
6. Geometry (3 weeks)
7. Geology (3 weeks)
8. Physics (3 weeks)
9. We have done maths every day
10. Grammar, English most days

From the creative, hands-on side, he has done woodwork, drama, recorder, piano, scouts, Junior Rangers, pottery, painting, modelling, knitting and cooking.

All in all he has had a very busy year.

Now for Hannah. Hannah seems to find academics easy, so she breezes through that with no problems. Her reading ability is way above average, reading aloud and silently. Her spelling is really good as well. But, when it comes to neatness of handwriting and workbooks, well that is another story! Hannah loves cooking and does about 30 percent of all the cooking in the house. She is learning to tidy as she goes, but again, this is the difficult part.

Main lessons that we have done:

1. Man and Animal. (4 weeks)
2. Form Drawing (3 weeks)
3. Man and Animal (3 weeks)
4. Norse Mythology (4 weeks)
5. Footprints on Our Land (3 months)
6. Norse Mythology (3 weeks)
7. We do maths everyday
8. We do grammar everyday

Hannah does woodwork, drama, piano, recorder. She did girl guides but has chosen to move to scouts. She did pottery, knitting, crocheting and felt making.

Sheth has been learning his alphabet, how to do form drawing, then we have been learning to write. We use block crayons in our main lesson book. We have done some wet on wet painting. We are learning our times tables backwards and forwards. We have also started to learn to read at a slow, steady pace. All in all we have enjoyed our school year.

Well what have I done? I have been the maid, the garden boy, the doctor, the wife, parent and friend. I have been a teacher for grade one, four and six. On top of all that I have studied this year. I have done seven courses:

1. Introduction to Thai Massage
2. Level One of Thai Massage
3. Thai Foot Massage
4. Lomi Lomi Massage Level One
5. Lomi Lomi Massage Level Two
6. Lomi Lomi Massage Level Three
7. Thai Massage Level Two

I have enjoyed this so much that I will keep doing courses next year, studying physiology and anatomy as well. Well to top it all off I have been asked to run and teach at the small local Waldorf school. This took much thought and consideration, and Greg and I have decided that it is not a good option for our family at this stage. I love my massage and want to focus on that!

Well to be earnest, just reading this has made me tired! I can now understand the fullness of our year!

I am definitely cutting Caleb's main lesson blocks next year. I think eight, three to four week main lessons will be appropriate. I will also do Footprints on Our Land with Hannah and Caleb at the end of the year, as the program is already written, so no prep work needed from me.

As you start panicking that you haven't done what you wanted to do this year, write down what you have done and I think you will be surprised.

Relax and enjoy the beautiful weather, your children and your partner.