I'm realizing the title of this post has the potential to give a little "Bible reference" - ha. In actuality, we celebrated our first last day of school! As planful and type-A as I am, I did not have an official last day set on the calendar. So, when plans were cancelled one day last week, I told Jacob we could finish school that day, thinking he would be pumped about it. Surprisingly, however, he was disappointed and downright sad about this news. He said, "But Mom, I don't want to finish kindergarten!" This was news to me, as just a few weeks prior, he was lamenting (on a nearly-daily basis) about "having to do school." The complaining had subsided, recently, and while he had not necessarily shown outward excitement about our daily lessons/work, apparently, he was inwardly enjoying it. He also doesn't love change, though, and transitions are not easy, so I understood where the disappointment was likely rooted.
Once he actually finished his books, and I told him we would get to do new ones next year, he was extremely proud and excited to have reached the milestone. He was also proud to find out he is reading at a Level N (mid-third grade), successfully finish a random Kindergarten year-end assessment readiness test booklet I randomly found at Dollar Tree, and earn his second free bundtlet through the Nothing Bundt Cakes reading program (did you know?!).
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| 400+ minutes of reading each! |
Another unexpected end-of-school-year reaction:
Nearly every school day this past year, I wrote a sentence on the board for Jacob to illustrate. Sometimes, we would do a "progressive" drawing (i.e. "A car drove on the road." one day, and without erasing his illustration of that sentence, the next day's would read, "A bus also drove on the road," etc., etc.). I don't know that I had any expectation for what his favorite school activity was, except that I expected it NOT to be handwriting. I had waited till second semester to start any handwriting instruction, because he has never been one to sit and draw/color, so this type of work is not his strong suit (see picture below - haha). Not only did I want to let his little hand muscles have more time to develop before "working" them, but I also wanted to keep school really positive and not-super-challenging at the onset. But perhaps this work was ultimately his favorite because of this; he breezed through everything else we did, but handwriting was something he really had to focus on and work at. Or perhaps he wanted to just get this illustration done quickly and handwriting was just the first thing that came to mind... I'm choosing to believe the former. ;)
There is so much I could write about the ups and downs and expecteds and unexpecteds of the year, but for now:
What an answer to prayer these reactions were. I was not at all sure what "school" would look like for us this year, and even with materials and a plan, it looked different every day. We had highs and lows, and if I didn't keep myself in check, it sometimes tended to feel pretty "low-heavy." So, to hear him say he didn't want it to be over was such a positive affirmation for me and put it all into perspective; it truly brought a tear to my eye.
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| Another achievement to share! He was (obviously) so proud of his soccer (participation) medal. |
Lydia wanted a "last day" picture, too! :) She was such a champ through all the "school stuff" this year. She truly enjoyed being part of it, and the times she would rather not, she was (typically) very good at independent play, which I so appreciated.
I have been asked several times about whether or not I will start preschool things for her next year. Technically, she has two more years till she would be "Kindergarten-eligible," so I have not yet decided whether or not we will do two years of preschool. Honestly, she has made it very evident on several occasions that she is soaking up pretty much everything Jacob and I work on together, so two more years of second-hand learning will likely put her past the Kindergarten-readiness mark - haha. We'll see!
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| Note the sunglasses on her collar - just like Daddy. ;) |
Some of you may know Lydia had eye surgery a few weeks ago. I didn't purposefully keep this information from anyone, but as the procedure date approached and news of it spread, I realized how few people actually knew it was happening! It was something we decided to move forward with after consulting with a couple doctors about her eyes (she had some slight crossing that was not allowing her eyes to work together as they should), so it was scheduled months in advance and something we came to understand would be fairly routine. And it was!
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| Comforts from home while waiting to be taken back. |
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Everything went according to plan, and as expected, she was very drowsy after coming off the anesthesia. |
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| Jacob was so thrilled and relieved when she was "back to her normal self." |
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| Her eyes were still expectedly red here, but her one-week-post-op appointment later that day concluded that the surgery had been successful, as far as could be told at that point. Her brain will continue to catch up with her eyes' new abilities, and we'll see if there is any further improvement. |
In other news, we adopted another snail (the lighter-colored one). Unlike its roommate, this one came home with us on purpose after a friend found it on a hike. Shortly after this picture was taken, we were given a different container for them (a pet store hermit crab sort of one) by a sweet lady at a garage sale. It is still probably too small for them, though, so if anyone has a similar sort of habitat you're looking to pass along, let us know!
As I mentioned, I could write at even more length about our homeschooling journey, thus far, so if you would like to know more, let's chat in person! Thanks to so many of you who have supported us in myriad ways. Your interest, enthusiasm, tangible help, generosity, wisdom, and prayers mean so much and make such a difference. To answer the last, lingering question: yes, we will be doing it again next year. ☺
Educationally,
Kensy
Favorites of the day:
perfect weather days
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| Our church's Mother's Day picture tradition. |
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| This picture and these friends and the fact that we get to spend time with them multiple times a week, both on purpose, and often, coincidentally. I could write a whole post about how blessed we are by this family. ♥ |
