Our chunky school year

This has been an interesting school year for us. It is our second year of the hybrid program and we still had some deprogramming to do. The home school end of things is constantly evolving but I think we have gotten a better handle on things. What constantly amazes me a how different each boy is. Both are very bright and very driven. One being very task oriented and goal driven. He’s given books and burns through them like crazy. His reading has progressed monumentally. He now reads for pleasure on his own. He set a goal for himself to read a particular series of books all on his own. It is kind of a nice break but I also miss reading to him. Now we read our own books together in bed at night. The other boy kind of floats around with stuff and when something peaks his interest he hones in and dives deep. This year was definitely NOT a balance of each subject on a daily basis. Or even a weekly or monthly basis. Nope. The beginning of the year was focused on math, WWI, and creative writing. So much creative writing he even put himself out there on a fan-fiction site! Then math took a vacation while we trudged reluctantly through non-fiction research and writing and dabbled in MLA style writing. While on that journey, an interest in microbiology was sparked and much research was done on bacteria and viruses. Science fair was a breeze! Then he floated for a while again. He started another fictional story and I reintroduced math. And that is how we are ending the school year with a few minor projects he reluctantly finished sprinkled on top. He covered his subjects. He just did so in chunks.

We have 3 home school days left and 6 in-class days left and I am so itching for this year to be under our belts and on to summer. It was another year of personal and academic progress. I’m so happy to have two school years of home school under my belt and looking forward to putting that experience to work in our third year so that it is the best year yet! We are on to 3rd and 6th grades next year. Growing so fast physically, emotionally, intellectually. It is all so amazing:) Fair well 2nd and 5th grades! We are off to the beach and Yosemite!

A loss of a generation

Hubby has been preparing the slideshow for his Grandmother’s funeral this week and another sadness hit me. Not only am I sad for the loss of Grandma, but, I am also sad for the loss of that generation. We no longer have anyone in our family from that generation. My grandparents died over 10 years ago and Hubby’s Grandpa passed when we were still in high school. These are the people who lived through the Depression, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, JFK, Martin Luther KIng, Jr., Nixon, the Cold War, etc. I really have enjoyed people of that generation and hearing the stories. Especially my Grandpa. He was quite the storyteller and would tell the same stories over and over but I never tired of it. You would think I had them memorized, but I don’t. After my Grandpa had passed, I realized that I didn’t know much of Hubby’s Grandma’s history and decided to ask. Grandma wasn’t really a “sharer” so I learned some very basic info from her. Being the mother of 5, Grandmother of nearly 20 children and Great Grandmother to at least 2 or 3 children (there are over 35 now), I was so surprised to find that like myself, she was an only child. She was also raised by just her mother and apparently they moved around quite a bit. Knowing how faithful, proper and family-oriented Grandma was, I was a bit surprised to learn she didn’t necessarily grow up in that same environment. Hubby’s Grandma was a strong, independent woman with a kind heart and gentle demeanor. She would get down on the floor with the babies and talk with them and play with them at 80 years old! My biggest “lesson” from her was to never  say “shut up” whether you are joking or not. Hubby and I use to say that to each other in a joking way but quickly learned to stop. Occasionally I slip up and I can hear Grandma’s voice in my head. That is a lesson we have carried on to our children and it seems to have a little more oompf when we tell them that is what Grandmama said.

I know we will learn more of her history from Hubby’s Mom and aunts and uncle. I’m just so sad that we can’t hear more from her. That my children won’t hear more from her.  Sad for the loss of a matriarch and a loss of a generation.

Everybody plays a role

Earlier this morning, Hubby’s 88-year old grandmother passed away. He left work which is an hour north of home and headed to his Mom’s side which is an hour south of home. I stayed home as the boys were in school and I wanted them to finish off their day before I gave them the news. I didn’t know why I needed to, I just felt the need to call each of his sisters. Just to touch base, I guess. I just felt a need to start connecting with family members. Both sisters said they were happy their brother was able to be with their Mom. One lives out of town and the other has a busy senior in high school finishing off his school year. I also reached out to the local cousins as this was their Grandmother as well and their mother is also a grieving daughter. As the family is gathering (in person, by phone, by instant messaging) my thoughts bring me to all the experiences of loss that I have had through my lifetime and how people can come together and be so loving and supportive and how some major fireworks can go off as well. Everyone is emotional at some level. They have their own grieving to go through as well as supporting the grieving of mothers, fathers,husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, etc. And we all grieve differently. So we all play a different role at different times within that process. We can’t expect people to grieve like we do or respond to a situation like this in the same way. Everyone processes differently. Everyone emotes differently. Everyone has a different way they can help. Everyone grieves in their own way. Someone is good at handling the business end of things. Someone is good at organizing things. Someone is good at cooking. Someone is good at shopping. Someone is good at just being physically present because that is all that is needed at the time. Someone is good at emotional support. Someone is good at notifying others. Everyone is good at something different. There are many roles to play in these situations and each and every person has a role.

The family is grieving the loss of their matriarch. You are very loved Grandma and may you now rest in peace with the love of your life.

An “A-ha” moment

I won’t get on my podium about standardized testing and assessments cause that would be a long read but let’s just say that I feel we experienced a case of the assessments over-inflating my child’s abilities. There is a difference between a child’s capability and their developmental readiness. Although my child assessed at a certain math level did not mean that he could fluently perform at that level. He had never been exposed to math beyond 3rd grade so how was he to do math at a 9th grade level? This school year has been a trial and error of math. The first program was good for about 6 weeks then I saw his eyes glazing over. I figured it was a developmental thing so backed off and took a complete break off of math for 2 months. With the required state testing coming up, I looked up sample 5th grade math questions for him to work on to see if he fell short on any of it. Nope, he was fine. So I started looking up the standards and picking through what I knew he and I never worked on. No problem. So I started to venture into pre-algebra and stumbled upon the order of operations. Something he had learned in the past but never practiced. Now this is a kid who wants to do things fast. His brain works fast and if anything takes any amount of time to figure out he bows out. I gave him a problem and had him re-write every step. I thought we would go toe to toe over it but he did that with ease. When I assigned his math for him to work on at school and I told him to go step by step he looked at me and said “I like order of operations! I like writing it step by step because I like seeing it go from this big thing down to the answer.” A-ha!!!! Break through! That was music to my ears! He is now ready for algebra:)

This school year has been like trying to shove an elephant through a mouse hole. So many different hurdles came up and he has overcome most of them. Not with ease, mind you. So much growth has happened this year and I hope it carries over into the next but in the meantime, “Summer! Bring it on!”

On the home stretch!

Woo hoo,  4 more weeks of school! I usually anxiously anticipate summer break but I am so ready to be done with 2 homeschool days a week! It’s been a challenging year  with amazing growth but I just need to not think about the boys’ education for a while. They need me to stop as well. Summer break is when I can hang my teacher hat completely and I can focus on being mom. I’m happy to be ending the year at a place where I feel we can easily pick up when school is back in session in August. We have few things lined up like hosting art camp for the second year  and heading to Yosemite for a week. Hoping for a low key summer with just enough things to do.

How much longer for you and what are your plans?