We are taking a break for the next 10 days. We had planned on taking the week of the 4th off, but we need a break now. We will come back to our studies (very light studies- mostly reading and games) for a few weeks in July- then we are off the entire month of August. It will be nice to have some breaks and start back fresh in the fall. Chase did ask me if we could still read on our vacations- this made me very happy.
We are so proud of Chase, he was incredible this year. When we met with his academic advisor a couple of weeks ago- I was blown away. Chase did his entire exit interview with her, I barely said a word. He answered her questions, walked her through his portfolio of work and art (which he helped me put together- and was very particular about), and told her his favorite things about homeschooling (mostly science stuff). I love that he was proud of his work! He should be!
Since Chase has been home, his handwriting has significantly improved, as well as his spelling (which still needs a lot of work- but it’s so cute!), and his reading skills are so strong- there’s not much he can’t read at this point. He is doing great in Math and getting ready to start multiplication after our little break. I quiz him at times, but I am pretty light on the testing. We don’t move on from a concept until he can explain it to me and show me examples on the board. He likes to pretend he’s the teacher- and I love being the helpless student that just doesn’t get it.
We have slowed down on History and Science. We have googled some fun experiments for Science- which is Chase’s (and Sawyer’s) favorite part of homeschooling. And for history, we are just reading biographies and stories about past events that have peaked Chase’s interest. We will start our curriculums back up in the fall!
Every time Chase sits down to do his studies, Sawyer sits at the table and demands homework too. It is so sweet to see them learning and sharing these experiences together. He has preschool workbooks and he is getting pretty good with them. He is drawing lines to match objects, tracing, learning letters and sounds, and knows all of his shapes. He loves story time now (has for a while) and will sit through 4 to 5 stories at a time- he will even sit through most of Chase’s stories. I have made some fun lap books for Sawyer to go along with his stories. He loves them!!! It is so fun to work with his this way, he has this little smile of pride when he figures things out and gets answers right- it inspires me to do more, anything for that look of pride and confidence. I am so proud of him! He has come so far in a short period of time. I want Sawyer to be able to start a Kindergarten curriculum next fall- so we have a while, but we have a lot of work to do.
We have had some pretty lazy days with all of this rain lately. This is what a lot of our days have looked like.
