The End of the Beginning

It's that time of year when classes hold their parties and field trips. After 30 weeks of grueling educational hoops, we will put down our pencils for a while and take a break. Well, our family has only just begun the educational journey. This week marked our last week of school, for the first year of many. It is the end of the beginning. James 'graduated' from kindergarten reading well and adding and subtracting. Here he poses with his final math test on our back porch.


The Rooks family may recognize the blue shirt. =) No, he is not wearing a cap and gown (do they really need those after kindergarten!?), but he is wearing his Superman cape. Maybe that's how he got a 97% on his test! =) He missed the last problem by subtracting instead of adding. Oops. This is technically a first grade math book, and he is almost old enough to be finishing first grade, but I'm in no rush to see him out the door to college, so he's doing some first grade work during 'kindergarten'. My brainy kid.

Joel, whom I had previously pegged as a musician or jock, has totally shocked me this year by soaking up math facts and phonics! He is quite kinesthetic and must move, which I was nervous about teaching. But we figured out a system:
Write your name. Run to the end of the hall and back. Finish your math page. Do 2 laps around the house. Etc. Works pretty well for this renaissance preschooler. After I threw my stereotypes out the window I took a picture of him with his little certificate. This is the end of preschool for Joel (he just finished the kindergarten math book) and did not feel like smiling.


And James earned a certificate too! We all laughed at the last caption on the page, "Psst. Don't forget to thank your teacher!" They did.


And Anna, of course, survived our first year homeschooling too. She really wants to 'do school' and adores coloring (especially if the color PINK is involved!) but has started to sing ABCs and count to 10. She's currently going through a 'hoarding' phase and insists on carrying 3-7 items around at all times.


God has been particularly gracious this year as we spent our first year of 'real school' in 3 different countries. There were SO many weeks where we were either packing or unpacking and I thought we'd never get through! The kids still don't have their own desks built for next year, but that's what August is for, right? I now know that I really CAN do this homeschooling thing! At least for few years... YAY! We made it! Now for a field trip to the pool!