The Year in Review

It's finally here! Remember when you were young and a day so anticipated rolled around that it seemed almost magical, so much so that the air even had a special smell? Today was that for me. It was the first day of our summer break and I was as giddy as a school girl. We stayed in our pj's all morning, wrestled on the floor, made a huge mess with Moon Sand and just laughed all day. I have a summer to-do list a mile long and I will get to that. But today was just for play and it was wonderful.

I mentioned that we just finished Kindergarten, but what I haven't told you is that when we started the year in September I had a three month old and a 22 month old in addition to my very active five year old. It was a juggling act to say the least . . . the very least! And it truly wasn't a bad year considering I was often nursing a baby while listening to my son read to me with our two year old running around the room in full cowboy regalia.

All that being said, I always tell my son that everyone makes mistakes but the wise person learns from them. While this year was most definitely not a mistake, there's still much to learn. Here is the year in review, as well as my dreams for what next year can be.

• This year we survived.
• Next year I want us to thrive.

• This year I only had time to glance at our lessons five minutes before beginning our school day - and that only if I was lucky.
  
• Next year I will have our year carefully mapped out by the end of summer and spend time each Sunday evening gathering materials and going over upcoming lessons.

• This year my son became a proficient reader who enjoys books.
• Next year I want him to fall in love with the written word.

• This year we read only books I had in our home collection. I was a public school teacher for seven years so my collection is large but not necessarily filled with quality literature.
  
• Next year I will carefully choose books that will instill character and virtue, inspire imagination as well as help unlock his creative potential.

• This year I taught him how to do math.
• Next year I will spend more time developing the why behind the how. He knows what to do but he doesn't always understand why because I didn't take the time to build that concrete foundation on which abstract concepts can firmly stand.
  

• This year we only focused on the three R's: reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.
  
• Next year I can't wait to add history, science, foreign language as well as art and music appreciation.

Now I am off to start working on that to-do list! What are your dreams for next year?

P.S. - The photo is from our Kindergarten graduation celebration we shared with three other homeschool families.