the start of school approaches

I had 3 summer homeschool goals: for Will to write his field trip report for history, for Mary to slog through Singapore 2A math, and for Maggie to start Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Despite moving (twice!) and squeezing in sailing lessons, horse 4H time, and expeditions to the beach, we have managed to get most of these goals met.

The whole crew went to Prospect, Maine and learned about Fort Knox which was begun in 1844 against a possible British naval attack and was never finished, much less used. The kids sat on cannons, climbed into dark passages, scaled the roofline, and almost got completely lost.

We also braved our (okay, my fear) of heights and whooshed up 42 stories in the fastest elevator in the state to the top of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. The view was superb as we could see the entire fort, the Penobscot River, the town of Bucksport, and as far as Blue Hill. Later Will and I sat down and worked on his report, sending it in to Seton the next day.

Mary is finishing up week 11 in her math, and despite the moans, groans, and demands for a Skittle for finishing her daily work, she has mastered addition and subtraction. While I am not pleased that we wasted 2 years using MCP workbooks, I have hope that one day she will at least be able to balance her own checkbook. Slow and steady will lead to mastering arithmetic and I am finally willing to back up far enough to accomplish that rather than succumb to my own pride at having a child be “a year ahead.” One of the benefits of home schooling is allowing each kid to work at his own pace- ahead, behind, or the same as kids in public school. Mary is evidence of that by being in 4 different grade levels in her studies.

Maggie is my most eager learner and we have dutifully spent most afternoons plodding through 100 EZ Lessons, having finished #33 today. She has gone from struggling between L and I sounds to reading 2 sentence stories. In addition, I have bought several Random House Step Into Reading books struggling through on the first go-around, only to hear her reading them fluently over and over to Charlie in the following days. She has been my most predictable reader, which I appreciate after “perhaps I will learn to read before I go to college” Will and “ I taught myself to read in secret” Mary.

We will start in earnest on schoolwork in a week or so, but I still want them to be able to enjoy our last remaining month in Maine catching frogs, working on Pine Stump fort deep in the woods, and riding bikes with no fear of cars. The kids have dutifully practiced the piano, worked on Cub Scout pins, and read more fiction than I thought possible. As we start our 6th year of home schooling, I think we are better prepared than ever and sufficiently rested to tackle another challenging, yet fun session of learning.