Monday, May 27, 2013

School's Out for Summer!

Both the boys finished school last week and summer has officially begun!  Bear had a great year at preschool.  He is a homebody by nature and slightly begrudgingly went to school twice a week.  He always seemed to enjoy himself while there, but told me he wants to do homeschool preschool next year.....the jury is still out.  I may have shed a tear or two when I was driving home after dropping Bear off at his last day.  His teachers are soooooo wonderful there.  I am grieving that he can't spend one more year there before he starts Kindergarten with me, and that Belle will never get the chance to experience it.
On the days Bear was not at school he would usually sit with Bug and I during HS.  He has learned about 20 sight words and can read "Dick and Jane" books.  He is also doing really well with 0-5 addition, some subtraction. and answering story problems.  He loves mazes and coloring.
 First Day of School Comparisons.........he looks so grown up compared to September.
 Bug is done with Kindergarten!  We actually survived our first year of homeschool.  I was very nervous when the year began.  There were a few days here and there where I thought it would be nice if I didn't have the responsibility of teaching him, but all in all, it has been a really great experience. I am SO glad we made the choice to begin the adventure. 
In most regards he is a very easy kid to teach.  He remembers things the first time I introduce them and understands difficult concepts even when I feel like I have done a terrible job explaining them.  He is stubborn and willful, so we have had power battles here and there, but it has been a good learning venture for both of us.  I have LOVED the flexibility homeschooling has allowed and that we could move on to more challenging things when Bug was ready for them.  He finished Kindergarten and 1st grade math curriculum and finished his second grade basal reader the day before school let out. 
First day comparison.  He looks about the same to me, but he has definitely come out of he shell socially, at least with kids.  He is still fairly shy of adults.
 We celebrated the end of the year with a "School's out for Summer" party.  The boys had the cutest idea for the cake.  Bug wanted to make a school that said "closed" on it and Bear wanted two kids with their hands up in the air and smiling faces.  Bear made himself on the right and Bug made himself on the left and the cat in between them.
 Bond grilled some delicious pork chops.
 They each got to pick out a helium balloon at the dollar store.
 We had plans for a family dance party after dinner and cake, but the beatiful weather was calling us out to play.  Three cheers for Summer!

1 comment:

Greg and Nicolle said...

I love how the cake turned out!