The End of 2013-14

We finished the academic year in early June. By that time, the school cupboard (a pantry) was a disheveled heap of papers, half-used supplies and a host of completely unrelated items that collected there because it was such a mess. I couldn't deal with it. Nor was I up to assessing the year.

So I took a much-needed couple of weeks before I did anything. And then I put together grade reports. When Ben finished 1st grade, I assessed 64 different components of his progress. Note to new homeschooling parents: Don't sprint out of the gate if you are planning a marathon. His 4th grade report just assigns a letter grade to the 8 subjects we solidly studied. As did Kyrie's. I add a few notes emphasizing what each did well and what needs improvement.

This weekend I cleaned up the pantry and sorted papers into file folders. Note to self: Date the work (or teach them to do it) and put initials on art work if they aren't signing it yet. I did a lot of guessing.

And now that I've cleaned and assessed my students, I have time for a few reflections to guide my planning for the coming year.

• Plan a realistic schedule. I always come out of the gate strong. I plan awesome art projects and cool science experiments and I overcommit to what I can do on a daily/weekly basis. By midyear, the extracurriculars have fallen by the wayside and we are just trying to get the basics done. I'm Type A enough that they all get done but in a frantic fashion. 
• On the heels of that is this: Abandon frantic learning. Embrace schole. Schole is defined most closely as: "restful learning," that results from reflection, discussion, and contemplation. 
• Encourage them to teach each other.  Ben and Kyrie both naturally want to help. They each spent time running Everleigh's preschool and Ben helped me when I couldn't get Kyrie to understand a math concept. 
• Spread the load. Ben began writing heavily two-thirds of the way through 4th grade. It didn't take long before I had a stack of papers to grade and a panicky sense that I would never get them all graded. Mike agreed to grade writing assignments (which was completely overwhelming him by the end of the year). In anticipation of what extra grading means, I plan to have Ben do some of Kyrie's math grading this year.

We finished well and now I'm deep into planning for next year.