Last Day Of Kindergarten! We Did It!!

We started the year here.

We ended the year here.

 This is what we did on the last day of Kindergarten:

Read the last story in our Reader.

 Played Sum Swamp.

 Lily wrote her summer bucket list. I believe number 4 was "Go to England".

She's a First Grader!

 Henry doing "school" in his underwear. Hey, why not?

We had a great year!

I began this year second guessing our decision to home school about every other day minute. I end the year, still doing it; but not nearly as often. (And usually it's been when Andy has worked many days in a row and I'm going stir crazy!)

The truth is, I've loved being home with Lily and teaching her. I don't regret one single moment. Which is why we are going for round 2. Do I still sometimes wish I could send her to "real" school? Yes. Am I willing to actually do it? No. And I think that is what surprised me the most. I had spent years gearing up for this day, never even thinking there would be a possibility of not sending her off to school. When it came down to it, though, I didn't really want that.

Here were my surprises for my first year of home schooling, good and bad. I'm going to be completely honest.

Surprise #1: Teaching her to read. Being a first - third grade teacher for most of my teaching career, I've taught my fair share of kids to read. I wasn't intimidated to teach Lily to read, as I know many home schooling moms are. I was just not prepared for the pure awesomeness of watching my own child go from simply knowing the sounds of letters to reading the graduation note her grandma wrote to her. It's amazing. I got to see this neat progression unfold daily. I got to see each little click of her brain as she sounded out words and laughed at stories. That was a pure treasure for me. 

Surprise #2: The Ultimate Free Spirit. My daughter is a free spirit. While for her age, I think she did great at sitting down and getting her work done, she is not the workbook, stay focused type. This really shouldn't have surprised me. I guess this year just showed me how much of a free spirit she is. She would much rather be sewing leaves into dresses for her fairy dolls outside or dancing in a tutu and cowboy hat than practicing her handwriting. Do you blame her?

Surprise #3: Homeschooling with a Toddler. Before I type this next sentence let me premise this with how much I love and adore my son. He is 100% boy and then some. I love that about him. But....... It's ridiculously hard very challenging to home school with a two year old boy. Do you have one? With just a smidgen more energy and stubborness than most? Then you know what I'm saying. If you have no clue what that's like, just trust me. It can be exhausting. I just wasn't expecting it to be as hard as it was. I basically had to start doing preschool with him because he needed to be engaged and he needed structure. We also started potty training, so that was a bonus. Just being honest.

Surprise #4: I don't have as much patience as I thought I did:)

Surprise #5: Home schooling means sacrificing, a lot. I am so impressed with moms I've come to know and respect who have home schooled their kids all the way through high school. Now, that is running the race! I'll be honest, as promised, I did not have much respect for the decision to home school. It's not that I didn't respect the person. Some of my dearest friends home schooled. I just thought they should be sending their kids to school where kids are supposed to go. I'm ashamed of that now. The moms I know work so hard each day with their kids, to teach them, not just academics; but character and a love for God. There are no breaks when you home school. There is no end to the day, where you get to go home and send your students back to their parents. Home schooling is not for sissies!! (Do I still love traditional school? Yes, yes, yes! Teacher rock!! They have a hard job in other ways and the ones I know are so very dedicated and loving. Just had to put that in there.) My respect for those who home school diligently has grown greatly. I get it now.

Surprise #6: Home Schooling in PJs. I did school in my pajamas way more than I thought I would. Looking back on it, it was kind of silly to be so against that at the beginning. Why not? Pajama pants are so comfy.



Here are a few tips for newbies now that I have a year under my belt. This list is short because I am definitely not a pro.

Tip #1: Make It Your Own.  It's not like traditional school. Don't try to replicate school. This is just my personal opinion. And I'm actually only half agreeing with myself. I'm sure I make it more "schooly" than most. Lily and I like it that way.  It's most definitely not like the classroom, though. I had a tough time with this at first. Also, it won't look just like your friend's home school. So, as hard as it is not to compare, don't go down that road. Make it your own and do what works for your family.

Tip #2  Read aloud to your kids a lot. I'm rectifying that next year.

Tip # 3 If a schedule isn't working, don't stick to it just because. Have a schedule for sure; but sometimes schedules need to change with life changes (or nap schedules). My husband has just about the craziest, ever changing schedule, so we had to be more flexible.

Tip #4: If you have little ones, meet their needs first. I didn't learn this until the end of the year and I think I would have been less frustrated if I'd done this earlier on. Like I mentioned earlier, home schooling with a toddler can be very chanllenging. I needed to plan for it and plan on being interrupted. I'm learning to engage Henry more in our activities, have more things for him to do, and spend more time with him while I home school. I'm actually really enjoying doing preschool activities with him, teaching him his letters and colors.

So, there you have it. A journey I never thought I'd take, a journey that's just beginning, and a journey that I'm excited about.

Can't believe I have a first grader!