Tomorrow is supposed to be the last day of school for LAKE Academy. (L = Larisa, A = Austin, K = Keeve and if Zaza’s real name starts with E… it will all be so perfecto!) However, none of my pupils are finished with their work. My most hopeful student did not pass his last math test with over 90%…. which is not a passing grade at LAKE Academy. We have high standards to uphold… and math requires skills that need to be remembered over and over.. and mastered. He will be doing some review and then retaking the test. Some of you may balk at my expectations, but the kids know they can live up to them… so I set them HIGH! If I set them low, they would live up to those as well. We are not striving for mediocrity in this home school! No, I’m not pushing my kids beyond their capabilities either. Calm down.
Pupil #3 got braces put on this week and it has slowed his progress in math and grammar. I gave him a check-off list five weeks ago with what needed to be accomplished each day. He has been faithful and diligent until this week. He may be able to complete his work for the year on Friday… if his mouth is not distracting him. Wires poking your cheeks can be such a detriment to every day life. Good grief! Thank God for wax!
Pupil #1 has had an unbalanced year. She had way too much of a good thing during the first semester and much making up for the lacking things during second semester. I also gave her a list of what needed to be accomplished to complete her sophomore year. Frankly, it will probably take her another month. But that’s OK. Her calendar is wide open! She’ll be winding down the same time as her cousins in Washington who don’t finish school until end of June. Perfect.
As the homeschool marm, I reflect on my teaching for the past year… right about now….. Mid-May. I didn’t do as well as I had hoped with staying on top of high school history. Spanish for my boys died mid-winter and is still in need of resuscitation. We may be doing that all summer. For spelling, both boys advanced more than a year! They also finished math and are right on course… actually, #2 son is about 2/3 of a year ahead. Their writing dramatically improved this year thanks to an IEW course. (Institute for Excellence in Writing) They know how to take notes from three sources, compile them, make an outline, write a three paragraph paper with opening and closing/clincher sentences… AND know how to add strong verbs, adjectives, adverbs, clauses and sentence openers. (More than most high school graduates!) So I feel great about that! Not so great about high school history.
Out of my nine years of homeschooling my kids, I would only say I did a great job one out of nine years. That’s not good odds. I’d tell you the exact percentage, but my calculator is missing from my desk. And I don’t do math in my head. As soon as I have to carry a number, they all get mixed up. My great year was last year…. year EIGHT! But, hey, there’s always next year! And if we don’t set our goals high… we wouldn’t accomplish hardly anything at all! Next week I’ll be breathing easy. Whew!
My Sister's Jar 