May school things

We wrapped up our school year during the first week of May, finishing up by taking our state-required standardized test. My sister always says that you should wear Minnie ears during unpleasant tasks, so Claire took that advice to soothe some of her test anxiety.

We got it done.

Finished up our last school year read-aloud (including the baby version for Hallie)

For Claire's end-of-year project, she did a watercolor collage of pictures of some of her favorite activities, projects, or readings from this year.

I have a membership to Sarah McKenzie's Read Aloud Revival Premium, and the summer Family Book Club choice was The Hobbit. I hesitated, thinking that it would be too intense or scary for the girls, but Brad encouraged me to go for it, so we did. And the girls LOVED it! Brad read it over several weeks, and I grabbed pictures along the way:

And then I found this note that felt slightly threatening...

And no. They will not be reading LOTR any time soon.

We also went and got EVERYONE their own library cards, as I was getting tired of sharing my audiobook credits each month. Yes, this includes Hallie, so that we now have 20 additional audio credits. Mission accomplished.

When you homeschool, the line between school years is often very blurry. We *officially* wrapped up in May, but I decided to keep some basic math practice, as well as handwriting in regular daily rotation so that no one would lose any ground. See also: regular read alouds, typing, and piano practice. No rest for the weary over here, y'all.

April school things

We wrapped up most of our school year in April, and it was pretty full! Our CC co-op finished up for the year early in April (which was sad for everyone, really. We loved our co-op group.), and then we were set to finish up our whole school year during the first week of May.

Our local minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls, hosted a game with $5 tickets for school children, and a big chunk of our co-op went together. This is the only picture I got. Please enjoy Brynn's whole MOOD here.

In a strange twist of irony, we did botany for science two years ago- during the pandemic when the Duke Gardens were closed and we couldn't go to observe anything. We did space science this year- when the planetarium at UNC had very strange hours that never worked out for us. So. I'm clearly very talented at choosing our science curriculum. But, the gardens are open again, and we enjoyed going to observe and enjoy (and talk to all the dogs out walking with their owners) and pooh-poohed our non-matching science curriculum.

During Holy Week, I had planned to make pretzels with the girls and discuss the origin and history of them as aids in teaching about prayer, so I asked two other friends if they and their kids wanted to join. That evolved into going over to the house of one of those friends, making pretzels outside with our combined 12 children, running and playing, and eating celebratory cupcakes for Lily's birthday. It was a really great day! And our pretzels turned out wonderfully.

My friend's sons (6 and 5) took such good care of Hallie while we were there. They very carefully drove her around in this chariot (which she loved) and generally kept very close tabs on her and made sure she was ok. It was adorable.

Most of the crew eating birthday cupcakes

Hallie was really feeling it.

Claire and Lily made models of the solar system, which was a really fun project for all of us.

Keeping Hallie and Brynnie busy and engaged is a constant challenge, and I'm always looking for new and creative ideas. Some work well and others...not so much. Gotta try everything to see what sticks.

We do so much more during a school week than I ever remember to photograph. Maybe I'll remember to do a "Day in the Homeschool Life" at some point to give a more well-rounded picture. But until then...bits and bobs it is!

March school things

Following our Black History Month studies in February, we move into Women's History Month for March! It's always a big favorite around here, and we have found so many really fun books for our read alouds. I'll try to make a list here of our favorites some time; we're getting a really well-curated list going at this point.

Gran and Grandpa gave the girls subscriptions to Kiwi Crates for Christmas, so we have fun doing Kiwi Crates on days when we need a mood-booster.

We had a pirate-y themed one that was a BIG hit.

Keeping Brynn and Hallie occupied and engaged during our school days can be a challenge. Conversely, when I land on activities that are really exciting for Brynn, it can be very distracting to Lily, who then wants to stop doing whatever school activity she and I are doing in order to join Brynn. It's a tricky minefield at times. 

Often, I set up activities for the two of them to do together. As Lily is still learning to write, we do a lot of hand-strengthening and fine motor activities, and Brynnie can totally participate. Play Doh is a favorite.

For Christmas, we gave Brynnie some fine motor toy/tools (large tweezers, scoops, tongs, etc.) and a big bag of craft pom poms. She will often play with these for quite a while! One of her favorite games is sorting by color.

Hallie likes to play neatly and quietly, as you can see.

We also use the pom poms and tongs for sight word practice. I call out a word, and Lily uses the tongs to put a pom pom on the right word. This has been a favorite of hers.

Gran and Grandpa gave Brynnie this mosaic board for Christmas, and it's been a very popular school day activity for her.

Sometimes, Claire plays with Brynnie while I work on things with Lily.

Just a few shots of our days. Some days look cute and calm like these pictures...but sometimes they involve a lot of whining and interrupting and complaining that "there's nothing to do!" It's always a balance.

February school things

February held many a fun school activity around here: Groundhog Day, China studies for Chinese New Year, and our month-long Black History Month studies.

For Groundhog Day, we read a little about the history of this tradition, and we watched the replay of Punxsutawney Phil making his prediction. Then we made, admittedly, the most low-maintenance groundhog craft ever.

We watched the Disney Nature documentary on animals in China (which included pandas, obvs), studied the significance of dragons and made our own "dancing dragons," and read a number of books about the Chinese zodiac and Chinese New Year traditions. We also read the novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, which was a HUGE hit with this crew. They absolutely loved it.

And, of course, we did normal school things:

Fine motor skills activities

Sight word games

More sight word games

Claire set up her own classroom for teaching Lily some lessons.

Preparing Valentine's cards for their co-op friends

Pattern play

I don't have any pictures of our Black History Month adventures, but I wish I had. It's one of our favorite times of the school year every year. I'll try to do better next year, because it really it such a great unit for us!