End of Year: 3rd/5th Grades

Oh, praise the good Lord, we made it to the end of our school year today!  I don't know how much more our moods and bodies and schedules could take since our brains checked out several weeks back. We logged Day 180 today and unlike public schools' last day/week party regimens, we hit the books right up to the end ... political parties, Teddy Roosevelt, word parts, fractions, radiant heat waves, percentages, and probability.  Right up to the end of today.  Phew!  We are beat. 

But don't let that confuse you.  We are beat, but it was a great year!  It went by in a wonderful blur.  It was a super success and we have such gains to show for the time and work and field trips.  Anna was almost straight A's all year and Noah was A/B Honor Roll except for one silly C.  Reallife!  We have EARNED a solid summer of sleeping in, doing very little, and video gaming our brains out. HA!  But first - End of Year commemorating and curriculum wrap up notes. 

We retired our last day doughnut tradition of years' past (because it has gotten so hard to find doughnuts that are guaranteed peanut free anymore) and opted for breakfast out and milkshakes this morning after dropping Lasa at PDO.

Back at home, we did the last of our timeline work and quotation discussion and science review from our beloved Paths of Settlement curriculum from Trail Guide to Learning.  This year we covered 200 years of American History ... from the Revolution to Nation Building to Civil War to Unity Restored to Westward Expansion and finally the Gold Rushes.  Sea to Shining Sea, indeed!  We covered related geology, climate, landforms, economics, freedom, citizenship, presidents, and politics.

 

 

For math, we soldiered on with our RightStart Mathematics.  Anna finished her year early so I started her in next year's 4th grade book in April. 

Noah has not quite finished his level, but we won't get his next year's book in time for our school year to start so we will finish this up in the fall before that comes. Perfect!  Noah (and his curriculum) has BLOWN MY MIND with all the higher level math he's been doing.  Stuff I didn't do til middle and high school, y'all?  All manner of algebra and formulas and algorithms and logic, he's already doing it.  It's amazing.  I was tempted to consider an online math for him for middle school next year, but RightStart has a new level coming out after this one that is student-led lessons, so I think that will be the perfect next step before fully handing over the reigns to a computer curriculum.  Excited for another year in RightStart!

This year, we picked up an EXCELLENT writing curriculum that also doubled as a supplemental grammar support - IEW.  Noah and Anna grew so so so much in their written organization and expression.  I rave about this curriculum and we will do their continuation course next year that follows it. 

As well, we filled in the last pages of their journals they have written in for 3 solid years now.  The preciousness and progression in that much time is so cool to look over.  

Anna, grade 1 in the fall followed by grade 3 in the spring.

Noah, grade 3 in the fall followed by grade 5 in the spring. Writing comes so much harder for Noah, but with this curriculum and the language therapy he started in January, his work has really proved what a help they both have been for him.

 

We continued on with Dynamic Literacy's Word Build program for vocabulary work this year and after finishing this second book, we switched up to doing their online version and that has been great. We will continue with that this summer and next year as well.

We continued math facts maintenance with Xtra Math all year as well as cursive practice with Scripture Memory work from church.  The kids enjoyed any Mystery Doug science vids I got all year so we will stay subscribed to that again next year.  And oh!  For Bible, we did the animated video series for the Old/New Testaments from The Bible Project.  Next year, I bet we continue on with some of their themed series. Gosh, the kids learned so much.  I did, too!  This summer we have some poetry memorization and grammar practice lined up as well as audiobooks and critical thinking activities. Thinking we'll get back to full-time work again in August.  Maybe?  Ask me later.  Like I said, my brain is checked out by now.  Couldn't be helped. Spring fever hit hard this year! I held on just long enough to report attendance and grades this afternoon and crank out this very post. ;)  Now I am officially, officially off duty.  Point me to the hammock and my stack of books to read.  Summer Break is on!