Five Years

Wow, we just finished our fifth year of homeschooling! To celebrate I baked a cake. In the past, we have had Cake for Breakfast on the last day of school, made even more celebratory by inviting neighbors to share it with us on our porch, but mornings are often pretty slow around here, so this was more of a Cake for Lunch situation. Also, after living in our apartment for over a year, we have yet to even know the names of our direct neighbors. I baked a lemon bundt cake that had three whole lemons in it, loads of butter, and a sweet glaze that soaked in and made the cake even better the next day. We met with some new evaluators this year and both of them really set the tone of celebrating the learning for the year.

One question that came up frequently this year was "Does this count?" meaning, can we log it for the 180 day requirement as outlined in the Pennsylvania law. And what does count? In our house, the kids take an active role in deciding what they want to learn and how, and logging it and reflecting upon it. This cycle of setting intentions, working on projects, and then stopping to review progress around the 3rd week of the month has become an important and enjoyable process for us. Sometimes we get to that review time and actually haven't made it very far on a goal or intention. That's when we can decide if we actually just need more time, or more resources, or perhaps some kind of direct instruction or class or space in order to move forward. Maybe we have everything we need and just haven't gotten motivated enough to take action. Maybe we did take action but it's all going to take a LOT longer than we expected and we need more time. Or maybe it's not that important anymore and we just want to drop it. 

In any case, from watching my kids tell the story of their year to the evaluators, it was clear to me that much progress has been made, many lessons learned, new interests have been sparked and I'm ready to tackle year 6 of homeschooling with enthusiasm.

Some of our favorite things this year included:

• Pizza and game night, frequently with guests
• Outings to the local brew-pub, who have some jazz bands that play regularly
• Bike rides on the Great Allegheny Passage, reading all the historic marker signs, exploring Carrie Furnace
• Horse riding lessons, which has also included watching the farrier, assisting with the hay-baling process, feeding and grooming horses, and exploring the trails and plants on the 90+ acres of the farm
• Lots of co-op classes with interesting titles, meetups with friends at parks, and the launch of a self-directed co-op learning space that is slowing coming together
• Monthly zoom meetings with aunts and nieces to discuss books from Laurel's curriculum
• Piano lessons (including first recital for Marko), guitar and ukulele jamming, and experimentation with the trumpet (so loud!)
• A trip to southern Ohio to go to the Paw Paw festival, visit the caves at Hocking Hills State Park and see the newly designated Hopewell Earthworks UNESCO site
• Weekly outings with my 2 year old nephew to parks and libraries and lunch with my parents