Homeschool Assessment Tonight!

I'm pleased that I have pulled the children's portfolios together and tonight is the big night when I meet with a certified Ohio teacher for their homeschool asssessments. 

It is early to do that...I usually wait until May...but Baby Boy comes in May.

Of course, going through the children's work always makes me look back at our year and contemplate how we did.

And every year, I am pleased.  It was a good school year. 

That is not to say that everything went smoothly. As usual, some bright ideas went by the wayside. As usual, some of my plans didn't pan out and I had to change gears mid stream (hmmm, I think that is a mixed metaphor.)

This particular year I got pregnant in early September, which made October and November and December challenging as I was battling early pregnancy nausea. 

But in the midst of it all, we learned a lot.  Naomi and Lydia participated in Na-No-Wri-Mo, the National Novel Writing Month.  Both produces wonderful novels.  Naomi's was 10,000 words long and very creative, amazingly so.  Lydia had never written much before but produced a 2000 word story about a charming bunch of kittens.

Isaac's handwriting improved to the point that he was able to fill in much of his own work.  He still has a glitch but he is able to do his own math problems and answer short Bible questions. His reading continued to improve as well...by the end of the year, he had read at least one complex 300 page long book.  His love for graphic novels continues unabated, I promise you!

Joseph was probably my greatest concern for the year.  Every one of my children is delightfully different. Joseph is a very hands on child with a passion for tools and machines and science.  I wondered at the beginning of the year if he was also a budding dyslexic, as he mixed his "m" and "n" and his "d" and "b" often, and was struggling with reading.  He turned 7 in August, by the way.

This year he made a lot of progress. He is still not a fluent reader, but a few days ago he spontaneously read the title of one of my books "No Way Down:  Life and Death on K2" without any trouble.  A little light came on in my head -- Ok, this boy has made major progress with reading!  He also isn't mixing letters much anymore.

He's still not fluent, though.  And really, fluency  is more about ME than my kid.  He is only 7. It is fine he is not a fluent reader. But a fluent reader can teach himself much more easily than a child who is still learning to read.  And I have Miriam (only 17 months younger) growing up fast and finding time for them both, and Angela, and Sarah, and the new baby, is going to make next year exciting!

But God will make a way, I know that.  I need to pray for wisdom, and not worry.  It may be that over the summer his reading will get to the point that he can read a list of instructions and learn to do some of his work on his own.

Incidentally, the older 3 children do much of their work on their own now. I write up a list of instructions for the week and they tackle their work by themselves.  I am, of course, available to help if needed.

So, in spite of pregnancy and occasional illness and all the surprises that life brings -- it was a good academic year.  Goodbye 2011/2012.  Hello 2012/2013 (which starts at the beginning of April in our home.)