What are you thankful for from this schoolyear?

[LNC]

I love to watch my children develop!

 

I always thought my 8yod would love to read the same types of books I loved at her age... Betsy-Tacy series, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women etc. She is drawn to the wonderfully imaginative classics of Edward Eager, Edith Nesbit, Harriet the Spy, Elizabeth Enright...She says she likes girl characters with a bit of "spice". So sweet! All these treasures I've never read! I want to read them all too, hearing her talk about them!

 

My 6yos learned to read this year! He didn't take off at a really young age like my 8yod. He just plodded along, but he is doing great at his own pace :). He read 2 chapters of a Magic Tree House book this morning! His first "chapter book"!

 

My 10yos w/ special needs "graduated" from our homeschool in January to go to a public school special ed class. That was the best decision we have ever made for him. He has friends for the first time in his life, sweet boys with varying degrees of mental and physical disabilities. He has wonderful behavior at school. I'm getting a break to be refreshed to structure and manage his behavior at home too. He is participating in Special Olympics for the first time tomorrow and will be competing in track and field. Yea!

 

My 13yo with very special needs has had another year of far surpassing all expectations and we are blessed to care for him!

 

That's it for me! I would love to hear from you!

[WTMindy]

I am thankful for having my neices and nephews close enough to do a TOG co-op with. Last night we gathered for our unit 3 celebration and the kids put on a Greek play (the story of Job). I'm in the process of uploading pictures of it to my blog right now. The kids performed it for parents and grandparents, and showed off all their work for the last 9 weeks. I am thankful when they have a chance to do public speaking like that (even if it is just family). They did such a great job!!

[Sue G in PA]

I'm alive and still relatively sane. :D

[KidsHappen]

I am also thankful that my kids actually got some school work done and are making progress.

[Marie in Oh]

it is almost over. :D

[Jean in Newcastle]

This has been a really tough year with health challenges but my kids have still thrived.

 

Ds10 has learned to be much more independent in his school work. He wrote his first research paper this year - a 5 page typed paper on Ancient Egypt! He is currently working on a scale model of the Parthenon.

 

Dd6 is learning to read. She is so tickled when she surprises me by reading a "hard" word. She is also whizzing through math.

 

I am so thankful to be such a big part of these accomplishments.

[Quiver0f10]

it is almost over. :D

 

 

:iagree: :lol:

[mcconnellboys]

My teen has been successful back in private school - a thing which really worried me greatly.

 

My younger son, who I wasn't sure would ever be any kind of writer, has done some amazing things (to me, at least) in writing just lately and I'm becoming quite hopeful and encouraged by how he's beginning to come along.

[Sahamamama]

sweet! When I think about all that he has done this year, all that we have been through with the little ones (preschooler + twins), him doing school, work, the house, and... well, just LIFE, I am amazed at how he keeps going. I, personally, am ready for a NAP, but my husband comes in from work and (most of the time! ;)) helps to keep the momentum going -- the "evening routine," if you know what I mean. Baths, pajamas, dinner, reading, praying, singing (off-key, but hey, he's singing "God Is So Good" with three little girls on his lap, how cute is that?), brushing teeth, tucking into bed. Then he helps with dinner, the clean up, the chores, the errands, shutting down the house, you name it. He really believes in this family, and it shows.

[runningirl71]

and finishing strong.

[reservejagmom]

I'm so very thankful that:

 

-- My 11 yo ds is outgrowing many of his sensory processing problems and starting to accelerate in every area! It is so amazing to see. A year ago he was finishing up vision therapy and had been struggling to read more than a page or two. Now he's reading entire chapters of Prince Caspian at one sitting and writing good chapter summaries about them as well!

 

-- I was able to enroll him at a therapeutic riding school only 10 minutes from our house! He started in Nov and I feel this is what has really made the difference for him.

 

-- My mom lives close by, and can help me with the hsing when I perform reserve duty. The $$ I can make part time allows me to stay home more or less full time.

 

-- my dh is so incredibly supportive.

 

-- both my ds and I have made new hsing friends this year.

 

-- I have this Forum to come to!

 

Carol :001_smile:

[Jenny in Atl]

I'm thankful that I can afford to stay home and do this... be with them, watch them grow, and learn. It's hard but worth every minute.

[Carol in Cal.]

I am thankful that Dd has blossomed so much this year, as a writer, in her drawing, in her initiative, in her music theory (finally!), in math (finally! Thank you, Saxon!), in grammar (YES! It's coming together!).

 

I'm grateful that I bit the bullet and went on some good field trips, and that I'm hosting a literature group for DD and some new friends.

 

Most of all, I am thankful that I have found a local group of Christian but eclectic homeschoolers to hang with in addition to my inclusive, secular friends. I had not really realized what a relief it would be to be able to talk about things in public with other homeschooling adults from a Christian POV. I didn't realize how much I was bottling up inside and worrying over privately. Although I could certainly have continued without this, it has been a great blessing and refreshment to me.

[Sandra314]

I am thankful that my oldest son has progressed so much better now that we are Classical Homeschooling.

He is becoming more independent.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I'm thankful that we didn't send ds to school this year. We were so tempted because things were just so hard last year.

 

He has almost totally changed this year. He has grown into a young man I love having around! I would have missed it if he'd been in school. Actually, it might not have happened at all. Or, I would have thought it was because he was in school (and I would have felt like a failure). I'm just so thankful for the insights I've received, and the development he has gone through. It's been a great year. :)

[Tap]

This sounds really bad on a classical board but my 9yo hasn't done a lot this year. We do the basics and have dropped most other things. What we have done is spent the past year getting to know our foster daughter who has been with us a year now and is 18mo. We didn't know how long she would be here (we expected her to go home in January) so we were a bit leisurely with school because of the extra stress and workload of a baby. One of the reasons I have been okay with this is because of the interactions my ds and dd have with the baby. My dd has learned so much this year about compassion, taking care of some else, and putting your own wants/needs aside for someone who really needs. She has matured so much and her entire focus in the world has changed. Dd9 has migraines if she gets too stressed (usually when she really pushes herself to hard both mentally and physically) so when we started the year we went light and planned to pick up the pace after the baby went home. Before the baby came, dd9 was turning into a whiny preteen and was beginning to get a bit self centered. She was the baby and while we aren't the type of parents to give in to tantrums, she was definitely trying to see what she could potentially get away with. It has came to an abrupt halt.

 

 

I am sorry this has gotten so long, but I really want to thank everyone here for this. Odd but true...Thanks for all you say and do. I tend to be a little OCD especially about keeping ahead in school. For me to let go this year was really hard to do. I used to read posts all the time about people moving, going through life changes like divorce, illnesses, and the things that make homeschooling almost impossible. I would read everyone's words of comfort and take them to my own heart even though the weren't directed to me. I was able to let this year come and go, and know that there is nothing she missed in 3rd grade that won't be taught again, and again. But the lessons she learned at home with the baby, and helping to reshape our family....are immense and will stick with each of us through a lifetime.

 

 

Thank you everyone,

Tap

[prairiegirl]

My ds has always been aloof when it has come to academics. He could care less about math, reading, history, etc. I didn't push. I just let him play. I am so thankful that I did this. On his 7th birthday (in Jan,) it was as if the lightbulb was switched on. He has more interest in reading as well as learning about other things. He still doesn't want to do history with us, but he asks his sister to tell him what she learned, so he is still getting it.

 

I am thankful for the great changes in my ds.

[elegantlion]

I am thankful of many things this year. Here are a few of my favorites...

 

• finding Singapore's Primary Mathematics. It has turned math around for us.
  
• ds' reading level has improved greatly. We've spent the last 2 years focused on getting him up to grade level. Right now he is in the middle of a book written for his grade.
  
• silly, but I'm glad we found exercise balls for chairs. The bouncing up and down isn't as obnoxious as the spinning chair we had last year. I just bought one for myself as well.

[DB in NJ]

I'm thankful for:

 

1. No major illnesses this year

 

2. My 8yo (now 9) ds is READING!!! Woohooo!!!

 

3. My 8 yo (now 9) ds KNOWS HIS MULTIPLICATION FACTS!

 

4. My 17 yo ds (born w/1 hand) actually PLAYED HIS NEW BASS GUITAR IN FRONT OF PEOPLE AND WAS AWESOME!!!!! GO ANDREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

5. My 13 yo dd....ummmm....gimme a minute. I'll think of something ;)

 

6. My dh has worked steadily.

 

7. We're a bit behind in school, but we're all looking forward to a quiet, gentle summer finishing up.

[Closeacademy]

I am thankful for our trip to Hawaii which gave me time to get away from homeschooling so I could come back and make things better for my dc.

 

For learning to listen to my dc needs rather than doing what I think we should do or the book says we should do or so and so down the street says we should be doing.

 

For relaxing and enjoying life.

 

For the ability to stay home and be with my dc.:001_smile:

[Jolash]

I'm thankful for:

 

the wonder of watching my baby grow up

 

watching him go from haltingly sounding out three letter words to easily reading multi-syllable words in the newspaper, books, signs etc.

 

seeing the sheer joy on his face when he has an "a-ha" moment during school!

 

learning right along side him

 

knowing I'm doing the best thing for him, educationally and emotionally, right now, right where he is

 

a special husband who fully supports me and our decision to homeschool.

 

and I'm especially thankful that we are almost through with second grade and can soon take the summer off!! :lol:

[Sarah in FL]

I am thankful for the one-day-a-week classical school that my 7th and 9th graders have attended this year. They have learned so much and it has kept us on track through hospitalizations, grandmother's death, my pregnancy and delivery, and my surgery. I'm not sure my 2nd and 3rd graders have fared as well, but I think they have learned something this year.