School's Out For Summer

Before I get too far into recording our summer activities, I should probably take a moment to reflect back on our school year! 

Overall, this was one of my favorite academic years.  The success of Aubree's co-op contributed largely to that assessment, but it wasn't the only factor.

Graham had such a fun year, with activities with his friends scheduled almost every single day.  He's possibly our most social kid, so time spent with friends kept him in joyous spirits.
While I don't place a heavy emphasis on academics with preschoolers, Graham is eager to learn and participate in "school" like his siblings.  He is halfway through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book, and is turning into a good little reader.

Bryce finished up 3rd grade, and though the first semester of the year was rough behaviorally, he really pulled it together the second half of the year. In fact, in the last couple of months, Bryce and Thane figured out that if they focus, they can get their work done really quickly.  Often times, they would get up, get right to work, and finish all their independent work before we even had breakfast! Then they had tons of free time in the afternoons. 

Thane finished 1st grade and is a strong all-around scholar.  He is very confident in his academic ability, and especially loves math which he claims is "so easy!" He loves to do everything fast, fast, fast. Sometimes that's fine. Sometimes it's a problem.

Thane and Bryce had a weekly art class taught by our ultra-talented neighbor, Kelly.  

 

They loved it and learned so much. At the end of the year, Kelly hosted an informal art show where the kids all had a chance to showcase their work from the entire year.

In addition to weekly art classes, we continued our weekly mini-co-op history and science classes.  The boys learned chemistry this school year, which ended up being equally enlightening for us as parents.

Aubree's Homes United co-op was everything I dreamed it might be for her and her friends.  It wasn't perfect, and we sure learned a lot after one year, but it met and exceeded my primary goals.

If you ask Aubree what her favorite co-op classes were, she will not be able to give you an answer, and will finally throw up her hands and say, "All of them!" 

Her cooking class was definitely a highlight. They all learned to be such capable cooks. At the end of the year, they had a cooking "competition" where each student chose a dish to make. They had 40 minutes to make their dish, then they presented it to a panel of outside judges for review.  So fun!

Getting their homemade lunches assessed

When Aubree was in the Discovery program, she loved her Night of the Notables presentations.  As part of a joint science/writing activity, she and her classmates had a chance to complete a Night of the Notables style presentation.  Aubree researched and presented as the scientist Maria Merian.

All the co-op kids adopted my other kids as their de facto younger siblings.  

Nellie was not easy to win over, but by the end of the school year, they were successful!

I expected that Aubree would love co-op, but I was surprised with how much joy and fulfillment I got from teaching my literature class.

I loved seeing each student learn and grow.  We had so many dynamic, meaningful discussions over the course of the year.  We also had a lot of hilarious discussions, such as the time Brody explained what constitutes a "kissing book."

At the end of the co-op year, the students each received a yearbook with pictures highlighting all the wonderful activities in which they'd participated.  It's a precious keepsake.

I'm thrilled that Aubree has the opportunity to continue with her co-op next year, and it honestly baffles me that we don't have a waiting list a mile long of kids and parents begging to join!

On the last day of school, we went to Habit Burger to celebrate the successful completion of the year and the official start of SUMMER!