Last Day of School

It is still pretty early in the morning, but we just finished our last lesson of Kindergarten. I can't believe we are done with school! Katharine has learned so much! And even Lukas picked up quite a bit of knowledge along the way.

We started early today as everybody was up early. The first lesson was our last history lesson and we finished the year learning about Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The last few weeks we have spent learning about people that fought for freedom and equal rights in our country. Lukas was especially impressed by Jackie Robinson, and yes, he remembers his name, Katharine thinks he looked cute and now Lukas wants to play baseball. Teaching this unit made me personally tear up sometimes. Katharine at times had this look on her face that seemed to say "now why would we not all have the same rights? What's the problem with different colored skin, we are still the same?" In addition to doing our lesson, I also went on youtube this morning and we listened to the entire speech Dr. King gave. The lesson left me with thinking that his dream is still not fulfilled, but that we have come a lot closer to it. If I can bring up my kids so they they don't see the differences on the outside of others, than I will have accomplished something.  Our definitely last lesson in Kindergarten was art. I got to pull out all of Katharine's art work she created in art. Katharine colored and cut out some blue ribbons and decided which of her pieces was the best with shapes, the best in color, the best portrait or self-portrait, the best landscape and the best sculpture. We went through a long list of questions to reevaluate all that she learned and I have to say she did splendid! She could talk about all the different pieces of art she created, textures, patterns, lines, sculptures, told me the difference between paintings and sculptures, portraits and self-portraits, talked about still life paintings and much more.

It has been an amazing journey to see Katharine grow. I have not always been the best teacher and parent, but I tried hard and the biggest compliment that my girl can give me is to tell me that I am the best mommy and teacher and that she is looking forward to 1st grade in our little school, which, finally I found a name for: "The Harry Walter Memorial Academy for the Liberal and Performing Arts." I think my Dad would like that. And I am sure he would be super proud of Katharine for being such a little artist, drawing having been one of his passions.

We have been around the world and in outer space during this school year.  We read a LOT of books, painted, drew, cut, pasted, crunched numbers, talked about shapes, the time, tested for magnetism, made icebergs, wigwams, tipis, loin cloths, trees, recreated the surface of the moon and let meteors fall on it, grew plants that we also let die, made sculptures, sang songs, wrote poetry and short stories, put up with nagging little brothers and a hungry little baby and a great many other distractions that were sometimes hard to deal with, but we had an awesome journey! 

Not to leave out Lukas and Lennon: They loved painting and making sculptures. Lukas loved the interactive screens in science, the stories in history and any kind of worksheet that involved animals or presidents. He is especially fond of George Washington, that "guy on the coin". One afternoon he told me who William Penn was. Now that is cool for my "little guy." Lennon was happy when he had someone to play with, but did like painting and songs.

What did I learn? Tons. For one, that yes, I can teach my  6 year old, even math and science, and still take care of the other three. I dug up a lot of knowledge that I forgot I had. I learned I DON'T always have to go by the book, even in school. I learned that it is okay, even for me, to stay in jammies all morning. I learned I do have patience, but that I can't always look into Katharine's mind and expect her to perform a certain way. Sometimes it is worth stepping away from the desk, doing something different and then to come back to the lesson and sure enough, things will go so much BETTER! I don't know for how long we will homeschool and which one of the other kids will like it as much as Katharine, but we did order our 1st grade supplies that we still needed in addition to the ones we got to buy from Kara.  Thank you Kara, for sending us down this road! There is a lot of cool stuff going to happen in first grade, but for now, we are going to take a bit of a break. Tomorrow evening we will officially celebrate the end of Kindergarten with a cap, maybe a gown, definitely cake and a certificate.

The conclusion: Homeschooling was the right choice for us this year and I am thankful to be able to give my girls and boys some wings to fly...