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My ds will soon turn 13. When I tell other homeschooling moms that he is always sad to finish the school year they always look at me really strange. I don't think they believe me. This is our 3rd year with HOD and every year as he gets to the last week he will start saying how he doesn't want it to end. This year was no exception. He really enjoyed RTR. He had a few rough spots with the reading in the first part of the year because of how long the readings were, but it was great training for him. He now does longer readings without thinking twice about it. He can't wait to show his dad all of his notebook. Dad has seen parts of it of course, but ds likes to show him every page, in order, one at a time, explaining as he goes .

I have to say though we both agreed the best storytime book was the last one, "The Tinker's Daughter". It was so timely because he is just finishing up reading Little Pilgrim's Progress so he was really excited about reading this book about John Bunyan's daughter. When we finished reading it today he just kept saying "Wow, Wow what a good book."

That's awesome!! I wish my daughter shared your son's enthusiasm for school.
But, HOD has been a wonderful fit for our family and I'm looking forward to Rev2Rev with you this coming school year!

I wish my daughter shared your son's enthusiasm for school.

Same here. I don't think my DS is sad that school is almost over, but I think he would say that if you have to do school, HOD is the way to do it! He would never say he likes school or reading, but he did give enthusiastic narrations, and appeared to like the books. He is reading Tinker's Daughter right now.

They just finished Unit 33, so we have 8 Days left. Should be done by June 1st.

Of course, I am the one who is biting at the bit to start the next guides. DS will do Rev2Rev (which I have sitting in my living room and looks so incredibly wonderful!) and 2 youngers will do CTC (which I haven't done yet either, so both guides are new next year. Sooooo exciting!!)

Congratulations!!

We finished Beyond on Tuesday. My ds was sad too. Then I showed him our stack of "missed" storytime books and he perked right up.

Enjoy your break.

Lynn, we finished RtR today, too! It is bittersweet for us. We're very excited about summer break, but sad to leave this year behind. Especially since I'll have my first high schooler next year. Where did the come go??? It has been a wonderful year! When the kids did the finishing touches on their final paper of the year with using IEW Medieval Writing, I just marveled at how far their writing has come this year. And they had such a sense of accomplishment and purpose by finishing everything in the book! Tomorrow, we will put together their binders for the year which is so much fun reflecting on all they accomplished. And we will call it a year! (Well, except for finishing our math books...) I can't WAIT to do Rev2Rev next year!!

What do you do to "put together their binders"?

Lynn,

Your post brought tears to my eyes! It just brings to mind my own 13 year old son, and how blessed I am that he loves his school as well. What other teenage boy would be sad to finish school for the year! The books just bring the history to life, don't they. I was also very struck by the Tinker's Daughter. What an amazing story.

Thanks for sharing!

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi, Gwenny! You asked about our binders that we put together at the end of the year. Let me say first that I am NOT a crafty person AT ALL and I don't scrapbook or anything like that. This is all that I do as a memory maker for the kids and it's important to us to have it - even if it's a chore for me!

I buy a 3" binder for each of the kids. I get the kind with a clear plastic cover and slide in a paper with a picture of that child printed on it with the year and the grade they were in school. At the beginning of each school year, my husband and I write a letter to each of the kids that goes in the front of their History binder. So, we take that letter and put it first in the year-end binder. Next, I make a picture collage online (usually 3 pages or so) at Wal-Mart which has pictures of that child throughout the year of things and memories we want to remember. (Remember, I don't scrapbook, so this is the only printed pictures I make all year!) Then, I put a list of the curriculum we used for the year, a list of field trips and activities, a list of co-op classes (if we did any), a list of read-alouds, and a list of books each child read on their own. After that, we put in the HOD history notebook, the art notebook, and the shakespeare notebook. Then, we go through their science notebook and add most of that in (notebooking pages, written narrations, and lab sheets put into page protectors). Following that is the rest of the stuff - a section for sample pages of math, sample pages of LA, their final copies of their writing assignments, geography maps, and usually a section for extras (special drawings, cards or notes from siblings or friends, birthday cards, things they wrote, concert programs, ticket stubs, or anything with a special memory etc., put into page protectors). By the end, that binder is STUFFED!!!! But it does force us not to keep everything because it has to fit in there. If they have more personal stuff that they really want to remember, then we will put it into one folder and keep it with that binder.

These binders are some of my kids favorite things ever. They get them out from years past and look at them and laugh and talk and remember. It is so worth the time it takes to do them. And I love having a record of all that we do every year. We marvel at how much we actually accomplished during the year and all the fun we had!

Probably too much information! But that's what we do!

Thanks Tiffini! NOT too much info at all, I need the details. . That is a fantastic idea. I'm going to copy you.

Blessings.

How gratifying to have him love his work so much.

Tiffini

That is a wonderful idea! I can see why the kids cherish it! Thank you for the details