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Summer is here, and our boys have officially ended school for this "school year." How about all of you? Are you continuing school through the summer, doing year round school, or taking a summer break?

Since our oldest son Cole is getting married June 11, and our busy season for HOD is upon us... we are definitely taking a break from school. Beau is 4 weeks into World Geography. Greyson is mid-way through US2. We got off schedule with school when Grey was in and out of the hospital so much, so we are at odd stopping points in the guides. But, we have found it works just fine to pick school back up where we left off in the guides when we begin again in the fall.

What are you planning for the summer?

Blessings,
Carrie

We are done! (Mostly. ) PS goes to the end of June here, so we are early this year.

Our DD graduated in Feb, 15yo DS finished his year in April (so he could farm), 13 yo has 2 units left, 11, 9, and 7yos are done for the year and 4yo is still asking to "do school" almost every day.

This year is odd in that I only have one stopping mid-guide (11yo done U13 of RTR). My13yo who started Preparing in January of 4th caught up to the school years this year and will start MTMM in the fall!

I'm not sure what summer will look like. Bible camp isn't running and we can't even meet with people outside our own homes right now, as Covid is wreaking havoc on our medical system (we are transferring patients out of province to keep up). Hoping that numbers will allow us to have a graduation party outdoors for our daughter at some point, though, and I plan to start school after Labor Day.

In the mean time, I'm having fun prepping! Non-HOD 12th (since we don't do US history at that age), MTMM, RTR, 2 in Preparing and preschooler in R&S workbooks and Storytime. I'm looking forward to next year with just 5 in school (down from 7, 2 years ago) and the "feel" of it, with more time to spend with the younger ones now.

Blessings and congratulations to Cole and his bride, and to the extended family as you welcome the changes that will bring.

Blessings,

We finish our school year tomorrow! I've been prepping for the next school year because we're taking a whopping two weeks off this summer! We'll have all of next week off, then we're off on a ministry trip for a week and then will dive straight into a new school year - WG, Rev to Rev, RTR, & Preparing! We're hoping to come home on furlough next spring so my goal is to get a jump on the school year and finish early so we don't have to cart 4 sets of books across the world! The inevitable breaks happen throughout the year - friends come out of the bush to take a break on base, so we opt for a day off, or we make an ortho visit to the capital, or we put all hands on deck for a supply flight that needs to go out or...

We're so looking forward to a new year and new guides! My Rev to Rev boy jumped into his EE science early because he was SO excited about it (and it works out well since the science course is a week longer than the guide). My Preparing girl is chomping at the bit to start. Bigger has been a good year for her, but she's excited for more independence and a 4-day guide like her siblings!

I'm looking forward to seeing my 9th grader expand his horizons a bit with the WG guide, and praying that he enjoys it and is challenged by it as it will be a definite change from his years in AO. A good change, I think, but an adjustment, nonetheless.

I feel like this is the first year that we're finishing "well". Most years it seems we're limping across the finish line, but not this year! Hallelujah!

Praising the Lord for a successful year, switching to HOD partway through the year and looking forward to this coming one!

We are continuing through the summer, but on a slower schedule. We are aiming for 2 days of the guide to be done each physical week. Some weeks, like this week, we won't get that much in. But it means we can take more time off when places aren't as crowded! Plus my kids tend to get bored if we take more than a week or two off of school without going out of town or having company.

All but my second have completed about 2.5 units of their guides (WG, CtC, and LHFHG). The second started RtR in October, so he will hopefully finish in September/October. The little guy LOVES LHFHG. He actually begged to listen to Reddy Fox while we did some "house"work last week. My oldest is doing well in WG, and I am glad we started half speed so she's could get the feel for everything. And my third is doing great with CtC.

My kids are also excited that a play they were one week away from performing when everything shut down over a year ago is finally going to happen! They will be somewhat busy in July with that. We are hoping to visit family at some point too, but coordinating schedules is becoming challenging!

We got a late start to our school year as I had baby number 7 at the end of August last year, so we will be finishing in July and taking the month of August off!

We are doing something a little different this summer. After much prayer and talking with Julie about our family’s specific situation (thank you Julie!) we are changing things up a bit. I am working towards combining our older two this fall in CTC. So I paused my oldest in Preparing to finish Bigger with his brother, but he is doing the extensions. Then they will finish the last few units of Preparing together and then move into CTC for their 4th & 5th grade year. This gives me a chance to help my second son to strengthen his reading and writing skills just a bit before we “skip” a guide. I know it sounds weird, but it is working so well and has helped on so many levels the last couple months! I am excited to have these guys together. We are having such fun! And we are doing DITHOR together for the first time and they are really loving it! They are about to do their first projects!

My second set of kids (son and daughter) are combined in LHFHG, and they are doing well with that and should be ready to start Beyond together in the fall for 1st & 2nd grade together. They combine really well and have from the start and we have had some special times together. At some point once I get the older 4 rolling I plan to start up LHTH half speed with my littles!

I’ve grown and learned a lot this year myself as we have really moved into large family homeschooling! I was so afraid the HOD might not work for us anymore because I was so overwhelmed running LHFHG, Bigger & Preparing (and 3 kids under 3!) Talking with Julie was such a help! Now I have more time for my littles and some character issues with the big kids are being worked on. We are finishing school on time and we are having fun doing it! Honestly I’m so excited about the progress we are making I’m not ready for a break yet! But I am looking forward to August when we can enjoy our well earned break!

Anyway, I know that was long but I just want to say a big thank you to all of you at Heart of Dakota! Congratulations to Cole and his bride! And enjoy your summer!!!

In Christ Alone,
Bethany