Endings

It’s getting near the end of term. Although we are Home Educators, our lives are still follow the rhythm of terms and holidays set by my husband’s job as a school teacher. He breaks up for the Summer in just two weeks now. It’s not that I consciously choose to give the children holidays from formal learning, after all, we only do a little formal learning and I am a card-carrying member of the ‘children learn all the time’ brigade, but life is just different with dad home. I can make more time to do stuff for myself without the children, we fit in all those jobs that are just easier with two grown-ups around, like sorting out our garage, and we go out as a lot as a family for the day.
So I am trying to finish off what we have begun this year, draw things to a close. Inspired by Kathy at Restoration Place, I have bought document wallets for all this year’s ‘work’. Not to show, or offer up for inspection, but for the children to see what they have achieved, to look back over this stage of the journey and see how far they have come, to reminisce over good and bad times. I would like my middle son to finish his handwriting book, just for completeness sake, and I would like to launch him into ‘The Arrow’ in September. My little girl is working her way through some phonics books. We won’t finish the series, and I’m not sure I will carry on with them next term, but it would be nice to complete the book we’re on and not leave it hanging. We have a chapter book to finish, in preparation for the readathon that will be ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.’ Previous Harry’s have been read on our holidays away, but this is so long that it will take the whole six weeks of time off school.
History has taken a back seat, but we just so happen to have finished the Tudors in ‘Our Island History’ so that seems a good place to stop. Just the five Tudor monarchs to add to our Kings and Queens Time-line. Perhaps we’ll do a Tudor ‘project’ next term, or maybe focus on the Stuarts and The Restoration. With membership of Historic Royal Palaces we have free access to Hampton Court, The Tower of London and The Banqueting House (from where Charles I left to be beheaded.)
At the beginning of this academic year I wrote each child a letter outlining my hopes for the year ahead. I would like to write partner letters about the year we have had. We have a big day our planned next week to Legoland to celebrate my eldest turning ten and I am hoping to have a special Poetry tea to round things off on the last day.
The nasty voice in my head is still droning on about stopping too early, the children not learning and how much more they would be doing in school. But the weather is warm and a Summer of picnics, parks and camping is calling ...