The Last Day Of Spena School

Well folks. We did it! We successfully completed our second year of homeschooling! I can’t begin to express how happy I am with how this year went. I spent all last summer wavering back and forth about whether we should start or wait on Kindergarten for Abigail. But ultimately, we decided to give it a go and I am SO glad that we did. She was able to handle everything I threw at her and more. She surprised me daily with her mind, her learning style, her creativity, and her ability to retain information.

Obviously, that’s not to say that we didn’t have our hard days or our frustrating moments(I thought getting her to correctly write her letter “Z” and number “5” was going to give me gray. It might have.) But overall, it was a wonderful experience and I am so thankful for it.

For Kindergarten we used the curriculum My Father’s World and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an all inclusive Kindergarten curriculum. I was wanting something that encouraged lots of reading, outdoor play time, and had an overall laid back vibe. That was exactly what we got with MFW! We took tons of trips to the library, had lots of time for learning through other situations like trips to the store, the park, and various other errands. We read so many books, drew so many pictures, memorized so many bible verses, and just had a great Kindergarten experience.

We won’t be doing MFW again in the fall, I already have her signed up for our local Classical Conversations group for 1st grade. It is a co-op that meets once a week and it contains all of your subjects(excluding math and english.) After you meet on Monday’s, you do all of your work at home. I’m really looking forward to this change of pace and I think that Abigail will really continue to flourish!

So, of course, I had to take a last day of school picture. Quintessential Abigail. An outfit 100% of her choosing and a pose that she came up with on her own to boot.

I took this horribly lit photo just to send to my Mom and Jim, but I figure, eh, might as well share it here too! This is a comparison of her very first week of school’s hand writing compared to her last. Such an improvement!

To celebrate finishing strong, we met Jim at Cheddars for a celebration lunch! We let her have a sweet tea to drink and we ordered a cookie monster to share after we all ate. It was really fun and really special. And hey, part of me couldn’t help but feel that we were celebrating me too! After all, I’m on summer break now too. Woo woo!

And just because comparison pictures are the best, here is Abigail on her first day of school(at our old house!) and Abigail on her last day of Kindergarten!

We have both grown and changed and learned so much this school year! But, we’re not only looking forward to this summer(I mean, really, really, really looking forward to and enjoying summer!!) but we’re eagerly anticipating and looking forward to another wonderful year of school at home next fall!