Treading Water

So you have probably been wondering, in the midst of kleenex, pregnancy, and sickness, if we have been getting any schooling done. The answer is yes, but I will say that this year has not quite measured up to my expectations of all we would accomplish. I thought we were taking it easy LAST year, while I was pregnant, never ever dreaming that, well, this year I would not only have an infant but be pregnant AGAIN. I think I've mentioned in other posts how little we have gotten done in the afternoons because I have just been too tired! So I have felt like this year was another year of just treading water--nothing extra getting done.

And yet, things have been accomplished. We finished Latina Christiana 1. We even went through Minimus a second time. We have only one chapter left in Story of the World 3 (of course, I haven't even ordered SOTW 4 yet, so that will give me a convenient excuse to drop history while we settle in with the new baby, LOL). Luke has about 10 more lessons in Saxon 3, and Nathan is over halfway done with Saxon 6/5. We're halfway done with Easy Grammar 4/5. We're halfway done with Classical Writing Aesop. We have focused more strongly on memory work this year, so we've memorized things like 1 Corinthians 13, Revelation 5:6-14, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Presidents, etc.--AND we review them all regularly, so I know they are really in there!

BUT--we should be more than halfway done with those things like grammar and writing! And we never did get to any formal science! Spelling is still Nathan's big bugaboo! (Next year I am definitely using different spelling programs for Nathan and Luke--probably Spelling Power for Luke, and I'm still not sure for Nathan.) I want to teach them how to play the recorder! Caleb is still not reading fluently, mainly because some days his lessons get skipped! Ah well. Next year I WON'T be pregnant, right Lord? LOL.

A few weeks ago, Christa wrote a list on her blog called "When it comes to school, there's no place like home" with some reasons such as these:

. . . Where helping one's little brother get a glass of milk teaches service.

. . . Where children learn to look out for each other, helping toddlers. Reading to little sister or brother hones skills, grows a caring heart, and brings special joy all around.

I think I can summarize these past 2 years as "learning to serve" for the boys. There have been lots of good lessons in that crucial subject! I guess there will be time for science later on. In the meantime, we'll keep plugging away with math, grammar, etc. We'll start Latina Christiana 2 next week. We'll keep on going through the Spectrum test practice books to prepare for the Stanford Achievement tests the boys will be taking the first week of May. And we'll have another baby, which will yield even more opportunities to serve!