We did it! We made it through 9 months - 36 weeks - of home school!
It has certainly been a challenge and a blessing. On the plus side, I think the kids have really been privileged to explore interests in a way they never would have otherwise (like Blender and yoga). They've also been able to move along faster in subjects than I think they would have in regular school. All three are only a couple units away from passing the math course one year ahead of the grade they are currently in, and they've all passed at least one grade ahead in Khan ELA (Hyrum has passed two). I've loved seeing how their minds work and tailoring assignments and lessons to address weaknesses and push strengths. Weekly trips to the library where we bring home stacks and stacks of books have been a highlight, and it's been fun to learn drawing and do some unique projects together. The kids have been able to focus on their music without it feeling like an added burden, and being able to play with their toys and their dog during breaks has been such a joy to them. Definitely one of my favorite elements of homeschool is the flexibility. We were able to put in four focused, fairly intense days, then take Fridays off with Dad. We also got to pick when our breaks were and choose not to take Monday holidays so that we could end a week early. I will really miss setting our own schedule next year.
I think the biggest downside is that I am not a trained educator. I'm a pretty good Sunday School teacher, and I know what I know in the subjects I'm familiar with, but I'm not an educated English teacher or science teacher or math teacher, and my breadth and depth of knowledge in all the subjects across three different grades is certainly limited. I worry that while some areas have had extensive coverage, other areas have been completely overlooked. I think the younger two will be okay, but I really worry about what Hyrum has missed out on. I also think that the way we've used Khan Academy has taught them (Hyrum) to not really pay close attention to lessons because when it's time to take quizzes and tests they can just take them over and over until they pass. I don't think I've taught him well enough how to take notes or study in a focused way. They've worked hard, but have also become very lazy. Aside from my academic deficiencies, homeschool has obviously been a huge time commitment. Granted, they would have been home most of the year anyway so my freedom would have been limited regardless, but I put in hours and hours of preparation in addition to dedicating the bulk of my daytime hours to their schooling. I don't know that that's automatically a bad thing, but I think it's fair to say there's a lot I didn't do because of homeschool.
Taken all together, I think this past year has been really great for Abraham and Mercy, but perhaps suffering through virtual school might have been better for Hyrum.
For our records, over the past month, Hyrum passed a unit on rates and proportional relationships in math and is working on expressions, equations, and inequalities. He passed 8th grade ELA easy peasy and in writing, he answered several essay questions on the bubonic plague and medieval Islam. In order to start his summer he still needs to pass the world history unit 600 - 1450: Regional and interregional interactions, and has his biology course challenge to complete.
Abraham passed 5 units in math this month: multiplying decimals, dividing decimals, powers of ten, volume, and coordinate planes. He also passed 5th grade ELA and his Blender course. He did a book report on Castle in the Attic and did a creative writing project related to it which involved animating some illustrations.
Mercy passed the unit on Time in math and passed 4th grade ELA. She did a book report on a Nancy Clancy book, and wrote and illustrated a book for creative writing. She also responded to some narrative and informative writing prompts.
Together they watched a series of videos on Russia and wrote some short reports about animals found there.
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