We end where we began: in our little schoolroom at home.

It has been a pretty great school year.

• For the first time ever, every single kid finished their math book. (This is huge. Usually at least two of them have to continue doing lessons through the summer until their book is done.) All of them began their math book for the next grade. Kyrie (who just completed first grade) is already halfway through second grade math. (I know I'm subjective, and I really think all my kids are very intelligent. But Kyrie? The girl is wicked smart. I'm in awe of how quickly she digests material, she easily accomplished in this one year of homeschool what all five who went before her did in two years. She'd just breeze through every day and then ask, "What can I do next?")
  
  
• Jackson, Ethan, and Kyrie all improved unbelievably in reading and comprehension skills. I can hardly believe they're the same kids from September. Every year I come up with one substantial tweak to the way I do things. This year, the tweak was to our reading program, and I'm very pleased with the results.
  
  
• We made it through our whole science curriculum once, and then started over and did half of it again. I feel like the kids have a great grasp of earth science and a pretty darn good grasp of space.
  
  
• I was trying to prepare Libby for next year at The Academy. Her writing skills have blossomed. She wrote lots of essays this year, lots of paragraphs, lots of stories. I'm so pleased with how far she's come, and I can honestly say that I feel like she's ready for what I know is coming in ninth grade.
  
  
• Geography has been fun this year. All the kids (Mack too) know the continents, the oceans, the Mediterranean Sea, and the major countries from the medieval period. I know they won't remember everything they learned in history, but they had a pretty good grasp of it in the moment. It'll be a good pin to hang their future knowledge on.

I love summertime. I made my list of projects this morning, and it's really long. I'm going to be busy, busy, busy—painting, constructing, rearranging, organizing. But it will be a free sort of busy, not an oh-I-should-have-done-that-with-them busy. It makes all the difference in the world.

It's only 60º today, breezy and now clouds are covering the sun. I think yet another storm is rolling in. We've had an unbelievably (and uncharacteristically) wet spring. It doesn't feel even remotely like summer. Two months from now on a 100º day I'll look back on this cool wistfully. But for now, I've kicked off my shoes and I'm leaning back, watching my kids play Wii. I'm ready, summer—come find me!
_____________________________
Listening to: Thurston Moore - Benediction