Reporting in

We are nearing the end of our first year of homeschooling.  The calendar, and provincial policy, dictates that I have my plans for next year in soon.  And it only makes sense to me "finish" one year before I start thinking about the next.  So, late last night after the kids were finally tucked into bed, I started writing up my first "annual progress report".

I have been thinking of what I would write for about a month because it seemed like it would such a complex, detailed task to complete.  We've done so much - how could I possibly write about all we've done succinctly!  Yet when I sat down and stared at the blank computer screen, it seemed like too much detail would mask what my children have learned.  To boil things down to their simplest terms, one of my children has grown into a reader.  She's gone from recognizing single digit numbers to adding and subtracting three-digit ones.  She knows how to spell her full name and remembers the date on which she entered our earthly world.  She's even dabbled in handwriting.  These are all things she could not do a year ago. 

My son has gone into the business of devouring books (in the open and not on the sly anymore), and he can figure out the sales tax and total cost of a purchase more efficiently.  He's gone on fact-finding missions about coins, birds, shrimp, the War of 1812, and outer space, to just the right level of detail for him.  While the extent of his growth is harder to see, simply because he came home "equipped" with most of the basics, I do know that he has grown and learned through the projects we've done and experiences we've had together.

They have both learned about caring for a younger sister and how to be more independent.  They have learned about the world around them.  They've imagined what the past was like, stood solidly with eyes wide open in the present, and dreamt of the future.  They are happy. 

I think that pretty much sums it up!