End of school year 2020-21

We made it through our year of home school!  We were starting to fizzle out by the end of the year.  We didn't keep up with typing, so we're working on that during the summer.  Savannah was ahead at least - she's on 3rd grade level language arts and math.  Owen and Weston completed their grade level for math, and they also finished their language arts with about a month left to improvise.  I had them writing paragraphs, answering a question of their choice from a list of things I came up with.  They all did pretty well on their online math, although it was a challenge for Weston at times.  Owen did well on everything except spelling.  I gave him a spelling test with 100 words (that he had missed several times) from the year.  He only got 68 correct.  For fun, I gave the same test to Alex, Nathan, and Jared (who aren't great at spelling either).  Alex got 84, Nathan got 81, and Jared got 79.  So they all missed a significant number of words.  Twelfth, handkerchief, cemetery, and bouquet were missed by all of them.  The last three of those can be tricky.      

We did a little celebration on the last couple of days, with bubbles, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate shakes, pizza, and pie.  We had to do 4 different kinds of pie to accommodate all the favorites:  key lime (Owen), chocolate (Savannah), cherry (Jared), and apple (Nathan and Weston). I made some certificates and diploma for Savannah, Weston, and Owen.  Owen graduated from elementary to junior high school this year.  He'll be a big 7th grader next year.  He missed out on a 6th grade graduation ceremony, so we did a mini ceremony at home.  Weston and Savannah completed 4th and 2nd grades.  I had them draw self portraits, which were pretty hilarious.  They also answered a few questions about their favorites and challenges this year, which I read aloud to everyone.   

Savannah:  Favorite subject - Math
                   Biggest Challenge - Independent Writing for Language Arts
                   Favorite memory - Finishing 2nd grade math and going on to 3rd grade math (in the middle of the year)

Weston:  Favorite subject - Science
               Biggest challenge - CTC Math
               Favorite memory - the first time he watched Animals Gone Wild and he got to watch "cute piggies and cute otters"

Owen:  Favorite subject - Science

             Biggest Challenge - "Paying attention in boring history"

             Favorite memory - the time we learned about baby mammals and watched videos with baby pigs and otters

We made it!  It wasn't as hard homeschooling as I imagined, but I'm ready to send them back to school for social interaction.  They are very eager to see their friends again.  They're all signed up to return to school in the fall.  Weston and Savannah will likely still have to wear a mask while indoors, but at least they'll be in-person full day and not on zooms.  If we have to return to home school, at least I know we can do it.