Wrapping Things Up

The end of the school year is in sight here at the Living Waters Classical Academy. I've arbitrarily set the finish date at Bobo's completion of Saxon 2. She has about seven lessons left, so I'm assuming we'll be done just before Memorial Day weekend. She'll do some "fun math" over the summer to avoid brain fog in the Fall.

Elbow will probably finish Hooked on Phonics over the long summer vacay. Other than that, the school room will be quiet.

Some thoughts on the year:

• My children still can't get enough of Story of the World. I don't know how many times we'll read through this series before moving on to something else. Mystery of History? Tapestry of Grace?
• We will continue using the Latin prayers from Prima Latina, even while we're on break from the rest of the curriculum for the summer. I'm planning on taking a year and a half to finish this, not because it's too difficult to keep up with, but because I think Latin Christiana I may be too much of a jump right now. My younger students are learning the prayers as we go (and some of the vocabulary too, by default) so I don't want to rush on to the next level just yet.
• Saxon is definitely the math for us. Elbow will start Saxon 1 in the Fall; Bobo Saxon 3.
• We're trudging through Spelling Workout. I'm still not convinced it's really that helpful. I think spelling comes from reading deeply more than anything else, but Bobo seems to like the activities in the workbook and there are some fun things to learn just from the short reading selections at the beginning of each lesson. We've been doing one lesson every other week.
• Elbow will do Copybook II in the Fall; Bobo will start Classically Cursive.
• Bobo will continue on in McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader; Elbow will probably start in the middle of the Primer. We love these books for out loud reading - all the stories and poems are wonderful.

One of our favorite things this year has been reading through the entire history of Laura Ingalls Wilder's family through the Martha, Charlotte, and Caroline books. We'll finish the Caroline books this summer. Next up: Anne of Green Gables!

Lots more to think about for next year, which I'll post about when the plans are complete.