2012-13 School Year–Week Thirty-Three
That’s a wrap!
After approximately 186 days of school (probably a few more…I sometimes forget to record field trip days!), we have finished the 2012-13 school year!
We did a lot of work this week (unlike, say, the public school, which appears to have been on vacation for the last two weeks of classes!). We had to finish up American history from Nixon to the present (a lot of fun stuff to explain in there!). We had math lessons to complete, and reading lessons for Ladybug, who finally made it through the whole alphabet, and all 27 of her “Fun Tales” readers! Turkey and Bunny also finished their spelling books, and one last writing assignment. We haven’t finished our read-aloud, but we can continue reading that for fun every day!
We also had some fun this week! On Thursday, Bunny, Ladybug, and I went strawberry-picking at Eckert’s, which seemed fitting since we went apple picking during our first week of the school year. Turkey, unfortunately, was sick, but he wanted us to go anyway, which was very kind of him. We had a fun time in the strawberry fields…it was the first time any of us had picked strawberries!
Today, after our last two tests of the year, we had a tea party for Pentecost. We were supposed to have it on Pentecost itself, but I ran out of time, and since it’s still Pentecost week, I figured I could still use red as a theme!
We also built the Lego Brandenburg Gate, a special project to tie into our studies of WWII and the Cold War/fall of the Berlin Wall. Since we waited until this afternoon to work on it, Moose got to join in, too! I love the Lego Architecture series, and can’t wait to see what other Landmarks they may come up with that I can use for school!
It’s been a great school year. There were tough times, trying to figure out how to balance three students in two grades, with an infant (and then toddler!), besides. There were challenges as I had to look for new materials to use for Ladybug when some of the things I used for Turkey and Bunny didn’t work for her. There was the difficulty of trying to teach long division! But the good times and the successes and fun events far outweighed any problems we came across. We’ve finished five years of homeschooling, and I’m already looking forward to year six…see you in August!
The Last Day
I always take pictures of my students on the first day of school…here’s a picture of them on the last day, too!
Instead of the more serious photo that the beginning of the school year gets, we went with silly this time!
The Third Largest Lego Set Ever Made!
It’s mine now!
Yes, it has over 4,000 pieces! And since it’s for ages 16 and up, if I wanted to be difficult, I could tell the children that they can’t help! 
Chickadee Thursday
The flash may have gone off one time too many, but at least she’s still smiling!
Fourteen Months
She’s always pointing at something!
Tasty Tuesday–Strawberries and Cream Pie
This was the pie I made for our Pentecost celebration this year, and it was so delicious, Turkey decided that it’s now tied with the S’mores pie as his favorite!
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 tsp shortening
- 1 Oreo or chocolate pie crust
- 1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 8 oz. tub Cool Whip
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, halved
Melt chocolate chips with shortening over low heat. Pour into bottom of pie crust and chill until firm.
Beat cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour over chocolate in pie crust. Refrigerate overnight.
Before serving, arrange strawberries over the top of the pie. Drizzle with additional chocolate, if desired.
Wrapping Up
We’re wrapping up the 2012-13 school year this week. Originally, I had planned to have school next week, too, but we’re at a point where almost all we’re doing is review, and it’s not really beneficial to anyone to keep going over stuff that’s already been mastered. Also, Moose’s last day is Friday, and I thought it might be nice if we could all celebrate the last day of school together. As much as I don’t want our homeschool to be tied to the public school schedule, the fact of the matter is that one of the students in this house does have to follow it, so it does influence our school year, anyway. It’s not like anyone is going to complain that we’re done early…that just mean we’re closer to summer school, and a whole new school year with new books and things to learn!
That’s one of the great things about homeschooling. I can look at our schedule, and what we’ve accomplished this year, and decide to be done early. We’re over the state-required number of days already, even though my weekly count doesn’t reflect that, because for the weekly count, I only use whole weeks of school. All of the weeks where we only had school for two days, or weekends where we took field trips, aren’t included in that tally. So, even though it looks like we should probably have a month of school left, we’re really already “done,” as far as days are concerned!
I have a few fun things planned for the end of the week, to celebrate the end of another school year. We’re going to have the Pentecost tea party I had planned for yesterday, but didn’t have time to prepare for, and we’re going to build the Lego Brandenburg Gate, to round out our history studies of WWII, the Cold War, and the Berlin Wall. I’ve even heard a rumor that we may be going out to dinner on Friday, but that’s unsubstantiated at this point!
I’m looking forward to finishing up. It’s been a fun, and sometimes challenging, year. I’m ready to move on to new things, and the children all have certain subjects that they can’t wait to get started on for their fifth and first grade years!
A Pie for Pentecost
Last year, I made a different cake for every week of the season of Easter, plus a bonus red velvet cake to celebrate Pentecost Sunday. This year, I made a variety of pies throughout the season of Easter, ending with a red (of course!), strawberries and cream pie for today:
I wonder what kind of theme I can up with for next year?
The Day of Pentecost
From the Treasury of Daily Prayer:
The Church lives and moves and has her being through the gracious inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Without God’s Spirit, no one could come to Christ or believe in Him. The fifty-day celebration of Easter ends with this joyous festival. The risen and ascended Savior has sent the Holy Spirit to be our Sanctifier, entering our hearts at Holy Baptism, nurturing us through the Word, and enabling us to understand the Gospel and to live a life that honors God and serves our neighbor.
Rings
Funny story: Today, I had to stop by the mall, and since it’s our anniversary, I decided to have my rings cleaned. Well, the jeweler polished my wedding ring so well, he got rid of most of the dings and scratches. I have to admit, that made me a little sad…I earned those dings and scratches! But Ryan assures me that it won’t take long to accumulate new ones, so, for today, I’ll just enjoy how shiny they are!
