This week was HOT and HUMID. We planted part of the garden. We used the pool. We went to play soccer. And the three oldest worked at their part-time jobs.
And… they saw a snake, a real snake as opposed to the garter and ribbon snakes we usually see. It’s most likely an Eastern Fox Snake, although that species is not supposed to be native to our area. It’s startling to see even a garter snake unexpectedly, but to see a different kind of snake provides a special adrenaline moment.
All that is to say that formal school was not a very high priority this week, although the children did get a lot of work finished. In fact, it’s time to start wrapping up the year, even though we have a lot of work left on our term lists.
This is what we’re doing this year. On each child’s term list, I pointed out which books had to be completed before they could consider themselves finished for the year. These are mostly formal courses: math, grammar, elementary readers, high school literature, science, and so on. Much of the other work is open-ended and could continue forever. There is no way to say when a person has done enough nature drawing, or knows enough music theory, or is should stop learning about other countries.
So the deal is this: for each remaining school week, everything on the lists needs to be finished as usual. However, if a child works ahead and completes the year’s work in all the required subjects early, then everything else is waived for the rest of the year. Even the little ones are starting to understand that if they work hard on their required subjects, they’ll have less to do overall and can be finished sooner.
You can read more homeschool highlights, each containing some inspiration or helpful information, at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.