Spring comes and we want to be done!

     I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year.  We are so close to being done, but we are not.  The weather is getting nicer and we are wanting to be finished with school.  It's like we hit April, which is close enough to May, which might as well be June so HEY- let's be done!  But we are not.  BUT we ARE CLOSE!!!

2 of my boys working in their Homeschool Journals!

     Thankfully we have been on a really good rhythm this year and are getting done with different subjects left and right.  I think that makes us want to be done all the more!  We still have a few things to wrap up for our year though and need to just keep plugging away.  Here are some things I do do in order to help us get through this season each year.

Taking a break from our school day to enjoy a walk down our road,
which included visiting the llamas!

ONE~ Loosen up where you can.  All of my kids are ahead in math.  So , I really can loosen up the math and let them have more free-time or we can use that time to pound out another subject in order to finish faster.  We also do some things as supplements.  I can loosen up there as well.  Or even combine some stuff.  Last year we were playing catch up a little so I found some documentaries that covered multiple lessons.

TWO~ Have some fun!  If it's sunny outside we try and get out a little more.  We can double up on some stuff when it's gross outside.

Recently we got to tour our local Coast Guard Base!

THREE~ Do some field trips.  These can be as simple just going to the park or an actual place of interest.  I find that knowing we have some fun things coming up keeps the kids motivated to plow through their work in order to take that day off.


FOUR~ Change the learning up a little in order to make the home stretch more exciting.  Our enthusiasm for many subjects has waned by now.  Instead of looking forward to certain things, we just want to "get it done".  I feel like we loose some of the great learning moments when our objective is just about checking things off the list.  So I look for ways to change up the learning.  Instead of the usually history game, the kids can make a video re-enactment instead.  Instead of reading and application of science, lets go on a frog hunt or do a hands on experiment.

It was 70 last week on Thursday.  We loaded our beach stuff
and headed out!

Frustrated with another writing practice?  take it to the tub with shaving cream!  It's okay to deviate, so do it if it helps and keeps the kids engaged!  One year we took the last 6 lessons in history and I assigned them to six kids to do lapbook projects and then we did a week of presentations.  It was great!


FIVE~ Well, you know me!  Let's play hooky!  Some days, it just has to happen.  There will be time for the hacking and gagging of school another day, but today- TODAY!  I will just enjoy doing stuff with my kids!