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Finishing The Homeschool Year Strong!

boys christmas pageant

I can hardly believe it's December - the year has flown!

Here we are thinking about Christmas crafts and trips to the city to see Christmas displays when I feel like the year has just begun. Where did the time go?

Despite the fact this year has had the usual ebb and flow of beautiful homeschooling moments combined with tear your hair out and "That's it..you're going back to school" moments, I want to make sure we finish the year strong. Last year, we fizzled out as lessons got less and less frequent with the busyness of Christmas concerts and family events so that everyone, including me, lost their motivation and getting back into it at the beginning of the new year was a struggle.

How can we finish the year strong?

  • Looking back at what we've achieved
modern homeschool Australia

This is great for the kids to look back and see what they've achieved. This year we finished 2A and (almost) 2B of Singapore maths with both boys. DS5 completed his 100 book reading challenge and DS7 has tackled the series of "Diary of a wimpy kid.." and shhhhhh, he 'might' be getting the latest one for Christmas. We read aloud "Charlie and the chocolate factory" and completed our first lapbook. We went on holidays to the Gold Coast and soaked in all the fun and learning of the theme parks...some slightly more 'educational' than others.e.g I'm not sure what we learnt at 'wet and wild' except that waterslides are fun!

We started looking at creation science which began with me actually learning about creation science. Although I never questioned that God made the world with purpose and intent, I'd actually been taught evolution at my Christian school so had never looked at the scientific evidence surrounding creationism. I am finding it fascinating and exciting and have been sharing my own discoveries with the kids...and more.

Mmm...perhaps I don't need to question whether we are doing enough?

  • Planning more trips to fun places
Adelaide museum
As the year becomes more frantic, this is a great time to plan those excursions that have taken a back seat during the year.

I juggle work and homeschool during school terms so the holidays are a great time for some intensive homeschooling and excursions that sadly, do get missed due to my work commitments at times. 

  • Looking ahead to a new year
Even though we homeschool all year round, we still say that our official first day of homeschooling for the year is the first day of term 1. This is the day we take the obligatory photo and introduce new morning charts and routines. This keeps it fresh and helps the kids look forward to a new homeschooling year!

How do you guys finish the year strong? 
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