Wrapping up Jack's Kindergarten Year

With the end of May came the end of Jack's Kindergarten year! It has been quite a year!  We began in Dayton, Ohio, traveled across the country in winter and ended the year here in the Mojave Desert!  We had a wonderful time learning together...little brothers included.  We read just under 200 books aloud, including several chapter books.  We experienced lots of nature studies.  We had amazing field trips to nature parks in Ohio, the Air Force Museum, the Shark Aquarium here in Vegas, the base for a tour of the B-52 and others.  Jack learned so much and is very close to being able to read.  His concept of numbers increased dramatically as did his artistic skills and ability to notice details in things. 

I asked Jack to tell me a few things he remembered about his Kindergarten year. 

Mom:  "What was your favorite book that we read this year?"
Jack:  "Farmer Boy and our history book." (History Stories for Children by Dr. John W. Wayland)

Mom:  "What did you like learning about most this year?"
Jack:  "I liked our history stories about the American war.  And I liked when we learned about nature and went to the nature parks.  Oh, and I like Spanish."  (We are learning Spanish from our sweet friend Ivonne from Peru!)

Mom:  "What was your favorite place that we visited this year?"
Jack: "The nature park by Grandma's house where we found salamanders." 

So interesting to hear all of this from his perspective! 

Here are a few pictures of other things he did during the last few weeks of school.  He drew LOTS of monster trucks:

He enjoyed transferring his portrait drawing skills to a large scale on our backyard wall:

We made a Saturn V rocket model:

We visited the Virgin River Canyon Recreation area to get some hands on nature time.  The boys found tadpoles/toads in EVERY STAGE of metamorphosis!  Perfect for our nature sketchbook!

The weekend before our school time ended, we had a special visit from Aunt Gentry and Seth. (The boys ADORE their Aunt Gentry!)

We had a picnic lunch outside with our friends the Bales!  (They have four - soon-to-be five - boys, so it is a great mix!)

And finally, on May 29th, we finished our last day of school!  Here is our end of year shot, with a goofy one to follow. 

On the first day of kindergarten, I had Jack look in a mirror and draw a self portrait.  (This is something I remember my wonderful Kindergarten teacher had us do.)  On the last day, I had him draw himself again.  The difference is remarkable.  

We try to work on memorization of Bible verses and poems.  It isn't the easiest thing for Jack, who is NOT an auditory learner, but a visual one.  But he did pretty well.  Here he recites his favorite poem and favorite Bible verse from the year.  

Immediately after our last day, we headed to Arizona to join my family in celebration of my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  We had a great time and I got to meet two new nephews and one new niece!  It was fun to see the cousins together.  The picture below is an attempt to get a shot of the four boy cousins who were all expected at the same time in 2013/2014.  (Joe did NOT want to cooperate.)

A few cousins are missing from this shot - 8 of them to be exact.  What a crew!

And here is Mom and Dad with all 8 of their kids. 

 

Now we are enjoying summer, with Sarah already here and Jake soon to join us after some school commitments.  As I reflect back on this year, I am so grateful that we've decided to follow Charlotte Mason's timeless methods.  They work well for our family and I have seen Jack thrive with the concepts of short lessons, lots of outside time, reading living books and other Charlotte Mason concepts.  We really look forward to 1st grade and George's preschool year!  But first...on to the business of enjoying summer!!!!