Yearly Wrap Up

We wrapped up our studies the end of May because we are moving!  I just looked at our calendar and we are at 163 days but managed to meet the 1000 hours requirement for our new home a couple of weeks ago.  So I feel we have completed the official school year.  We don't have any requirement in England so this new system of keeping track of hours, courses and other state requirements will be a new thing for me next year.  I only roughly kept track this year, sort of a practice run;).  Since we school year round we will be continuing to do something educational during the move but it will mostly be living life, reading, and settling into our new home and new environment with the occasional school assignment when time and energy permits.   So here I am putting down what we have accomplished and what we will resume once we get settled.

Math - Math U See

Princess is one chapter away from completing Delta book so we will be taking that with us to finish
Little Man is also nearly done (5 chapters) away from completing Gamma book and will continue to work on this while we move.  We want both books done by Sept. so we can move on to the new books

IEW - writing

We got a very late start with this program and are at the half way point.  I plan to have the children continue with this program thru the summer when time permits.  But realistically we will probably still be working on it in Sept but we hope to order the new program before Christmas.

Grammar - Growing with Grammar book

Both kids have finished their books for the year

HWT - handwriting

Both kids have finished their books for the year

Science - Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry and Astronomy 

We have completed both books and all lab work requirements --  we have enjoyed doing this with our friends and will really miss them when we return to the states.

Typing

Princess is typing loads to friends and family as well as typing up her own stories so I will remove this requirement from her school list next year as I feel she does plenty of work on her own with out prompting from me.
Little Man continues to use a typing program and needs prompts to practice so it will remain on his schedule for next year.

History

We have completed learning about the Mesopotamia, Mongols, Marco Polo, Kublai Khan and the Silk Road.  We have completed lap books, notebook pages, watched DVDs, read plenty books and visited museums.  While we have touched briefly on ancient China this year we are unable to proceed further so we will continue in Sept.

Geography

Goal was to cover 4-6 countries we managed 3 1/2, Tanzania, Argentina, India, and a little bit of China.  We also did a study on the history of religions and covered Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Buddhism and the areas where each religion originated.

Art - Meet the Masters program

My goal was to complete 4-6 artist in this program and we managed to cover 6 artists this year; Homer, Remington, O'Keefe, Hokusai, Mastisse and Degas

Foreign Language - Spanish

Big failure on my part:(, so much so my kids now no longer wish to learn spanish.  I just couldn't find a program that the kids or I felt was fun and where carry over was enough to keep an interest.  Definitely going to find a tutor for this area or a class in our next area...may even let the kids choose a different language in order to regain a spark of interest in this area, I hope

Character Education - Character First

goal was to complete 4-6 traits this year.  We covered 3 Responsibility, Patience and Initiative we will continue to address this next year.

Spelling-  AAS

We are behind but that is my fault entirely.  We will be continuing with this during the summer and hopefully be ready to move onto the next book by Sept.

Technology - computer

This is my husband's area and it is really hit or miss, however this year the kids learn a little from the scratch program, learned how to make power point presentation and Princess is developing a blog with a friend.  I am going to look for a program or class for this area when we get to our new location.

Music

Both kids completed their ABRSM level 2 piano test and did excellent.  Currently working on their Level 3 scales and had their last piano recital the first weekend of June.  Both kids love playing so we will be continuing this next year once we find a new teacher.  My goal was to also study 3 composers this year we managed to complete 2 Haydn and Mozart.  Kids have been learning the musical timeline with their piano teacher as well as musical theory.

Physical Education

Swim lessons weekly with Princess graduating from the swimming program and is now ready, if she choses, to do a swim team or club, I will look to see what is available in our next location.
Little Man is a little over half way thru the program so will continue with lessons when we return to the states.

Horse riding weekly lesson for Princess until end of May, but we are not sure this will continue when we return to the states.

Martial Arts class for both kids weekly lessons, both kids would like to continue but I would have to find the right class for them

Scouting

Both kids have completed a year in Scouting.  Princess has bridged into Cadette level for Girl Scouts
Little Man is now a Weblo 1 for boy Scouts.  We are not sure we will continue with this when we return to the states, will be looking into other options that we have heard about but are not available to us here at this time.

I am in the process of deciding curriculum for next year.  When I have my decisions made I will post.  For the most part I am happy with what we are using, however, I am considering adding a vocabulary program to our list.  Looking at the Wordly Wise 3000 computer program...so if you have any suggestions or feedback on this program or any others please leave me a comment:)