Last Day of School 2018 (Kindergarten and 2nd Grade)

Despite what my blackboard says in most all of the following photos, last Friday (the 25th) was our last day of school.  I had decorated and written on the board late Thursday night after the boys had gone to bed.  I guess in my tired state I did not even realize what I had written.  It was not until I was presenting Ben with his math certificate during school on Friday that I noticed the different dates.  We got a good laugh out of it.

Anyway, here are some photos that we took that day. 

 Our dining room decorated to celebrate the last day of school.

 We enjoyed sunshine shaped chocolate chip banana pancakes for breakfast.

  last day of 2nd grade and kindergarten 

  

 a comparison of our first and last day of the school year

 Cruz's first and last day of 2nd grade

 Ben's first and last day of kindergarten

Both boys finished up their math levels and received a certificate of completion.  We use Math-U-See as our curriculum.  Cruz finished Beta and Ben finished Primer.  Cruz took his final exam and did really well.  Next up are Alpha and Gamma.

One of my favorite things about school is our reading time.  We use Sonlight and it provides us with a lot of wonderful reading material.  I have greatly enjoyed snuggling up with the boys and reading through our books this year.  Some of these were Cruz's readers and many were chapter books that I read aloud to them.   I loved most all of the read alouds but a few of my favorites were The Good News Must Go Out, Mary On Horseback, and Out of Darkness.

We love books!

I let the boys spread the books out and look back through them.  They had a hard time choosing their favorites.  They both had stacks of over ten.  I made them narrow it down to three. 

Here is what they said they liked most.  Cruz chose No Children No Pets, The Usborne Children's Encyclopedia (we used this for history and science and it is great!), and Adventures with Waffles.  Ben chose Dolphin Adventure (and we also all loved the sequel Dolphin Treasure), Nate the Great (Cruz now wants the whole series of this), and Twenty and Ten.  We have had some great conversations over the story lines we have read this past year.  I cannot wait to dive into the next level in the fall.

Ben's end of the school year questionnaire 

Cruz's end of the school year questionnaire 

And when we had finished all of our lessons that day this is what we did- we jumped for joy!  Hallelujah!  We made it through another school year! What a fun adventure it has been.

We took them out for a Happy Meal lunch and some play time at our local mall playground.

playing with their Happy Meal toys

The boys did really well in school this year despite the fact that we spent part of the year in the States and the rest transitioning back to Guatemala.  I worked hard to keep us in a good routine and on schedule.  It was not always easy but we made it.  

We will still continue to do reading, math review, and Spanish over the summer but other than that we are all looking forward to a break.  We plan to start back around August 6.  Can you believe I will have a 1st and 3rd grader?  I surely cannot!  I also can not believe I have been homeschooling now for 3 years.  It has gone by really fast.  We have had our struggles but overall it has been a wonderful three years.  I absolutely love getting to teach my boys.  What I love most is the time I get to spend with them every day.  They are growing up fast and I don't want to miss a minute of it.  

Ben's Kindergarten Graduation

Last week Ben completed kindergarten.  Just as we had done for Cruz when he finished K5 we had a small family graduation service for him.  I had saved the cap and gown we had someone make for Cruz.  I had specifically wanted both boys to be able to wear it.   Even though it was a little big for Ben he was still very excited about putting it on. 

Before our service we went outside to take a few photos.  Here is Ben ready to graduate kindergarten.

 

my favorite

silly boy

Here is a comparison of both boys on their kindergarten graduation day.   Am I really about to have a 1st and 3rd grader in the fall?  I find that very hard to believe!

That evening we did a program.  We began by marching in with the flags, saying the pledges, and singing a patriotic song.  Afterwards David gave a devotion.  We then each took turns saying words of affirmation and encouragement to Ben.  At the end we all took turns praying over him.  It was a sweet family moment and a time that I hope he will remember.  To wrap up the evening I presented him with his certificate and we gave him a Bible.  Inside I had marked all of the verses that he has memorized this past school year and I will continue to mark them in the years to come.  We had done the same thing for Cruz when he graduated kindergarten.  By the time they graduate I hope it will be something very precious to them.

Here is a video and some photos from the evening.

the boys marching in, saying the pledges, and singing The Star Spangled Banner

We sat Ben on a stool in the middle of the floor while we all shared with him.

presenting Ben with his kindergarten graduation certificate

I was most proud of him for learning to read this year.  Teaching someone to read is not an easy thing to do.  It requires much patience!  Having taught both of my boys that skill will probably always be one of my favorite accomplishments.

receiving his new Bible

Do you think he loved it?  He hugged it tight and thanked us over and over.

He flipped all through the pages and was just tickled as he could be.  Seeing his joy over a new Bible was one of my favorite moments of the night.

a family photo on Ben's graduation night

And just like that all traces of little boy are about gone.  My boys are growing up too fast.  It grieves my heart but at the same time I am so happy and proud to watch them grow.  I love getting to be their teacher and getting to experience life with them every day.  I will cherish these years forever.  They really are too short.

Riding the Amtrak (homeschool field trip)

This past Friday we participated in a fun field trip with our homeschool group.  We rode the Amtrak train to McComb.  It was the first train ride for the boys and they were excited.

We had plans to meet at the train station at noon.  We were going to ride to McComb, eat a late lunch, tour the train museum, have some play time, and then return.  Here is how our day went.

arriving at the train station

always exploring

A photo of some of our group.  I think we ended up with 49 total.  

After checking in we were told that the train would be over an hour late arriving.  We knew the boys would be hungry so we ended up leaving and grabbing something to eat locally.  That turned out to be a great thing.  Since we were already downtown we tried a new cafe we have been wanting to visit called Betty's Eat Shop.   I loved it!  If you live local you need to try it.  It's good.  They have daily lunch specials and since we were short on time we ordered the Friday special.  It was fried catfish served over rice grits and slaw.  It was very delicious!  The sweet tea was great too.  I hope to make it back there again before our stateside time is over.

me and Ben enjoying lunch at Betty's Eat Shop in downtown Brookhaven

After lunch we drove back over to the train station and rejoined our group to wait for the train.

"When is the train coming?" "When is the train coming?" "When is the train coming?"...  You can imagine how many times we were asked that question! 

Hooray it arrived!  We were all anxious to get on board.

me and Cruz on the train

We sat in our seats for a moment and then moved to the observation car.  The boys loved looking out the windows.

David and Cruz

It was just a short ride to McComb but plenty for the kids.  Here they are at the McComb train station after we arrived.

All of the kids spent a little time exploring the train cars that are parked there. 

big train, little boy

We then walked over and toured the museum.  It is not a big museum but offers a lot of history and information about the railroad system.

silly Cruz

This was their favorite thing of all but it drove all of the adults CRAZY.

After the museum we walked to a nearby McDonald's for ice cream and coffee.  We then spent the rest of our time letting the kids play on this train themed playground set that is near the train station.  It was very cute and all the kids enjoyed it.

We caught the train for our return ride back to Brookhaven.  The boys were just as tickled on the return trip as they were going.  It was such a fun outing and provided a wonderful memory for them to take back to Guatemala.