I could not be more proud of these 3 amazing kids! They ventured into a very different school year this past year, leaving behind classrooms full of friends, teachers, a structure they were familiar with and all that was familiar to them for a year of homeschool. We made our decisions as a family and the kids were positive and sure of their decisions.
Ella and Noah had a full year of homeschool. Thankfully I understood how their curriculums should be built out, ordered a ton of resources and also sought some great resources from support groups and friends. They are both very strong students, have great attention spans and are very much self driven. I couldn’t be more thankful for this since they often had a lot less instruction than they would have in school. They had a lot more independent study, but both very much thrived and completed their work quickly and thoroughly each day. There was never a complaint and although at first Ella especially missed her classroom full of friends, they really grew to appreciate and embrace all of the time we had together as a family.
It was fun adding elements to their school year that otherwise would not have been taught. They learned some life skills and had some great adventures throughout the year!
Caile has needed to attend 1 class at school which allows her to get her Bilingual Certificate next year. It is a small class, roughly 10 students and the rest of her classes have been through the NS Virtual School, so she has been able to stay home and learn online. She did amazing this year. The virtual classes are more of an independent study, so she was on her own a lot and thrived. She is finishing her year with high honours and I couldn’t be more proud of her!
When we started the year, I worked out their school work so they would complete everything before the end of the regular school year. This week was their final week. They finished their final full year math assessment and wrapped up some final reading and presentations. They are super excited to be starting their summer break a little early and it is well deserved.
I was super nervous keeping them home, worrying that I would forget to teach them something or they would begin to struggle in school. There were definitely some stressful moments, but more often than not as a family we had much less stress and worry, because of this decision. Noah enjoyed his year so much that he has already been asking to stay home another year. He really enjoyed learning without a classroom full of distraction. Ella is torn as she is excited to be around her friends again, she also enjoyed the independent learning.
We have 3 months until the school year begins and they will most likely all be returning back to regular in classroom classes. It already makes my heart sad. They are at the ages that they spend so much time in school and activities, that it is often hard to have much family time. This year gave us so much of that back and I will certainly miss that next year. I feel beyond blessed for these amazing kids and how much I enjoy spending time with them.
I Dream of Summer 
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