It's a little late, this traditional post about my homeschool students, but better late than never!
Student 1: Youngest Boy
(This is not the greatest picture of our Pipster. But it does demonstrate what kind of mood he was in when we did our "school pics")
Age: 6
Grade: 1st Grade
Favorite Co-op Class: Gym (but really, he loves all five classes and teachers)
Favorite thing to study at home: spelling
Skills in: game designing (just like Daddy), video games, remembering everything, being cute
Rank on the Family Bossiness Metric: 2nd only to the Queen herself (see below); 2 out of 6. Pint Size Dictator for Life.
Favorite Book: Jaguar vs. Skunk
Student 2: Oldest Boy
Age: 8
Grade: 3rd Grade (ish)
Favorite Co-op Class: Science Workshop
Favorite thing to study at home: Math
Skills in: drawing intricate things (just like Daddy!), designing and building in any medium (Lego, blocks, magnets, etc.), making friends, making people laugh
Rank on the Family Bossiness Metric: Least bossy; 6 out of 6.
Favorite Book: all of the "Who Would Win" series
Student 3: Youngest Girl
Age: 11
Grade: 6th (ish)
Favorite Co-op Class: Storytelling and Animation
Favorite thing to study at home: History
Skills in: singing, making stop motion videos with Lego, amusing herself, making Mom smile
Rank on the Family Bossiness Metric: middle ranked; 4 out of 6. (Would be higher if just her younger brothers were judging.)
Favorite Book: Harry Potter series (especially the 6th book, she said.) She just finished reading through all seven books. She emerged from her room multiple times while reading the last book saying things like "Well. THAT was traumatic."
Student 4: Middle Girl
Age: 14
Grade: 9th (Freshman)
Favorite Co-op Class: Art
Favorite thing to study at home: schoolwork of any description is not her favorite thing right now. Nevertheless, we persist (pray for both of us, friends!)
Skills in: dancing, sewing, art, fashion design
Rank on the Family Bossiness Metric: least bossy of the girls; 5 out of 6.
Favorite Book: The Candy Shop War
Student 5: Older Girl
Age: 17
Grade: 12th (Senior!)
Favorite Co-op class: Yearbook
Favorite thing to study at home: History
Skills in: keeping young children alive, shelving books, organizing things, driving
Rank on the Family Bossiness Metric: fairly bossy (we joke about how she needs to write down her "rules for living" so the rest of us will know what to do when she's not here); 3 out of 6.
Favorite Book: Ender's Game and Ella Enchanted (tie)
Not pictured: Oldest Daughter.
(I'm including a gratuitous picture of my youngest daughter looking out the window. This is how I feel when I'm waiting for my oldest girls to get home from work or school.)
Oldest is now 19 (almost 20).
She graduated with her Associate's Degree of Arts (summa cum laude) AND a Leadership certificate from the honors college of our local state college this past spring.
Recently started her third year of study at a local university as an English major. Takes ALL the classes (or wishes she could) and works 20 hours a week at the library.
Still lives at home but is rarely there. Only evidence is the trail of clothes, books, and yarn she leaves behind and the fact that sometimes our food mysteriously disappears. (That's a joke; sort of.)
Skills in: knitting, writing papers, helping the general public with computers and faxing documents
Rank on the Family Bossiness Metric: THE Boss Queen; 1 out of 6. (Unanimous decision on this one.) Even college acknowledges this (only they call it "Leadership"). Long may she reign.
Maizie (aka The Amazing Junebug)
This mutt has been part of the family for two years now. She is incorrigible and adorable and horrible and indefatigable.
She is currently working on learning how our new invisible fence works so she can finally be "free" to run around the yard, within the boundaries of the fence. She's (or we're) not quite trained yet because she is somehow equal parts terrified and yet unfazed by it.
She has mad skills in running, digging, and eating (and also somehow digesting) socks. But she also makes Daughter #3 very happy and is very patient with little boys playing roughly / trying to hold her / resting on her / etc.
Anyway, that's us for this year. (OK, the Cat is also not pictured. She remains her chill self.)
I hope to post again soon to tell you what we're using in our homeschool these days. (Spoiler: some stuff has changed over the years and some stuff hasn't. Wow, what a newsflash.)
