School is officially finished for the year and Summer Holidays have begun. We will be staying home for most of the summer holiday and will be visiting with family and friends starting new Christmas time traditions. We will be driving down for the day to spend time with my Gran and my maternal family for Christmas. The kids are super excited to get all the Christmas decorations up. I’ve been really sick with severe bronchitis so we still don’t have anything up.

Noo
Noo has accomplished so much this year and received his first academic award this morning. I’m so proud of him. He has grasped that hard work is rewarded and that it feels great to stand up in front of the school parent body to be acknowledged. He will be moving upward and onward to Grade 7 next year!

Koko
Koko has done exceptionally well this year. He continues to surpass my expectations. He joined the local Cub Scout Pack in the middle of this year and has really taken to it! He has set goals for himself on which badges he wants to work towards and has is meeting his goals. He finished his assessments yesterday and, having looked through them, he has done exceptionally well. We’ll be sending the assessments off to Clonard Distance Education (our curriculum providers) over the weekend once I have completed all the necessary documentation that needs to accompany them. He will be moving upward and onward to Grade 2 next year!

Fifi
Fifi is reading and will be starting Grade 1 in January! She just amazes every day. I decided to skip Grade R (South Africa’s version of Kindergarten) with her as she has been working on mostly Kindy work this year. I will continue working at her pace but will not put undue pressure on her. If it takes her longer than a year to complete Grade 1, then so be it. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (Available in South Africa here) has worked wonders with yet another child. Noo and Koko both used this program and I’ll be using it again when the time comes for Pixie to learn. Fifi is super excited to get started with Grade 1.

Pixie
Pixie is thriving with the way we school together. I continue to use the Montessori method with her as it works well and lets her be as independent as she wants (within reason, of course). Adding Pixie to the mix this year, has been the toughest adjustment for me since starting our homeschooling journey 6 years ago. I have learned a lot from her this year and I continue to discover new things, not only about her, but me too. I look forward to continuing Totschool with her next year.

On a rather sad and difficult note, Noo has decided that he wants to live with his father on the other side of Johannesburg (about an hour and a half away, traffic dependent). He is of the age where he needs his dad as a constant figure in his life. Yes he has Steve, but it’s not the same. He is both excited and anxious to start Grade 7 in another primary school, but excited that he will get to take those same friends into high school with him the following year. This is a step that has been a long time in coming and, even though I have known for a few years that he wanted to live with his father when he reached high school age, its going to be tough to say good bye and only see him every other weekend and school holiday. He will be officially moving in with his father on 24 December and will become an only child once again. Boy, I’m going to miss him!