We spent April reading about plants and how they grow and then we began May by doing a fun activity to learn about the parts of a plant! I would do this with my 4th graders when I taught in the public school, so I was thrilled to be able to do this with my girls. They had a muffin paper (flower), popsicle stick (stem), yarn (roots) and leaves made from foam paper. We also learned what a plant needs to grow: sunlight, soil and rain. We labeled each part of the plant.

Next we started our planting experiment! The girls planted 12 bean seeds in an egg carton. We put the egg carton in the window sill and within a few days we could see the sprouts! The girls would water the plants with a spray bottle. After a few days we pulled a full plants up so we could see the parts of a plant!

We waited several more days and then pulled up more plants. The roots on several of the plants had grown very long and the girls were enamored by all of this! It was so cool for them to be able to see and touch the parts of the plant we had been reading about!

We continued plugging along in the 2nd book of Horizons K Math. Some days Little Bug would want to do her work on the dry erase board and I would let her to change up our lessons a bit. Little Bug has been learning about time (to the hour) and place value (tens and ones).

We were both thrilled to finish BJU Phonics. Boring worksheets. This was just not Little Bug’s learning style and I am so thankful I can choose other options for us to learn phonics. I cannot wait to get back to our All About Reading Level 1 lessons!

Little Bug’s last day at her school was May 13th and then she had Kindergarten Graduation on May 14th. Dave and I both felt Kindergarten Graduation was silly. We think of graduation as the end of a great accomplishment. Kindergarten is just the beginning! I admit I had to hold back the tears when Little Bug walked in and it wasn’t in the least bit because my baby was “graduating” from Kindergarten. Seeing her there made me flash forward 12 years when she is for real graduating from high school! It was one of those moments where you just seize the moment because I know in the blink of an eye it will all be over. But right now it is not over in the least bit. We are just beginning our homeschooling journey and we have A LOT still ahead of us. I am so thankful for now. That Little Bug is just six years old. What a GIFT. A gift I don’t want to take for granted. So, for me, Kindergarten Graduation served as a wonderful reminder to me of all that lies ahead and just how QUICKLY the next 12 years will go. Her High school Graduation will be here in the blink of an eye. And we won't think that is silly!

May 29th was our last day of school! Through June we will continue working on several things, but we are also going to enjoy summer and all the fun that comes with it being summer! I still want Little Bug reading a BOB Book every day. As we find the time, she will continue to work on her Horizon’s K Math lessons. She’s working on the Uppercase Kuman Handwriting Book and I am sure she will find some time to complete the last book of the Explode the Code primer set! For the month of June, I will not make weekly plans of what I want to accomplish. We will just do what we do…and enjoy summer!

First Day (August 18, 2014) ~ Last Day (May 29, 2015)

- Elaine