The 1st Grade Finale

I had a wonderful first year of homeschooling. I learned so much - oh but this is not about me is it? It's about Brendan and his first year of homeschooling. During his kindergarten experience (as we like to call it) he sat on my bed and said "Mom can we homeschool?" I remember asking him what that was and he said "You know, we learn math, science, and stuff at home". He really wanted me to be his teacher. I was so touched and seriously prayed about it before embarking on this grand adventure. Mid-way through our first year of homeschooling, after being a part of Enrichment Day (taking classes like Logic & Legos, Art and Music) with at least 40 other students, and also partaking in Homebase Homeschool Co-ops with like a whole different 40 students, he finally came to the conclusion that he did not invent homeschooling. He told me, "Mom I thought I invented homeschooling, but there are so many other kids doing it too!"

Well, here is our First Grade Finale!

To the left are some of the books I read to Brendan. These are called Read Alouds (becuase I read them aloud to him) - sometimes he read them to me, only because he is such a book hog! I think my favorite was Granny Han and Brendan's favorite was My Father's Dragon. We had lots of fun reading these books. (But we'll be reading them again when Shane is in 1st Grade!)

Then this is a picture of Brendan with all of the books he read to me. These are 2-4 grade reading level books. My favorite was The Sword and the Tree, his favorite were Pompei and Titanic (it was hard for him to narrow them down - he loved them all!)

Here he is with our Science, History, Math and Bible along with handwriting, art appreciation and Language Arts. We did two language arts programs a 1st grade for writing and creative expression and a 2nd grade for reading and spelling. In many ways I feel like I put my little "B" through freshman year at college - but he didn't complain at all!

This is an example of some of the projects he worked on through out the year - this is my way of getting ready for his portfolio evaluation.

In this picture is a book that he is writing entitled "The Last Astronaut", he started this book around Christmas and has been adding pictures and chapters a little bit each week or when he gets a cool thought for his book. Write down the title if you wish because someday it may be a best-seller!


This little picture is cute because for one of his assignments he had to write his name and come up with adjectives that describe him. I just smile when I see that! Oh and the Mind of a Boy is a compilation book of some of his writings.

This was our year! We worked hard and had fun! We did more field trips then I did in my entire school life just in his 1st grade experience! Later on all of the graduations! I have to go to bed!