End of Quarter Packages and Portfolios

The end of the school year is officially Friday, June 12th. Some families have already completed this year's curriculum and others are wrapping up the last few assignments. However close you are to completing this year's goals, please start thinking about organizing your child's end of the year assessment package. The learning samples that should be included in your child's assessment package are similar to previous quarters/terms. Below are links to previous posts to use as a guide when organizing your child's package.

End of Quarter Packages - Standard (DLS) Students
Portfolios - Individualized (DLI) Students

Please note: Grades 2 and 3 students should include their hard covered journal for this final reporting period.

Copy Work: Please have your child copy the following poem into his/her journal:

Dear God in Paradise

Look upon our sowing:

Bless the little gardens

And the green things growing.

~ Author Unknown

Journal Writing Idea: Write a little prayer asking God to bless some of the wonderful things in your life.

Finishing Well

As we approach the official end of the school year, I wanted to write something wonderfully insightful about "finishing well". The insightful part wasn't happening, so I decided to share someone else's more eloquent words with you. Marilyn Rockett has written an encouraging article on "Finishing Well" - not with just the completion of one homeschooling year, but with the completion of one's homeschooling journey in general.

If you need some encouragement in this area, please click here: Finishing Well

Blessings!

Journal Idea: Have your child choose one of the Spring images from below and then write about it in his/her journal. The journal entry may be as simple as listing descriptive words about the picture or as complex as creating a little story about the scene. An interesting idea is to ask your child to write about something that could happen to the picture. For example, in the "Spring Flowers" picture a swarm of honey bees could fly into the scene and start sucking nectar from the flowers. A little tip: If you click on the picture, you will get a larger image.

Rocky Mountain Spring

Spring Flowers

Ring Around the Rosie

Resources on My Mind

*** If you were not able to make the BC CHEC in Kelowna, but would like to obtain some of the great sessions on CD or MP3, you can do so by ordering here: BC CHEC Mp3s or CDs . To view the list of session titles, you will need to click on "Order Now" once you arrive at the BC CHEC website.

*** I have had a couple of parents share with me great FREE resources from a website called CurrClick. You can order resources from this site, but they also have many FREE resources available (with new resources available) on a regular basis. Very exciting and a great discovery! Click here to browse: CurrClick

*** I am presently compiling a list of excellent Bible resources. If you have any contributions to this list, please email me.

Finally, I so appreciate it when parents email me a great resource that they find online or a book that is a great read. Please keep them coming so that I can share them with everyone! Bless you all.

Copy Work: Have your child copy the following poem into his/her journal. Make sure to discuss when a writer uses a colon (when he/she wants to include a list). You may also want to discuss the meanings of each of the descriptive words and have your child explain how they each relate to the corresponding season.

Four Seasons ~ Author unknown

Spring: showery, flowery, bowery.

Summer: hoppy, croppy, poppy.

Autumn: wheezy, sneezy, freezy.

Winter: slippy, drippy, nippy.

Journal Ideas:

1) Sit down with your child and brainstorm your own words for the seasons. You can write a poem, some phrases, or just some descriptive words that come to mind.

2) Listen to Antonio Vivaldi's composition of "Spring". If you do not have this recording on a CD, then you can access it here: Vivaldi Spring . You will need to click on the "play" symbol that appears on the video area.

Allow your child to listen to the music once and think about images of Spring. Then have your child listen to the music a second time while describing these images in his/her journal.

I Will Survive!

Click on the following link to view a humourous video about surviving the life of a homeschooling parent. Enjoy!

I Will Survive!

May will be the last month for Journal Writing Wednesdays. For this month, the journal writing topic will focus on Spring! Yes, it's beginning to feel a lot like Spring around here and I'm ready to start celebrating!

Copy Work: Please have your child copy the following quotation into his/her journal:

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection,
not in books alone,
but in every leaf of springtime. ~ Martin Luther

Journal Idea: Look out your window and describe some of the "new life" that you see.