Finally! I am done and done with everything that needs to be done for our 2nd grade. This statement makes me feel both happy and anxious. Now that we're done with grade 2, we're moving up to Grade 3. This means we're going to make more changes in our curriculum, more subjects will be added, more serious lessons will be taken, etc. It is kinda exciting, to be honest. But I still can't help but feel nervous about what up next.
Before I go sit in a corner, contemplating about what's in store for us on the next chapter of our lives, I'd like to take this time to just breathe and take a look back at some of our milestones and accomplishments last quarter. My daughter and I were just so focused on our daily chores everyday, these moments when we get to breathe and just relax are just priceless. We are having fun with our 4-day study week, I think we'll definitely keep that routine, but this moment is like a vacation.
And it is. There's nothing else to do but answer some crossword puzzles, play boggle, or draw grafitti art on our make shift car/spaceship/sari sari store box.
I still can't help though but to constantly think about my to do list. The books I'll be printing and binding, the school supplies I'll be buying, the swimming lessons amd piano lessons I need to enroll her to. Seriously, there really is no vacation when you are the teacher. While the student is just chilling, you are still there, nailed to yiur office chair, either checking the papers, submitting the grades, or creating a new lesson plan.
I used to dread making portfolios during end of the quarter, but now, it has a relaxing effect on me. Firstly because I know I am doing it ahead of time because I started our schoolyear early, and mainly because it helps me have a broader look at the things that happened during the last 3 months. You would not believe how much you can accomplish in that 2 months. Creating the portfolio now somehow is therapeutic to me. It reminds me of all the hardships my daughter and I endured during the last quarter. It tells me that we did not waste 3 months just talking and playing, and chatting some more. In fact, it shows us that all those discussions produced this portfolio.
It also helps that our homeschooling journey isn't at all using a results oriented approach but we are focused more on the process. Literally the journey is given more importance than the destination. And it shows on the photos that I was able to take during our lesson time, or our family field trips, or even just the walk in the park.
While I wad creating this portfolio, I am falling more and more in love with our homeschooling journey. I love its effect on my daughter, I love that it's not making me go crazy, and I love that it is strengthening our bond as a family.
Yes, I am still worried. I think I'll never not be worried about my child's future. But that worry keeps me on my toes, it guides me towards the right path. It helps me ask the right questions to the right people. I will always be worried about whether I am doing the right thing for my daughter. I think every parent is. But these portfolio I make every quarter helps reassure me that we are not lost in our homeschooling journey.
Tomorrow, I'll be full on lesson planning, field trip planning, and book printing. Getting ready for the next schoolyear. I can sense that my daughter is already feeling fed uo with the crossword puzzles I make her do.
