And this is what's left of the 9th, 6th and 2nd grade school year. Every year on the last day of school, I ask the kids to stack all of their books, workbooks and notebooks on the dining room table so I can go through the process of organizing, labeling, sorting, rubber-banding and packing the year away in boxes for each child that I keep stored in the attic. Since this picture was taken, everything has been carefully packed away in three boxes.
Just for perspective, this is what it looks like the night before the first day of a new school year. Those first two stacks were Mason's. The next two stacks were Hannah Kate's. And the last stack was Ellie's.
This stack, in particular, was quite daunting. This was Mason's humanities reading and studies for the year. As I do on the first day of school every year, I have to deliberately remind myself that this won't be conquered in a day but over the course of 180 plus days. I have to remind myself that it's page-by-page from August until May.
The ten years that we've been at this school thing have been quite an adventure. No school year has been the same or even similar. There have been lots of unexpected surprises. This year was no different. We spent the last seven weeks of the year on an online platform. We had thirteen zoom classes each week. Several of the classes were modified to accommodate online instruction. I scanned and emailed numerous worksheets and workbook pages. But we finished, and I think the kids finished as well as they possibly could.
Our last day of school looked much different this year. Usually we attend Celebratio, and the kids recite their Bible and literature passages. We go out to eat at a "sit down" restaurant. But this year I recorded the kids reciting their passages individually. Mason recited a lengthy passage from Dante's Inferno, Hannah Kate's from The Hobbit, and Ellie's was John 1:1-14. She actually had three choices, but she insisted on reciting the Scripture passage for her final grade. And they got to pick a drive thru for lunch. I told them they didn't even have to agree on which one.
Here's the now 10th grader. (Or, rather, his cup). I was looking for something a couple of days ago in his kindergarten box, and I nearly cried. On his very first assignment on his very first day at school, he wrote his name at the top of the page as Mason Bason. I'd completely forgotten about that. Knowing what I know now but didn't know then, I completely understand why he wrote that. There are a lot of things in his elementary school boxes that I still can't look through. I hope one day I can. I hope one day those boxes are a source of joy and gratitude. All I know is that I had no idea at the time that Mason Bason would one day in 9th grade write a thesis paper on Augustine's "The Confessions." That paper was months and days and hours in the writing, but he did it. He has only three last day of schools left. Three.
And here's the now 7th grader. Goodness. I give her her books on the first day of school, and she gives them back to me on the last day. And that's that. Everything in between is all her. She is completely and totally me when it comes to school. There are a few grades that really stand out in my memory, one of which is 7th grade. It was a turning point for me in a lot of ways. I'm looking forward to what her 7th grade year holds for her.
And here's the now 3rd grader. I have had the absolute BEST time homeschooling and working with this girl on her school work. She, too, is a lot like me in that regard. She learned how to write in cursive this year. She wrote some very creative sentences. She learned her multiplication facts. She can read like nobody's business. She is very careful and studious in her school work (for now, at least).
And here we are at the beginning of another summer. This one will be much different, too. And we still aren't sure what the beginning of the next school year is going to look like. The only thing I know for certain is that it will definitely be different. But, for now, I am so very grateful for the Lord's faithfulness and grace through another school year.
