Week 13 in Review: Finishing Well

This week was our end-of-term review week.  Then Matty came down with a really. nasty. cold.  So it's been a short review week.  Even so, I was determined that we would not carry this semester-long lap book project into the new year, and insisted that we finish it up before we could break for Christmas.  I do believe that deadlines and "due dates" are of value, even if we are masters of our own schedules.  We've been making mini-books all along, following along with the CC history sentences for cycle two.  It was remarkable to compile all that he has learned this semester, and really, the lap book only scratches the surface.  Even so...here is the completed project.  If you are a lap-book junkie, perhaps you will find this interesting.

The black pie wheel includes interesting facts about the plague, the brown strip on the right is a timeline. Each date flips open and has a fact behind it. The map is the spread of the plague through Europe, and the blue and red minibooks contain information about the hudred years' war and Joan of Arc.

This was a spontaneous drawing he did one day of the Crusaders attacking Jerusalem.  We decided to include it.

Inside each matchbook is a small report on the various kings, in his own writing.

In addition to completing the Middle ages lap book, we managed to review all of our CC work in preparation for the review day that is taking place tomorrow.  This will be the second year for this campus to hold a "review day" at the end of a CC term for students who are interested in becoming memory masters, or simply want to really have a handle on the material.  Molly will opt out in favor of a play date with one of her classmates, but Matty will participate.  I have not yet been a part of one of these review days, but our director described it as a situation in which the students quiz each other on the memory work.  It is designed to help students begin to take responsibility for the material and understand that they are not dependent on Mom or Dad to help them become memory masters.  I can definitely see where this will help my son, should he continue to pursue this goal.  Our CC memory work takes a significant chunk of our school time, and I would like to see him take it on as part of his independent work so that we can work on other things like living books, lap books and science experiments.

So for the first time in our homeschooling career, I feel that we are really "finishing well."  I have always felt that this was important, but at the same have allowed one thing to just sort of roll over into the next term without a clearly defined "finishing point."  I am glad that I have given him this experience of knowing what it means to have completed something concrete and know that he really is on break for a couple of weeks until we begin again in January.  Boundaries and expectations are set--we begin working with a whole new set of parameters this way, and I think that at his age and ability, it is time.  ((sigh))  It is a good feeling, but I am tired and ready for a break.  I can't wait for Christmas...as always.