A successful event!

Open house went better than expected! The children worked diligently on their displays during the week and were finished in time for the event. Our 12 year old put together a poster on our trip to the Bahamas and all the research he did on it's geography, currency and politics. Our 10 year old made her poster on our trip to Mission San Juan Capistrano. Thanks be to God that our adobe mission models survived long enough to be displayed as well! I found wonderful portfolios to showcase their art projects and made a yearbook of our field trip throughout the year. I printed out all of their book reports and quarterly exams that were graded by master teachers and the comments they had on them.

But the highlight of the evening was watching the excitement in my children as they ran from the kitchen door to the front door to let in our guests and give their "tours". They would squeal with excitement at the sound of the doorbell as they ran to figure out which door had people waiting to enter. We had about 30 people trickle in and out who patiently listened to their piano songs and eagerly accepted the children's narrated tours throughout the house.

Somewhere along the way the Open House turned into a karaoke and line dance party! It was great! Thank you so much to our family and friends for supporting our children so lovingly!

Homeschool Open House

After much deliberation, we have finally come up with an answer to our question of "What about Kindergarten Graduation?". A Homeschool Open House! Okay, this might sound like "schooling at home" instead of "homeschooling", but it serves several purposes. Our darling 6 year old gets to leave kindergarten with a bang, even if he doesn't get a graduation cap. Our littlest one can celebrate the end of pre-school and her transition into compulsory education. The two older ones can also proudly show off a job well done in our first year of homeschooling. Another added benefit is that skeptical family members and friends who aren't familiar with the concept of homeschooling can come and see how we do it and have proof that we aren't just twiddling the days away.

Now that we have the idea, a date, and invitations sent out, all that we need to work on is what we will share. Art projects are a given, as are book reports, field trip pictures and our year book. We also plan on giving a sneak preview of our piano recital pieces. Any other ideas out there?