Just a quick note to those of you expecting to see a Chickadee Deal post… I’ve decided I’m going to post those solely on the Chickadee Nest’s Facebook page, for a trial period. Depending on how it goes, I may decide to move it back here to the blog, or not. I really love helping you all find those great deals, but felt like it was distracting from the real intended purpose of the Chickadee Nest… to talk about home, education, encouragement, that kinda stuff. So if you aren’t already connected with us on Facebook, here’s your chance to still get those great deals.

In other news…  There is light at the end of the tunnel!  As homeschoolers, our family doesn’t have just ONE final day of school, maybe unlike other students.  The kiddos finished their science programs in April; Ottergirl has been done with everything except math for a week now, and Rocketboy will finish everything but math tomorrow. Fixergirl doubled up on her last few assignments this morning, so we can call her officially done.  Math is our last subject this year, Rocketboy will have about a month left, while Ottergirl has another few days. Messy, isn’t it?  Missouri only requires us to get 1,000 hours of schooling in a year, and we usually hit that mark by late March or early April.  Instead of doing the bare minimum though, I like to get as close as possible to finishing up our curriculum by a reasonable end-date.

Today has been the first day that has actually felt a bit like summer. We worked on school this morning, then met some friends at Sonic for slushes afterward, then went to a local park to chase ducks and wade in the water. Yesterday was the local public schooler’s last day, but they weren’t out in force yet so we were still able to enjoy the park with a modicum of peace.  😉  The warm temps helped with that too, last I checked it was 93 out… wasn’t I just talking about winter? Where’d my spring go??

If your school’s end is in sight, pat yourself on the back, Mama!  Hugs to you for hanging in there if it was a tough year… but you and your kiddos have survived and thrived through another year of learning and growing!  That is something worth celebrating for sure!

Here are some “End of the School Year” traditions that might be fun, we’ve done them all at one point or another, but never all at once! 😉

• Make a paper chain to count down the days!  (This one is a bit harder for us, as we don’t finish all at once!)
• Sign up for your local library’s summer reading program.  (We are big readers and have two library systems in town, so we sign up for both system’s programs!)
• Pictures!  Lots of pictures!  It’s so fun to compare those first-day of school pictures to the last-day pictures to see how much the kiddos have changed and grown over the course of the year!
• End of School Year interview.  We usually do a first day of school one, it might be fun to compare answers!
• Collect funny anecdotes throughout the year and read them all on the last day.  Facebook posts are a good way to look back at some of the humorous things that happened throughout the year.
• Last day of school picnic at the park!   Who doesn’t like a picnic day?

How is your school year going? Finished? Nearing the end? Year-rounders?  Any graduates in your family this year?  Do you have any end of the school year traditions?  What are your summer plans?  I’m planning on sharing some ideas here soon with ideas on beating those inevitable summer boredom-blahs, so stay tuned!