Assessment 2024-25: Brother

Brother had a great year.  With his med regimen working, he's free to be his best self, and he really is one of the best human beings on the planet!

He's kind, generous, hard-working, and forgiving.  

He loves learning.

 Math

He completed Teaching Textbooks Math 7 and started Pre-Algebra.  He hates asking for help, and now that math is getting more abstract, he's frustrated pretty regularly, but he's learning to close the computer and take a break before coming back to try again.  

I'm proud of him for using positive coping skills.

That said, anything less than a perfect score leaves him unsettled, so we're still working on learning that a good job isn't always a perfect job.

Morning Meeting

Mister Man was an active participant in all of our Morning Meetings.  He read, sang, answered questions, learned to lead music in 3/4, 4/4, and 2/4 time, memorized scriptures, and contributed spiritual insights to our daily lessons.

Brother is a singer to his core.  He spontaneously breaks into harmony when we're singing, and he loves to mimic our church choir director when he's leading music for us at home.  He uses both hands, using one hand to encourage us to hold a note while still beating time with the other hand.  I love watching him sincerely try to be a good music conductor.

Evening Reading

Brother does not love reading on his own, but he likes the books I read aloud.  Transitions are not his forte, so it takes him a while to settle into listening, but when he does, he's committed!

American Rhythm

Brother was moved to our highest class this year.  He's a very good clogger, and he has fabulous stage presence.  He's charming with our audiences, and he's just a natural performer.  He's really, really good!

Everything Else

I based our Kid School time on The Peaceful Press Playful Pioneers 2.  

And we followed it beautifully for a month, then we simplified in the second month, then we simplified further for the rest of the year.  Ultimately, we followed the history reading with pretty good faith. 

We did quite a few written narrations to add some power to our daily oral narrations.

Then we added Shakespeare Stories for a little bit of fun.

     *King Lear

     *Twelfth Night

     *The Taming of the Shrew

I needed history to be less literature-based and more straight-forward for my crew so we made our way all the way through The Story of Science: Newton in the Middle.  In the spring semester, we added brief lessons from The Golden Book of Natural History. 

As with history, we did daily oral narrations and occasional written narrations.

As part of the Playful Pioneers 2 plan, we memorized all 50 states and capitals over the course of the school year.  Brother mastered them in rapid order.  We also did a few mapping activities.

A few times we did Rod and Staff grammar lessons from the Level 2 book.

When we got adventurous, we turned to  Under the Home for enrichment. We explored 

     *Art Appreciation

     *Studio Art  (we did one or two Art for Kids Hub lessons, too)

     *Geography

     *Music Appreciation

For a couple of months, we did a great job heading out for weekly hikes. Then we shifted to working on Couch to5K training.  Brother is a natural and speedy runner.  With no coaching--just the Couch to 5K plan--he increased his speed and endurance to under-6-minute miles.  We stopped running over the summer, and our planned 5K is only a month away, so we need to get our act together, but I have every belief that Brother will finish that race with a respectable time.

Back in the late summer, he participated in our 5 week homeschool soccer "league."  Brother loves, loves, loves soccer and is an excellent forward for his experience.

On His Own

Brother loves to play basketball, play chess, work hard, sing, play the piano, and play with his Speed Cube.  He's happy, happy to spend time with friends; he is a loyal friend.  

He's really happiest when he's doing something that can be considered work--chopping word for us, mowing the lawn, volunteering for extra chores, learning new facts, setting up and taking down chairs at church, cleaning, serving . . . any job that is of value to someone is of value to Brother.

He does not love writing or reading; however, he is working his way through the Harry Potter series right now, and he's finding more joy in it than he ever thought would happen.  Still, reading is only a last resort activity after more active options have been tried.

Looking Forward

Brother will complete the year ahead as his 8th grade year.  I have every hope that his current med regimen will continue to work and allow him to be the amazing young man he truly is.

(A story:  

Brother came home from Boys' Camp.  After we'd spent a few hours catching up, listening to the awesome stories of the week, Brother said to me, "Mom, I've just had a great week away with my friends while you've been home taking care of things here.  How can I contribute to the household now that I'm home?"

That's the kind of kid Brother is.

Incredible.)