End of the School Year (Year 2)

The end of the strangest school year ever is upon us. It is wild to think that I’ve got one kid finishing Year 2 and another finishing Year 1 because it feels like we just had the first day of school. Like yesterday. Between the four terms divided up by long breaks and the two stretches of home schooling, I feel like there hasn’t been much in the way of class time in 2020. But here we are, at the end of another school year and with a long stretch of summer vacation ahead of us.

This year I have more appreciation and understanding than ever of how much work goes into teaching. I am so grateful I am able to send my kids to school five days a week and leave them in the hands at people who know what they’re doing. During the first lockdown, I didn’t tell the kids there was a two week holiday between terms, and we kept on home schooling during the day. After all, I needed to keep them occupied somehow and we couldn’t go anywhere or do much of anything out of the house. Two weeks of lesson planning and coordination was more than enough for me. I was so happy to hand them back over to people who know the order of teaching blends and the proper math skills that build one on top of the other. (Side note: the website Teachers pay Teachers was one giant tease. I loved all of their worksheets, but I didn’t want to pay $4 for a worksheet my kids were going to do once. I’d love to see an option for homeschooling parents during quarantine to have unlimited access for a monthly fee instead of a per-worksheet option.)

However, I miss knowing exactly what my kids are learning and doing in school. I’ve felt surprisingly out of the loop following the end of homeschooling and I found the teachers this year sent out fewer information filled updates with what was going on with class. When I ask the kids what they did during the day, I get vague responses or answers that are so implausible that I know they’re not an accurate description of what’s going in class. I’ve realized that I love knowing exactly what the kids are focusing on so I can reference it during the day. Even simple things, like practicing basic math facts with my daughter, I could incorporate into our playtime because I knew exactly what she was doing in school. “Look! We’ve got ten Calico Critters here, but I’m moving five outside. How many Critters are left inside?” This is exacerbated because in New Zealand, there aren’t report cards every six weeks. We get twice-yearly progress reports, but there’s a huge information vacuum between the two.

Last year I wrote about the end of Year 1, and I’ve got to say that Year 1 the second time around is a lot more fun. I didn’t worry about whether or not my daughter was progressing as she should (my worry going back to the lack of six week report cards). I realized that school is pretty lax if we made a mistake, like forgetting to return library books on time. I appreciated exactly how laid back the whole schooling experience is in general. There’s no need for doctor’s notes if your kid is sick. The office trusts that you know when to send your kid to school and when to keep them home. Instead of being perplexed by all of these subtle differences, I was more able to appreciate how they make school less stressful than I had internalized in the US.

Year 2 was an easy transition from Year 1 for my son. There were a few more academic aspects to school, but the focus was still on more “whole person” objectives, like learning how to communicate clearly and being an additive member of a team. I was thrilled to see a strong emphasis on improving handwriting and learning to organize writing in a more thoughtful way. There were still lots of small groups for ability-level work, and I’ve noticed the kids are starting to appreciate that they all have different strengths. One kid is the best at math. One kid is the best at drawing. One kid (mine) is the builder of the group. School seems to help them develop their different interests while simultaneously teaching the kids that these differences are all ok. We haven’t yet gotten to the point where there is teasing or ostracising, and I’m curious to see how this plays out over the next few years.

At the end of Year 2 my son can easily add and subtract just about anything, has a basic understanding of multiplication and division, feels fairly confident with fractions, and can read most anything he puts his mind to, though sometimes he still needs help with some of the longer words. His handwriting is excellent, and he enjoys writing stories. He enjoys “publishing” them more and getting to work on a computer. He’s getting used to public speaking, but it is not something he looks forward to much. I, however, am thrilled that presentations and public speaking are something that the kids start doing from this young of an age. I don’t recall much of an emphasis on this as a kid, but perhaps that’s changed in US schools? Please leave a comment if your kids in the US do regular public speaking activities because I’d love to know if this is a part of the curriculum now.

In both Year 1 and Year 2, my kids had term-long focus areas. My daughter’s favorite focus was on gardening while my son enjoyed focusing on the solar system. It was a big disappointment when the Year 2 trip to the Stardome was cancelled because of covid restrictions. I loved how the teachers wrapped lessons around these larger concepts so while working on their reading, writing, and math(s) skills, they also picked up some other knowledge. This comprehensive approach to learning combined with ability-level groups for core subjects seems to be working really well for my kids. They are clearly learning a lot at school without much for homework for us to struggle through in the evenings.

One other thing to note is that the uniforms that we bought be son at the beginning of Year 1 have lasted all through Year 2. We’ll need to get bigger sizes going into Year 3, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how long our first set of school clothing lasted. I anticipated needing new uniforms every year, but it looks like until we hit a crazy puberty-induced growing phase, it might be an every-other-year event. I’m still of the mind that uniforms are the best thing ever. They make the mornings so much easier as there aren’t any fights or discussions about what is appropriate to wear to school, and I say this after a few days of holiday programs in which my daughter can pick her clothing. It has been a daily battle that I’ve mostly lost. Yesterday she showed up in full mermaid-ballet regalia, and today she had an eclectic mix of leggings, twirly dress, and hand-me-down native shoes that are falling apart.

So here’s to the end of a successful school year despite the challenges of 2020. May our summer be full of laughter and memories. Let me know if you’ve got anything planned that you think we should check out!