School Year in Review

The 21 Balloons, a fictional account of a man who, while attempting to live in his hot-air balloon for one year, crash landed on the Island of Karkatoa barely pre-eruption and discovered a fantastic treasure of people and jewels, was the boys' hands-down favorite book of our 2010-2011 school year.

On Friday I got out all the books we read, studied and worked from this year and asked the boys to tell me their favorite and least favorite parts of the school year. Besides The 21 Balloons, which I read aloud to them, they also gave high ratings to:
• Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day -- I loved this science book also! Amazing facts, vivid pictures, fun experiments and hands-on activities all centered around the wonderful water world that God made.

• Ginger Pye -- another read-aloud, though I was somewhat surprised they recalled this as a highlight. While I enjoyed the story, there were a lot of tangents that didn't really apply to the plot, and sometimes the action stopped for quite awhile for these tangents.

• And The Word Came with Power -- this true story about a Bible translator living in the Philippines was also one of my favorites. Although I wondered whether the power and activity of the spirits would be a bit intense for the boys, they were captivated through and through.

Isaac also listed The Aesop for Children as one of his favorites. Luke and Isaac gave points to both of our history texts. And miracle of miracles, our struggling reader Levi said he liked almost all of our readers, both the independent reading and read-aloud books!

Of course there were items on their "did not like at all" lists too, but overall I feel like this was a good school year. We learned, we laughed, we sang, we read, we prayed.

Our books for next year have been arriving, and they make me all excited for next fall already, but for now, I'm going to revel in a school year completed and enjoy the break of summer!