Another one gone...

Tyler receiving his diploma




Brittney receiving her diploma



Jake mid-flight after receiving his grade 4 diploma



It's hard to believe that, not only has another year gone but also our first year here on The Rock.

Tyler has been finished his bookwork for some time now. Brittney finished it all on Thursday. Jake....well let's just say we're hopeful he'll finish in time to start the next grade come September (well ok, it's not *that* bad....but I'd hoped to have all the formal bookwork part done by the end of May. Oh well...maybe next year).

Friday night was the end-of-year homeschooling ceremony, which is hosted by our local homeschooling support group.

The evening started with a program --- those who wanted to perform could. Some children played the piano, some read stories they had written, some read stories from books, some sang, one girl performed a ballet dance, there was a Judo demonstration, one girl played the flute. The performance part of the evening ended with two girls singing a duet -- Ode to Newfoundland.

Tyler, Brittney and Jake had all signed up to play the piano. Upon our arrival, we noticed it was actually a keyboard instead of a piano. This caused a bit of panic among all of them for a few reasons. First of all, they have never really played a keyboard and were concerned about the differences in touch, sound etc.

Then, Tyler noticed there was no real place to set his music up on, only a single music stand which had been pushed up against it. This would create a problem as he had four pages of music. On a regular piano, there is ample room to accommodate all music pages....not so on the stand. After a bit of discussion, it was decided Larry would act as his official page turner. This worked fairly well, although Tyler had to nod a few times before Larry got the page turned. The emcee commented on Larry's great page-turning skills and he also thanked Tyler for playing.

Brittney played her piece well. Being able to see under the keyboard, I was surprised at how long her legs are. She's come a long way since her first year at piano, where her feet didn't even reach the floor.

Then there was Jake's performance. Past experience has taught me to get nervous when Jake leaves my side to go up in front of a crowd. This is his arena --- he's in his element and there's always this thought in my head, we may not get him down. He has never disappointed me and this time was no exception....he played his piece not once, not twice, but three times. Over and over....and I was starting to wonder how we were going to get him to stop. Thankfully, he stopped on his own and I don't think anyone caught on.

After the program part there was a slide presentation. We submitted various photos taken over the year showing our 'homeschoolers in action'. These were all put together in the form of a slide show.

The last part of the evening was to hand out diplomas. They were all called up on stage, according to grade. Most students, after receiving their diploma walked down the stairs, all except for Jake. That would be too easy....so he took a run and then jumped off the stage over four steps.

The evening ended with food and a time for socializing. It was a great end to our formal learning year.

Learning happens here in the summer, but in a different format than bookwork. It's all hands on and traditionally, we've travelled in the summer. We've visited all the provinces in this great country of ours. The last several years our travelling stint has ended with an extended stay in Newfoundland. This year will be somewhat different....as we now live here. Also, the dynamics of our family are starting to change...they are getting older...wanting to find jobs etc. We will travel around our new provincial home a bit --- we have a lot to learn about 'home'. Aside from that, I know we'll still be learning.....in ways we've yet to discover.