verb (used with object)
1. to observe (a day) or commemorate (an event) with ceremonies or festivities.
Don't you just love a celebration? It's a special time set aside to honor an accomplishment. As homeschoolers it might be easy to overlook such a time since our days can be filled with many accomplishments OR perhaps on a not so good day, we might feel like we have accomplished nothing at all. Whether our schedules are jammed packed full of activities or perhaps carefree and easy with little structure, it makes sense to find certain place markers for both you and your students to honor what you have accomplished together. Granted everyday can't be a "party day" or else it would cease to be special; however, waiting till the end of the school year might not make sense either. Finding a spot where you can stop and say, "Hey, we did it!" is going to vary from each family along with the frequency of its occurrence. Just make sure you do it!
Our family has chosen to use our math curriculum as a place marker for celebration. Math does not come easily for the girls in the LeRoy household. Our son fares much better with numbers but there are still challenging days for him as well. Our curriculum of choice is Math-U-See. We love the way they have divided the material into books that are titled by the Greek alphabet and do not necessarily correspond to a particular grade or age. This allows us to work through them at our own pace without fear of falling behind or finishing too early. Sometimes a workbook might take us 4 or 5 months to master, and other times it's a little longer. At the completion of a workbook we have a family tradition of celebrating their accomplishment by baking a cake that is decorated to reflect the book we have just completed. We've had an Alpha cake using light green icing and Math-U-See blocks to reflect its theme. Our Beta cake had orange icing and blocks inverted to show subtraction. Our Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon cakes also reflected the math they had learned. This year our oldest daughter baked and decorated a Zeta cake all by herself.
Next time your student reaches a goal in a subject they have been working hard in, consider setting aside some time for a celebration. It's a great way to mark their accomplishment and honor the time and effort they have put into their studies. Happy Homeschooling!
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