so proud!

 Tonight was the Academic Awards ceremony, and Kari and Tim had awards.

I am so proud.

Kari had an award for being in the top 10% of students in her class and an award for Outstanding Social Studies Student.  There was an academic letter and a honor cords and medallion to wear for graduation.

That's Tim receiving his award for Outstanding Math Student.

Aww, look at that.

Back in the day, like 1995, John was the first kid to go to school and he told us there was a program and he was getting an award.

Dad should wear a tie.

We went, incredulous, no idea what to expect.

And he won awards for academic achievement.  He was the first kid out of homeschool, and I told him if he never ever did another doggone thing academically, this was enough.  It vindicated our homeschool.  It was good enough--it had all been a hopeful and scary adventure, and a student from here could hold his own there.

Well, sweet Jesus, it's been beyond good enough.  There have been a couple Valedictorians, and so many decorated students in the years since 1995.

Heidi has a weight lifting record on the wall in the gym that still stands, has never been surpassed.

This school has received all our homeschool students and treated them well.

Here are the award winners tonight, so doggone cute--my little squirrels grew up so nicely, into their own people--award winning students.

They did not plan to match. This was entirely a coincidence,

You kids.

I am so proud of you--sweet, smart, capable, and good at so many things--things far beyond here.

Love regardless--that's just a given.

But I'm so proud and so pleased that your hard work is recognized.

Celebration and love, Mom and Dad

everybody

Today we went to the high school to register Tim.   Julia was registered for school by mail last week.

This morning we went in person to register him.

I swear it was the same counselor Heidi had, sweet lady.  Everyone was extremely nice to us.

All good.  Classes chosen, ready for fall.

The last of the babies are about marching out of this homeschool.

It's good.   Today was a very good day.

These are from 2011:

Love forever, MOM, aka GRANDMA

dance

Today was a great Saturday.

I saw all of my grandchildren, not all at once, but all of them.

Tonight was Jack of Hearts, the school dance, and these two went:

She speculated, "Two introverts at a dance.  I can already picture it."  And yet she was the one who coaxed him to go.

Last week she and Maria went shopping for the dress, and tonight it took half a dozen tries and Dan's help to get his tie right.

Teenagers. I love them.  Kari's the eighth one, and it's good to be here, now, and to know what I know.

Letters arrived in the mail today. Tim and Julia's school requests for next year were both accepted.

Girls.

I have done worked myself out of a job.  This homeschool started in 1989, and in September, 2017 it will be over.

Not a bad run, considering.

And such fine students emerged, over, and over, and over.  How? I have no idea. This was not an ambitious Smart-Guy endeavor. It was scruffy and seat-of the-pants, lots of kids and babies and arguing. I actually bailed on homeschool groups in 1994, could not stand them anymore.

Our homeschool of 1989 hardly resembles homeschool over the three decades of evolving that have passed, and yet it's all good--all good students, decent, responsible people.

Plus we all still love each other.

And in one more minute, it's Sunday.

And they had fun at the dance.

Nothing but gratefulness and love, Val

first day of school, 2016

 On the first day of school, we take First Day of School pictures, and go out for lunch.

It's a lovely tradition we all enjoy.  The kids get to decide where they want their picture taken.

One of Lydia's last homeschool photos she chose to perch on some old toilets in front of the garage--when your dad is a plumber, random broken-down toilets appear and go away all the time.

Here Julia is staging falling into a puddle in our deteriorating driveway.

 He was not creative about choosing a location and staged no performance, just finally stood in front of the garage and managed a pleasant almost-smile.

p.j. posed with the fountain my parents gave us a few years ago.

 He's trying to help the little sister baby choose a spot for her picture.

 There you go!

 We had a fine lunch at Applebees. Food was great, company easy-going.

While we were trying to entertain her while we waited for our food, I handed her the drink menu.  She slapped it away and screeched.

Tim quipped, "Clearly she's not in her Happy Hour."

I cracked up, but she wasn't that bad.   She was actually very, very good.

 She does this thing though where she wants help with the silverware, so she reached for my fork and then took it over.  So then I was eating salad with her spoon. Shortly she was handing me back the fork and we traded again. She wants to be independent, but gets frustrated with the process and wants a hand.

These two:

 This was kind of a wistful lunch in a way because this may be the Last First Day of Homeschool.  p.j. starts Kindergarten tomorrow.  These girls have spent nearly every day together since that little one was born in 2011, Niece and Little Auntie.  Julia was six when she was born.

When I was little, my aunts were teenagers and I adored them.  I still do.

This man in the photo below is going to high school next year, and Julia doesn't want to be home alone without him, and has requested to go to school next year too.

We're going to check out some charter schools, see what we can figure out.

Tim, you half-grown teenager man?

Nothing.   Just love.

Happy First Day of School, 2016.

Love, Mom, aka Grandma

first cousin day

 These two cousins had a good time hanging out.

 So did these two:

 Homeschool on the patio:

 And the hugging of babies:

He was right in there, very interested.  It made Tim nervous having a kid at his elbow while he picked his way through his spelling.

(Dyslexic people and spelling?  Not a love connection.)

At the end of the day, Alicia took this one and sent it to me in a text and on Instagram.

It's perfect.

What a spectacular Monday.

love forever, Grandma, aka MOM

first day of school pictures

 We took these on our way out of the house.

 It was a beautiful day, 77 perfect degrees, moving from sunny to cloudy and back again.

 We got some work done and then headed out for the first day of school lunch at Applebees.

We used to get McDonald's and go to the park, but year after years, the bees were so obnoxious we gave that up a few years ago.

Onward.

The second day of school awaits.

love you all, MOM aka GRANDMA

homeschool works

Here's a beautiful house, going on the market next week.  Four bedrooms, two baths, remodeled kitchen, all new carpeting and finishes.

It's lovely.

 Plus the floor plan is excellent.  It's a roomy, and also thoughtfully planned.

 Here's this old house tonight, and tucked into the arm chair is the one I want to talk about.

That's Lydia, who headed from homeschool to high school this fall.  A couple days ago were the parent-teacher conferences, so we went. 

The teachers seem well-educated and devoted to the cause, kind and helpful.

They report to me that she is an excellent student: engaged, organized, easy to relate to, responsive.  She initiates communication, asks questions when directions are unclear.  When she's done with her work, she helps the people around her, rather than becoming a distraction, she's helpful.

One teacher referred to her as, "Well-read."

???  Harry Potter?  What are we talking about?

Conferences like this are very gratifying.

So then we got in the car and I asked her about this.  How is this possible when in homeschool she slept half the day, attended pj and her demands and needs,  rolled around with the dogs for hours, baked cupcakes, wrote her own stories and did her own research reports?   She had that excellent math tutor for the last year, true, and that was beyond helpful--to me, for sure.

(The math tutor is a whole separate story, actually. She was a coworker of John's who became a real estate client of mine, a gentle, sweet engineer, and I enlisted her help with Kari's math when it became too contentious between Kari and me.   She agreed to do it, and in doing so became a confidant of Kari's that I could trust--she would only inform me of their conversations if she felt it was necessary--and it never was. 

The relationship was layered and multidimensional--her past relationship as a co-worker of John's, our client/realtor relationship, and student to teacher with Kari.  Math was learned and along the way, everyone felt respected, understood, and appreciated.)

Lydia (as she's known at school) aka Kari at home,  laughed,

"I don't KNOW.  All I did was goof around 90% of the time.  But I do listen in class now, and I do the assignments and hand them in, and take the tests. The teachers are super nice and helpful.  I don't get it either."

My mom speculates that the kids are so just plain excited to be there, after boring, dull homeschool life,  that they participate in an enthusiastic way.

I agree.

She's probably right.

She usually is.

So, in students leaving homeschool?

We are now 8 for 8.

James has received acceptance to the university, so as long as he passes his classes, that's a done deal.

Moving on.   Even with balky internet, we are.

Nervous homeschoolers?  Fear not. 

love forever, Val

september week

We bought the house late in October, so we knew nothing about the tree.  All the leaves were long gone by the time we moved in.

But it turned out to be one of the best things about the house.

 Sunday night everyone came for supper.   Jay picked up Chinese food.

$110 worth.  That's a lot of chow mein.

 Why were they dressed alike?  Accident.

Here's a Sweetie, checking out the turtle.

 Yesterday we went for a bike ride after lunch. 

 And here's today, getting some work done.

What I really don't understand though, is how we never opened these workbooks all summer, but they jumped ahead in progress anyway.

That is just weird.   Grammar and punctuation that eluded Tim last spring, no problem now.    Julia jumped ahead in math.

What to do with the rest of a day this fine?  We'll figure it out.

love, Val