Whirlwind Weekend!

 

Whirlwind Weekend is now behind us.  Our eldest son, Austin, graduated in a beautiful ceremony for which Rick and I were responsible.  There were a few snags, but the evening turned out to be very rewarding for the 145 graduates and their family and friends.  They felt loved, celebrated and prayed for! So worth it, in my humble opinion, to put on a grand celebration for homeschool graduates!  A homeschool graduation is a day to celebrate the parents who chose this often difficult educational route, the mama who toiled endless hours in subjects she’s not all that familiar with, the siblings who were right there in the thick of things and of course, the graduate who survived.  This child in particular, caused more prayer hours in my life…. so far….. please read the previous post to learn why we are so proud of him!

After cleaning up the church and scrambling home by 11:00p.m., we slept for four short hours and then jumped in the van to drive 17 hours to a wedding in Oklahoma.  Son number two has had his driving permit for one week…. no, not even.  Five days.  F I V E.  So we endured a few white-knuckled hours of experience for him during extremely uneventful stretches of flat highway across the top of Texas and Oklahoma.  How can he be allowed to drive?  He was chubby and cute and three years old just a few months ago???

The wedding was beautiful…. truly… as beautiful as a wedding can be.  Our daughter was one of the bridesmaids and it was such a joy to experience the love between the young couple starting their new life together! And blast it all, I didn’t take one picture of the couple together!

In the fairytale setting there was a fairytale swing… one of the tallest I’ve ever seen.  Nora had a few moments of terror after the ceremony.  Her scared belly laugh makes me giggle.  It’s the laugh she can’t hold in… throaty and deep.  I love it!

Above all, I’m glad to be home.  Home sweet messy home.

 

G R A D U A T I O N ! ! !

We did it!  We successfully got one whole child through homeschooling.  This is a monumental achievement for a homeschool mom.  We wonder all along if this day will ever come.  We hope and pray that we aren’t wrecking the kids by doing this ourselves.  And that right there is the key…. I never felt like I was doing this by myself.  It was me, and my terribly supportive husband, my co-op mamas, our support group, the state organization (Arizona Families for Home Education) and mostly God, who called us to this way of life and education 12 long years ago.

I have no regrets for choosing homeschooling.  All the sacrifices and tears have been worth it…. every little bit.  I do have a few regrets involving course choices and follow through, which we all encounter our first time.  I have learned from my mistakes and have already made corrections for guinea pig #2 who just finished his first year of high school.

I liken the homeschool journey similarly to childbirth.  The painful memories diminish as the joys grow each day.  Truly my happy homeschool experiences outweigh the horrible ones 100 to 1, for which I am stupendously thankful.  Our family is close and we love each other.  We love being together.  We love playing games together and they don’t end in yelling matches or wrestling fights.  We even love vacationing together.  Secretly, the kids even love learning together, but they try to keep this under raps.

The great news is that I am still looking forward to planning next year!  I still love homeschooling.  I love being with my kids.  I love learning and teaching.  However, it is with great relief in my ever-loving-heart that I have exactly 81 days of NOT homeschooling ahead of me.  They will be busy days of summer movies, packing and planning for college for our graduate, swim parties, a 9-year-old birthday celebration, a marriage retreat, a relaxing vacation to the beach and then Tahoe, the homeschool convention and a visit to friends in Kansas and Colorado.  I have waited for THIS DAY…. June 4, 2012 for a Loooooooong time.  It arrived.  I am beyond elated.  :o)

Senior Year Comes to a Close…. Almost

Here is our first original baby girl…. all growed up and glowing.  She is graduating from homeschool highschool.  It doesn’t get much better than that (except for her mother, who is DONE teaching this one…. one down, three to go! I can smell freedom in 2022!) 

Our church, CCV, put on a grad appreciation night that was a tear-jerker.  Good grief!  What a great bunch of kids who have a solid foundation to build on as they go their separate ways next fall.  One thing I loved was the youth pastor’s encouragement to them to find a church where ever they are at college and SERVE!  Love it!  Don’t just go and coast.  Don’t be a pew warmer.  Reach out and be Jesus to others.  Awesome.

Here is Larisa trying to face the 18 year old fact that she has cheesy parents.  You’d think she would have caught on by now!

Jr. High Graduate: AUSTIN R. CROSBY

Austin is the handsome lad in the red tie.

For most, graduating from junior high school is not that big of a deal.  You show up every day (in the kitchen for homeschoolers like mine) and you do the work.  Then BAM! You graduate.  Austin told me in January that he “didn’t want to do that stupid graduation thing.”  “Fine,” I replied.  And thought that it would be painful to force him… and relieved that we didn’t have to go through it either.  THEN, Rick and I were accepted on the AFHE Board (AZ Families for Home Education) … and our tune changed.  We found out that AFHE puts on a junior high graduate recognition ceremony at the Phx. Civic Center…. and being board members, we thought we should give it a go.  So we signed up Austin and didn’t tell him for more than two months.  We didn’t want to torture him for more than seven days.

Yes, that’s the rat face.  As it happened, the graduation was on Friday night so we told Austin that he would be participating on the Sunday night right before the ceremony.  I was a little surprised by his nonchalant response.  I suspect that he was secretly disappointed that we didn’t do any of that stupid graduation stuff.  The ceremony was first class with over 60 grads. Even the speaker was good! Then we had an open house for Austin and invited all those who have participated in his life.  A great time was had by all.

The little trophy on the right is from Austin dominating in a marshmallow eating contest.  Makes a mama proud.  Speaking of being a mama, when my first homeschool child graduated from junior high, I felt like I had succeeded.  I had successfully guided a child through elementary and junior high school and most of my hair had not been pulled out of my head by my own hands.  I distinctly remember congratulating the other moms in the crowd.  We did it!  This time, however, it was much more an example of God’s mercy and love …. getting THIS child through eight years of home instruction.  Austin didn’t learn to read until he was eight years old and the only reason he even started THEN was because his younger brother started before him.  It wasn’t for my lack of trying either.  In his kindergarten year, I checked back through my daily plans and I had shown him the letter F 67 days in a row… and there was no recognition AT ALL.  My husband, the principal of our homeschool, was called in at that time and I handed in my resignation.  He refused to accept it and I had to have a parent-teacher conference in the bathroom mirror.  I prayed like all good homeschooling moms pray, “Dear God, Don’t let me wreck this kid. Please.”

An amazing occurence transpired in spite of a tragedy. When Austin was in third grade (and doing grade 5 math with me reading aloud all the word problems to him) my husband, the principal of our homeschool, separated his Achille’s tendon and was off work for three months.  Being homeschoolers with no strings attached, we went on a “21 National Parks” field trip of the western side of the U.S.A. from April to June.  We did take a bit of math with us.  We did listen to multiple audio books.  We did chart the moon’s cycles. We did see AWESOME sights that God had made for us to behold.  But no teaching was forthcoming for three months.  Just like God to show that Austin’s learning had NOTHING to do with me…. it was on that trip that Austin learned to read.

As homeschool parents, we chose this path for training our kids in Godliness and character development. Those were more important to us than learning how to line up, raise your hand, ask to go to the bathroom, and grammar, quite frankly.  We have been rewarded by God filling in the gaps where we have fallen short.  God gave us these kids to impact for eternity and it’s a pleasure and challenge to spend most of their early years with them.

Congratulations, Austin.  We are so proud of you, dude.

 

I did it! (What I mean is….)

Hannah and Larisa, Eighth Grade Graduates

What IS the gang sign for homeschoolers???

Our baby girl graduated from jr. high yesterday… can that mean I’m old enough to have a child in high school???  Where did the time go?  Wasn’t it last week when I was dressing Barbies and holding the back of the two-wheeler pink Barbie bike running down the grassy hill at the park?  Larisa has surpassed our hopes and dreams for her at this point.  If I had buttons on my shirt yesterday they would have burst…. then I could’ve embellished a cute graduation scrapbook page with them. 

Homeschool graduation is more than the child’s accomplishments.  Of course we are proud.  But the mothers at the graduation yesterday were hugging each other and congratulating each other, “You made it!”  None of us have ever felt truly confident in our skills, abilities or knowledge.  All of us have wondered at one time (or 327 times) if we are doing the right thing for our kids, ourselves and our families.  I have yet to finish a year of homeschooling feeling like I did my absolute best.  But on graduation day I didn’t think of my doubting times, my crying times or (gasp) my hiding in the closet to pray times. 

Yes, there are times when I would love to spend the day at the mall trying on shoes or lunching with other moms while our kids are in school.  But then I think of sending the children off each day to be with some other adult and life becomes crystal clear again.  I couldn’t do it.  I love them too much.  I want to be with them (well…. most of the time) and share in their learning.

Congratulations, Larisa!  WE did it.

www.LindaCrosby.com

 

Down time? What down time?

Just when I was hoping to lie on my yard swing and read historical novels to take me away from the here and now to an English garden and young love… I made a “to do” list last night.  Shoot.  Down time starts on June 14, as far as I can tell.

Adoption news: Nothing substantial, just our fingerprints expiring and needing renewal.  I don’t really understand how fingerprints can expire????  They don’t change for your whole life… why a 12 month expiration date?  The only thing that lasts longer than fingerprints is Twinkies.

Larisa’s Jr. High Graduation:  It’s THIS Sunday, and I still need to make her beautiful red strapless dress a conservative Christian strapped dress.  She informed me this morning as she stood shoulders bare on the living room coffee table that she wants the gown floor length.  That really limits my fabric availability to make G-rated straps.  What to do? 

Anniversary Celebration:  Rick and I actually got away to a resort for 3 days without children, cell phones or business talk.  Day two as we lounged by the pool, he leans up on his elbow, blocks my sun and says, “We need to hire someone to do email blitzing for your book.”  I spoke a little too harshly with my “WE ARE NOT TALKING BUSINESS THIS WEEKEND!” as was noted by surrounding looks on sunbathing faces.  But it worked.  He laid his natural-born-tanned-self down and with a sigh, conceded, “Shot down.”  I added, “In a blaze of glory.” 

Boys:  Need I say more?  I thought these two little wiry guys were leaders among their peers.  Well, in our absence, the leadership qualities turned to the dark side.  I just returned from one of our pastor’s homes where the boys had thrown dirt clods and rocks into their pool.  It is not heated.  heh heh heh.  Aus and Keeve had to dive over and over and over to get all the stones out.  I won’t even comment on their cannonball behavior at another community pool.  Sheesh.

Bags for Zaza:  See previous post.  Amazingly, 8 of 9 bags sold in 48 hours.  Way to go Auntie Jennie!  I’m feeling the pull of the Singer.  Me and my chenille might meet up after June 14th.

 www.LindaCrosby.com