11th and 7/8th grade ended.

I want to make this place my memory keeper again. Everyone is on Instagram right now, but I miss all this space for ramblings. I miss slow pace of blogging. I want to write things down somewhere.

Another school year has passed.

Last year around the same time we were on a crossroads about what to do about our school situation. A program we were relying on wasn’t working anymore, we were torn between several options. We ended up biting the bullet and withdrew both kids out of the program.

Here’s how it all turned out:

1) My Junior decided to only take his classes at the community college. It was not cheap even with a stipend from the county. But he appreciated the freedom of choosing his own classes, rather than seeking an approval from the school. He’s still trying to figure out if he wants to work on his Associate degree at the same time with his high school diploma, but in the meantime he’s getting all his High School AND transferable college credits in. He took 6 classes this school year: Japanese 1 and Japanese 2, College writing, College Algebra, Modern American History and College Algebra-based Physics. First semester was a bit of an adjustment, but he managed to finish it with an A and two Bs. He found his rhythm in the second semester and got all As!

He took a PSAT in the fall and SAT in the spring and did well on both. He is planning to take SAT again in the fall just to see if he can improve his score even more, and ACT later in his Senior year.

He produced a podcast and gathered an audience for it, his podcast now is in season 2.

He continued with his choir and karate (for which he got his 1st dan black belt in the fall).

Overall it was a very good year for him. He wasn’t as stressed. As I expected, being in the mixed ages/walks of life group benefited him enormously. He wants to do the same next year.

He has talked to an academic adviser at his college and has to figure out his fall schedule in the next week or so. He’s 3 credits away from fulfilling his minimum graduation requirements for High school. He has no idea yet which colleges he’ll apply to, we are encouraging him to take all the time he needs to feel comfortable about his decision.

2) For my daughter we did a mix of 7 and 8th grades this year. She was mistakenly taken to 2nd grade straight from Kindergarten in our former program, and this lost year was always kind of lost. We both feel that she should not accelerate towards High School. She is my social butterfly and I was worried she would hate being only at home, but she did really well. We started with quite a formal curriculum (Bookshark for language and science, Singapore for math etc.), but towards the end of the 1st semester we shifted to something I can only call “mindful unschooling”. She has taken over her lesson planning and followed through with all her goals. She has asked for math tutor and is now having those extra lessons. She became a wonderful baker, really gifted and meticulous. It’s amazing to see her passion blossom. She got a tour of a professional bakery in one of Denver’s luxury hotels and is now even more empowered to take on more complicated bakes.

In addition to all of the above she also had her choir and karate, and participated in our local homeschool group’s Roots and Shoots projects. We are both ok with her staying home for at least one more school year, but anything can happen of course. After so many years of being more or less in control of the majority of our life, I am forced to learn to let go, trust and go with the flow. It’s not easy at all.

In the midst of everything, life goes on.

It was not an easy spring. A lot of heartache due to the war, having family on both sides of it. Covid finally got us after 2 years, not badly but with lingering side effects…work kept us busy and we are doing our best to keep each other sane. We mine the mundane for small joys, counting our blessings even if the anguish never leaves us completely. I found an absolutely delightful book by Sophie Blackall, it is called “Things to Look Forward To” , it proved to be such a comfort, and I will be keeping it on my bedside for a while.

Summer holidays are officially here. It’s hard to believe that next school year our son will be Senior and on his way out into the wide world. I want to hold on to every moment we have with him.

As always commitments pile up – a choir tour, festivals, but I hope we can find pockets of time to just be.