This is our thirteenth year of homeschooling. We began when Caroline was in the 3rd grade and Mary was in Kindergarten. Now Caroline is a college graduate, as of December 13th, and Mary is a Senior in high school and taking college courses, too. Bobby is in the 10th grade, and will most likely take a college course or two next year. That makes this my last year of full-time homeschooling. It's a very strange feeling to look back at the years gone by and see just how fast they flew. Even weirder is the feeling I get as I look ahead, realizing that in about two and a half years I will no longer be a homeschooling mom.
Caroline graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Criminal Justice. She did it in three and ahalf years, and I'm so proud of her! She worked hard at her academics, and worked equally hard at her job at Chick-fil-A during the whole time she was in school. Now she has transitioned into working nearly-full-time at the restaurant while pondering whether or not to seek a job with her degree. She is planning her June 6th wedding to Shane Farrar. Or maybe I should say "we" are planning because I don't want her to have to do it all by herself!
Mary is taking three college courses each semester this year. There is a program in Georgia called Dual-Enrollment through the state university system. Since Armstrong State University is about ten minutes away from our house, it makes sense for her to go there. Student who score high enough on their SAT can take up to three courses each semester. She could have started doing this her junior year, but she really didn't want to. Last school year she just took one course, College Algebra. This year she took three courses first semester along with studying Advanced Biology: Human Anatomy and Physiology at home. At Armstrong she took Pre-Calculus, Civilization I, and Intro to Psychology. I'm happy to report she got As in all three! This coming semester she'll be taking Civ II, Intro to Sociology, and English 1101 (a required Freshman English course.) She wants to be a Physical Therapist, and Armstrong has a really good Rehabilitation Sciences major and then a doctoral program in PT, so she has set her sights high. Also, in addition to playing the piano, she has taken up the violin (as of summer 2013) and is progressing nicely with that.
Bobby is studying Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2, Bob Jones University Press World History, BJUP British Literature, my co-op class on Advanced Composition, Apologia Biology, Switched-on-Schoolhouse Health and S.O.S. Physical Fitness this year. He's doing very well in everything! He's also learning to play the piano now.
As the kids have gotten older homeschooling has gotten easier in a lot of ways and harder in others.
It's easier because they are much more self-motivated and do not require much assistance with the actual work. With Mary this year I have only had to help when she has asked me to assist her in studying for exams in her college classes or in reviewing her science with her before a test here at home. Bobby, too, does not need me to help him understand things very much any more, with the exception of the occasional math problem. It's also easier because we've been homeschooling for so long that many things are now habitual and ingrained, so we aren't having to reinvent the wheel.
It's harder because we have to keep track of all the requirements they need for graduation here in Georgia, and we have to be thinking ahead to their college years, to be sure we're not missing anything.
I praise God that things are going well academically for us this year, and pray that we will continue to enjoy our school year!
