It's been a week (almost)

Technically it's Wednesday, which means Morgan has been at school for a week, and we have been in our 2011-2012 school year for one week. Homeschooling is going great so far, isn't it always the first week?? LOL. I really have been impressed with howon top of things the kids seem to be this year.

Jeffery is a junior in high school. (I know! I can't believe it either!) He's taking Human Anatomy and Physiology, Algebra II, American Government, British Literature, Grammar, and ACT prep. These classes will be a lot of work, and I'm sure he's going to do great! Jeffery is singing in choir again this year, and has joined Lifelight Youth Theatre.

Christopher is a freshman in high school. (Wow! How did that happen?? It seems like just yesterday he was itty bitty...) He's taking Algebra I, American History, American Literature, Grammar, and Biology. He's still involved in choir and Lifelight, and is joining band this year.

Tori is in 8th grade. She has Pre-Algebra, Grammar, Physical Science, American History, American Literature, and Health. She is still involved in choir, Lifelight, band, and piano lessons. For first semester she is also taking some dance classes. A very busy young lady who is going to be learning time management skills along the way!

Ben is in 6th grade and tackling the Eastern Hemisphere forhistory and geography this year. So far he is loving it! He will also be studying the Land Animals, health, math, and grammar. Ben is doing Lifelight and continuing on the trumpet in band this year.

Morgan is doing very well at Lindenwood! He loves all of his classes... mostly. He has a cultural anthropology that is going to be a tough class. If last year's Comp I with Hickenlooper is any indication, however, Morgan succeeds in classes that are tough. I've been really proud of how he has handled himself so far. He was inchurch Sunday, he's studying, he's getting where he needs to be when he needs to be there. I know what you're going to say: he should be able to do those things, he is 18 after all. "Morgan was born older." Isn't that what I've always said? Hehe. He has grown up into quite the young man!

As promised, here are some pictures of his dorm. (I forgot to get pics after they had everything set up. After the outside visitors ban is lifted in a few weeks I'm hoping to get back in there and take some pics. We'll see.)

Move in day!!

Well, we did it. We drove the van full of Morgan's stuff, while he drove his car full of his siblings to Lindenwood and moved him in. It was a day full of high emotions, although I did my best to hide them. (I wonder if Morgan noticed them or not? I don't know...)

I am so proud of him, of the young man he has become, of the choices he is making lately!

God showed Himself to me in so many ways today! For example,

*Not only is his roommate, which is his best friend, a Christian, so are most of the guys in the rooms immediate to his.

*When we saw Dr. Mueller (Morgan's advisor) during the coffee clutch. After telling me how wonderful Morgan did as a dual enrolled student last year, she told me how wonderful he is. Then she told me when I'm having a Mom moment, I'm more than welcome to call her. This blew me away! I was expecting the whole mentality of they are adults, you need to deal, and LU has not given us that at all!

*Because we are down to one car, we rode back to Warrenton with a dear friend. The entire forty-five minute drive back, Tina and I were able to relate to each other what we were feeling.

*Just seeing Morgan in that environment, I saw completely that he is absolutely in the best place right now, he is in the center of God's will!

It was fun to help him unpack, to meet the guys around him (some of which we already knew!), to eat dinner with him this evening, and walk around the campus. It was such a tremendous blessing to see how at ease he is there. I do believe my favorite part of the day was when Jeff, Morgan, and I were standing in a circle praying together right before we left. There was just something so sweet about it.

A good friend posted on my facebook wall this message : ‎"A Mother's job is to teach her children to not need her anymore. The hardest part of that job is accepting success!" (stolen from a friend's status this morning. i honestly think God had her post this so it could be passed on to you.) and just letting you know that i'm praising God for your success - morgan is an awesome young man.

This sums it up so clearly! Do I think he is done needing me? No, I'm 40, married, have one grown son, and still have four more kids at home, and I still need my Mom. Do I think my role in his life has changed? Absolutely! Tonight after we got home I opened his door to shut the light off, and saw the pillow he left. I held it, smelled it, sat down on his floor and cried. I'm going to miss him, we all will. I have a feeling we'll all spend a good amount of time in that room. But I wouldn't want him in any other place. He's exactly where he needs to be because he is where God wants him!

Tomorrow we start the new school year. With four kids. That will be different. And we will make it awesome! Please pray for Morgan at school,and pray for our family as we adjust to a new normal. I'll post Move in day pictures tomorrow, as it is after 1am, and I do need to get up in about six hours. :)

"I'm a real teacher..."

So this summer, for the first time in 13 years, I am working outside my home. (Yes, I have taught different classes, some volunteer work, some private lessons, and then the Learning Center, but once a week, three hours a week outside the house just doesn't feel like working outside the house.) After being encouraged by Morgan and Jeffery, I applied to and got hired by Six Flags St. Louis. The boys told me I should apply since I love being there so much. I am working in ticket takers most of the time, occasionally in season pass processing.

How is it? It is absolutely fantastic! I love being at the park, I love when the characters *my favorite part of the park* comes up to front mall! I love the little kids running up to the turnstiles so fast they almost hit them because they are so excited to be there! I love the guests from out of town who are full of questions and eager to get in the park all at the same time! I love my coworkers, they are some of the happiest people I know! I just really enjoy it, and I'm so glad the boys suggested I get the job.

It's also very odd to have to actually go to work, to get up early in the morning, to not stay up until 2am, to come home and still have to take care of stuff at home. (I have gained a whole new respect for homeschooling Moms who work outside the home!) I have had to learn to relinquish some of my control on the kids' schedules. Jeff has had to be their driver more the last few weeks, which is odd to me.

Everyday I come home with new stories for my family. Just as we learned about the entertainment department last year, when Morgan joined that department, my family is learning about the admissions department. Most of them I wouldn't share with the world, but one happened today that I was rather shocked about.

Six Flags does a "Read to Succeed" program, every student in grades 1-6 that have registered for the program and read 6 hours in a specified time period earn a one day ticket to Six Flags St. Louis, their teacher earns a ticket as well. Because SFSL realizes home educators and students are just as qualified as traditional schoolers to participate, they allow homeschooling families to participate. Today a family came through my line with a student and an educator ticket, so I asked her if they were homeschoolers. She made a very odd noise, almost like a humph, and then said, "No, I'm a real teacher." I responded with "Oh, I homeschool my children and knew we had participated. Since you had a student and a teacher, I thought maybe." She sneered at me and went in the park.

After she left I was kind of dumbfounded for a moment. I realized today just how blessed we have been. When we first began homeschooling our families, of course, had questions, and wondered about it. After the first couple of years, we really didn't encounter any negativity about it. Occasionally I have met people who don't know much about homeschooling and ask lots of questions, but very seldom do I encounter someone so snippy about it.

What is a "real" teacher? According to the online dictionary a teacher is "one who teaches". Well, let's see, I have taught my children math, science, history, english. I have taught my children Bible, how to cook, tie their shoes, say please and thank you, pray before they eat, read their Bible every day, and the list goes on and on and on. So why am I not a "real" teacher? The rest of that definition says "especially one whose occupation is to instruct". As a mother, my occupation, according to God's Word is to instruct my children. So again, I ask, why am I not a "real" teacher? I wish there wasn't the negative attitude from traditional school teachers toward homeschoolers, I wonder how much we could help each other if there was a better relationship between the two groups?

Counting down the days

We are counting down the days until Morgan goes to Lindenwood. He moves in August 17. Do you realize that is only 52 days? That's less than two months. That's too soon! We are making more of an effort this summer to have "family" days because of it. Saturday was great! We stayed home and played some games, then headed up town for the "Catch the Glow". We have lived in Truesdale for five years in September and never attended the "Catch the Glow" because until this year we didn't know what it was. Finally, this year we get an ad in the mailbox on Saturday that it's a street fair. It was so fun! We walked around, played chess at The Village Bookstore, bounced in the bounce houses (there were 7!), ate snow cones, entered a few drawings (and won a lunchbox and t-shirt!), and looked at all the snazzy cars up there. There were some really nice vehicles up there!

Saturday night Morgan and I stayed up until 4am talking. I think that's what I'm going to miss the most when he is gone. The unexpected conversations in the middle of the night when every one else is in bed, and he comes out to the living room and says "What'cha doin?" That's my clue he's in the mood to talk. I have learned when my kids want to talk, it's time to talk. Sometimes it's for a half an hour, other times (like Saturday) it's for four hours. I am so thankful for the relationships I have with each one of my kiddos, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world!

This Friday all of us are heading to the zoo for a family day. I am so excited! The St. Louis Zoo has a new baby elephant! I'm hoping to post pics this weekend! Have a great weekend, and I hope to see you at the Flags sometime! :)

He's Graduated!!

Yep, he's a high school graduate. I am so proud of him! Friday rehearsal was pretty rough. I kept wanting to tear up. But then rehearsal was over and we went to lunch with some friends, came home and started working on Saturday "stuff". When Morgan and I finished his board, I lost it. Completely. He put his arm around me and said, "It's ok Mom!" To which I responded, "No, it went too fast. Way too fast!" And I still believe that! We finished everything sometime after midnight. I believe we got to bed about 2a.m., but I'm not really sure when we got to bed.

Saturday before graduation I kept tearing up--ALL the time! It didn't take much! But something pretty amazing happened. I sat down for the processional and prayed God wouldn't let me completely lose it during graduation. Praise the Lord for answered prayer! I teared up a little bit when the class hymn, "When Christ Alone", was sung. It was beautiful!

All in the all, the ceremony was wonderful! Presenting him with his diploma was about my proudest moment. Dad actually handed it to him, but standing on the platform, realizing just how much he has accomplished this year, academically yes, but more importantly the struggles he has gone through and risen up to. That makes this Momma proud!

The reception after the ceremony was crazy! There were about a thousand different people there (or so it seemed when we were trying to get into the reception area!) , and it was very difficult to move. Once we got back to Morgan's table we stayed put. (Morgan didn't, of course. :) )

The party was a blast! There were a total of 89 people who attended, and I am thankful for every single one of them. It was a crazy day, and we felt like we had 5,000 thirty-second conversations. Morgan felt very loved Saturday, thank YOU for making his day special!

There are pictures on facebook for all to see of rehearsal, the ceremony, and the party. Go over, take a look!

Now we get the summer to spend some time together, go on vacation, and then August 17 will be here before we know it, and he will be moving into Cobbs Hall, Room 113, at Lindenwood University.

Congratulations Morgan! We're proud of you, and we love you!!

Four Days

In four very short, very packed days our eldest son will walk across the platform and receive his high school diploma. Wow. It's all come down to this. I'm excited! It's been an amazing journey God has taken us on the last 18 1/2 years! Morgan has been an easy child. I tell him all the time he was born older, he's always been mature for his age. (I wonder if his size when he was little had anything to do with that? People expected him to be older because he was so tall! I'm sure his birth order had a lot to do with it!)

I can remember when he was graduating 8th grade, so many people asked if we would continue home schooling through high school. I didn't have any other plans for his education, why not? I knew people who had home schooled through high school and their children seemed to be just fine. Then it started: he won't be able to get into college, (he did!); he won't receive any good scholarships (can you say Presidential Scholarship, AT&T Foundation Scholarship, Brightflight, and Missouri Access? I thought you could!); don't even try honors college, colleges won't even look at students who don't attend accredited schools for their honors colleges (you guessed it! He is enrolled as an Honors College student this fall!).

Am I little proud of him? You bet I am! This is a kid who will not brag on himself, but there is so much to brag on! He is exceptionally smart, he always has been. Yet, he thinks he's not smart enough. I think that pushes him, he always wants to do better. I love to hear him sing, and love even more to watch him sing. He is so animated! Morgan loves his family, and isn't afraid to show it in public. (What Mom doesn't love an 18 year old who still kisses your cheek when you leave in public, and isn't afraid to say I love you?)

You want to know what I am even more proud of? His personal stands he makes. He heard a girl call someone a retard because they flipped a sign over at Learning Center. I was the proudest Momma when he told the girl the boy wasn't a retard, and to call him that not only brings the boy down, but it also brings down people who were born with a mental condition. Of course the girl blew him off as being ignorant to her, but you could see the kids standing around him appreciated what he said. I got a glimpse into why Morgan is planning to go into social work, and it was pretty amazing. (It was also one of those tear moments for me, so I turned my back so he wouldn't see. I've wondered since then if he thought I wasn't supporting him?) He is one amazing young man!

He is the only one of my kids who attended public school. (He will still tell you he didn't get to go to the beach party at the end of the year!) His education has been the jumpiest, I think. In all he attended one year of public school, four of Christian school (I can honestly say there isn't much difference between the two) and the remaining seven were homeschooling. (At least we are at a majority homeschooling with him.) All in all, he is a well-rounded young man with a heart for God and others.

I am so proud of you, Morgan! I can't wait to post your graduation pictures!! I love you!!

A new year

Ok, so it's been a couple of years, yes years, since I last blogged anything. I had stopped doing it because the whole reason I was doing was to let family know what was going on with our schooling. The grands really like knowing what the grandkids are up to. :)


2011 has been memorable already. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for our family this year!

So far, Morgan has turned 18. We had a huge birthday party for him at the Knights of Columbus hall in Truesdale. We ended up with seventy-eight people attending (you know how homeschoolers are not socialized, right? haha). Evading, the band Morgan's best friend Andrew started a few years ago, played. We had so much fun! Putting the power point together was tougher than I thought it would be! Going through those pictures made me really miss when he was little bitty. It was pretty awesome! I'm still trying to figure out how to attach it to the blog, we'll see...

This year has been a year of mended relationships. I won't go into details, no need to. But to see the healing is so refreshing. The Bible says that bitterness eats away at you, and buddy I have seen that to be true! I was amazed at the feeling of relief!

Then came the blizzard of 2011. I keep hearing people say they didn't get much, come on over and check it out. We have about 15"! It is amazing to see it!












We did not take a snow day. I always give the kids the first day of snow off, but we've had so much snow this year I didn't see the point. We worked through, then today, when we could get out, we took them to Brunswick Zone to play Lazertag and bowling. It was the first time I have ever played lazer tag, and oh my word, what fun! I can't wait to play again! Bowling was an absolute blast! It was cheaper to bowl for 90 minutes, and get a pizza, salad, and drinks than it was to pay for just 7 games of bowling and shoes. So, of course, it was lunch! Ben had participated in Brunswick Zone's homeschool bowling this past fall. When we went in, the guy at the counter recognized him. (Which made Ben feel pretty special!) While we were bowling Ben was giving us all pointers on how to better bowl, and when we listened we could really see a difference. It was pretty cool! I was excited to break 50, as I don't do that very often. Ben had his best game ever at 99. Now his goal is to break 100. We'll see when that happens again. :)
Our first game took an hour. Christopher beat Ben by one point. We decided to see how far we could get in the second game with the 30 minutes of play time left.


Morgan started off a little slow, but overall it was great. It was a lot of fun to see how far we could get in the game before the timer ran all the way down. We decided to end it with frame 7 since everyone didn't get to bowl frame 8. If we had been doing quick play the first game, I think we would have gotten through a second game! Of course, I took pics of more than just the score screens, those pics will be on facebook. (Now that you've looked at the pics closely, I bet you are saying we are short one. Jeffery II didn't bowl today. He has been down with the flu for the last week, and just didn't have the energy to bowl after playing Lazertag.)

Thanks for reading! See ya soon!