about my daughter Tegan’s (considerable) contributions to her community during high school.
This picture is from the first year.
She made goodies for the Open House.
This picture is from this summer.
4th of July, 2012
New braces & the strawberry harvest. Rowan rocks it all.
My lovely daughter gets home from camp, August 2011
This is my child getting home from camp.
Here are other children who want to go to camp. Help, donate, retweet… whatever you can do.
The soil is dreadful, and the area's infested with quack-grass, but it has some sun.
Cleaning up the strawberry bed at the "Little House"
Happy chicken works on the compost.
a leap of well-considered faith
At 14, long legs change hop-rocking.
The castles and continents of rock
give way to your seven league boots
and the horizon beckons.
Never to have measured yourself
against the mountains of your childhood,
never to have stretched across
the shoals of original magic
is to have missed
Pan’s path
for the worse.
So, here we go.
First college visit was to Bryn Mawr, a small liberal arts college on the Main Line outside Philadelphia. Bryn Mawr is a woman’s college, one of the original Seven Sisters, and the closest one to us. It remains a Women’s college, is noted for its academic rigor and supportive alumnae network, and, importantly for us, had tours and info sessions available on Friday, Tegan’s only day without college classes.
Steve took the day off from work to manage the homeschooling while Tegan and I had our field-trip. 🙂
I got SLIGHTLY lost, which meant we weren’t the requested 10 minutes early, but the tour, with our guide Leah, departed on time. There were 2 Juniors with Mom, one probably Junior with Mom, and one transfer student with buddy on our tour.
Leah, somewhat unseasonably dressed, was preparing for a research presentation later in the day. She set the tone for students we met at Bryn Mawr. They all seemed extremely capable, centered, and a bit type A. It was a very through tour, with explanations of the system whereby they share academic resources with other area colleges, a look at classrooms, dormitory rooms (lovely), science labs, the career counseling center (which happened to have a display up of individual research projects, very impressive), the fitness center, and theme dorms and traditional buildings. We learned a lot about Bryn Mawr’s heritage and traditions, as well as their current opportunities.
On our way to the dorm
Too cute, I thought. 🙂
In the great hall. We snuck back, later.
We followed our tour by a small group talk by Peaches, from Admissions, ably assisted by Liriana, a chemistry major with an interest in dance. It also was very informative, I recommend it.
When this had concluded, we were still a little early for our “Lunch With a Current Student,” but they sent two students who worked in admissions to lunch early. By this time we were down to the two Juniors with Mom. Awkwardly enough, they did NOT have a plan to feed moms. This would have been a crisis for me under usual circumstances, but I happened to have a little cash left over from the Florida trip, so was able to unpocket $10.25 and be fed.
I’m a terrible food snob, but it was excellent, even by my exacting standards – including plenty of vegetarian and vegan food.
However, the great aspect of the lunch was the presence of our new student hostesses, Liz and Mia. These personable young women answered snoopy questions, discussed their research, and laughed over their memories with great aplomb. They added to our rapidly expanding list of impressive representatives of Bryn Mawr.
I took no pictures of peoples’ personal space or students, other than our tour group. It was a lovely day.
Seeing the cloister area.
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. First of….?
College-visiting gal gets home. 🙂
My friends currently enjoying first steps and potty training may not believe it, but somewhere along (relatively speaking) next Tuesday you’ll be going on college visits.
With my eldest son, we did 17 visits. 😀
He didn’t go to any of those places… and it wasn’t because they were badly 
selected. After (and partly because of) the process (and getting offered money in serious ways, she adds proudly) he decided to pursue his dreams as a ballet dancer.
Cautious Mama enrolled him in community college while training, he got 60 solid gold credits (almost 4.00), danced with a contract. Then the company ran out of money, as they so often do, and now he’s dancing locally, while enrolled at the University of Delaware.
GO BLUE HENS!
I still remember those visits fondly… as a wonderful time to spend with my son, as interesting (and sometimes hilarious) road trips, and as a great way to learn things that have been valuable in our homeschooling. I highly recommend the process.
So, here we go again, with #2. Are you ready?
Like most aspects of parenting, homeschooling has had almost nothing in common with my expectations of it, and intermittently drives me crazy.
And then there are times like this.
My 8 year old daughter, finishing re-reading “The Hobbit”, preparatory to reading “Lord Of The Rings.”
Concern
sadness
griefI’ve always loved sharing books and ideas with people. I feel so blessed to be part of this.
Today 10/11/2011
A funny story 10/11/2011
Such a wonderful girl.
And this was summer of 2009:
July 2009, with sacred cow at New Vrindaban
It’s not fair, guys. When they tell you it’s fast? It’s this fast. 😦
As a mother of 5, youngest 8, I am nearly past that horrible period where everyone is willing to share with you what you might be doing or are doing wrong, as a parent. I’m pretty fully into the stage where the children are capable of informing me of that, themselves. 😉
And to those parents I may have upset by offering MY opinion, please forgive me. Temptation afflicts us all.
But yesterday I had a lengthy talk with a neighboring mother (3 children, the eldest barely school age) and because I did NOT answer her back as I wanted to, and because I think she spoke from a couple common places of prejudice, I’m going to discuss it here.
If a defense of the point of view of being a SAHM , of larger families, or of homeschooling is triggering to you, stop reading now.
This mom, who, as I said, has MANY fewer person hours invested in this whole parenthood business than I do, was moved to comment on my older daughter’s plans for college. She’s doing this because my daughter babysits for her (more on that later) and is totally awesome. She wants good things for my daughter. I tried to keep that in the forefront of my mind.
So, here’s a selection of what she said, the responses I didn’t give, and a little unpacking.
(First, let me mention, I have an older son, currently in college. He’s taking 18 credits, is a Junior, and has an A average. He was also homeschooled. The child in question is a Junior in high-school, is taking  2 college courses this semester, and has an A+ average in her college courses. We’re talking about where she might go when she graduates high-school. And I didn’t ask this woman.)
“She should go away to college. Because she’ll grow so much, living away from home.”
She hasn’t grown here? That’s odd, because she (at 16) is the person you trust to watch your kids when you have a problem. No one in the world encounters this young woman and misses how extremely competent she is. So we’re not talking about ‘Children at college learn to do their own laundry.’
unpack: Kids need school because life is tough. If your child hasn’t suffered through bullying, erratic teachers and a suicidal besty, they won’t be prepared to be contributing adults. Well, okay. Since you don’t know what else she does with her time, you may not realize that she  spends time with age peers, who have all the same problems at camp. So she’s not missing out.
“She should go to (certain expensive) early college program.”
I won’t mention the name, because I’m about to be candid. For something on the close order of FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR we could send my child to “college” with other teenagers. Um, really? I graduated from a very good boarding school, which, btw, I paid for myself. If I wanted to drop over 40 thou on a school for a high-schooler, I’d send her there, because I know at least a dozen kids who were early admit to actual colleges, like MIT. My friends went to college at 15, even back then. And my daughter doesn’t need a training wheels college experience with a bunch of kids who haven’t out-grown their wall full of Bieber posters.
unpack: Your family is too close. She mentioned “so supportive.” but she didn’t actually say, “smothering.” Of course, it would be totally ‘normal’ for a teenage girl to be mouthy and hateful to her mother, so, since my daughter isn’t, I must really be crushing her. We’d better get her away. This followed closely after “I could never homeschool because I butt heads with my eldest.”
You know what I also didn’t say? That child is 7. You’re an adult. Your head needn’t be anywhere near “butting” height, if you’re standing up.
Another homeschool one: “The school they’re in right now won’t work for long. We’ve considered homeschooling, but we need the money and I love my job.”
Really. We have no need of money, and, frankly, I’m too dumb to have a job. I don’t EVER experience the need to balance my family’s needs and my work responsibilities, because my ONLY identity is that I’m the mother of your babysitter. Â And I’m totally too stupid to hear you complain about the conflicts between even picking up your kids and work stuff (when you call to ask my teenager to do it for you) or to hear the worry in your voice about where they’ll go when the extended pre-school you have them in runs out of time. And, btw, when you made fun of the prestigious day-school I attended? I’ll live to see you praying to get them in. Because I’ve lived in this town most of my life and have decades more experience and I know what your choices are.
unpack: No one is a SAHM if they have options. *I*, as an educated woman with a career, have a completely different life experience than you do. You must have been raised Amish, or something. Or had a head injury.
This is a very common POV. Since women’s work is devalued in our society, no one would CHOOSE to do it. Except, some of us do. For me, I tried for years to have a family and it actually is the most exciting and rewarding activity I ever engaged in… and I had big fun, in my youth. 😉 This is what I want to do, and I’m really, REALLY good at it. It’s so great that I was willing to take a pay-cut to do it.
“She’ll want to get away, because she spends so much time at home looking after the little ones.”
No, she spends time at YOUR home looking after little ones, because that’s her paid job. At my home, she’s a teenager. The kids HAVE a mother, who lives in the house. That mother does the mothering. I do the cooking, and sort laundry, and drive to things, and educate them. I don’t know what TV you watch, but just because we have 2 more children than you do doesn’t mean we’re the Duggars. Your house needs a babysitter. MY house has members of a team, who put away their own laundry.
unpack: Homeschoolers aren’t “normal.” If your child is responsible it’s not because they’ve been raised to be (abetting natural inclinations), it’s because there’s some major dysfunction going on. I’m swilling gin and eating bon-bons all day. Because, really-taking care of a family isn’t WORK. This point of view covers up all the hours of child-raising we commonly subcontract. I would NEVER suggest that mothers who work outside the home aren’t “full-time” mothers. That’s a vicious and repellent POV. But there’s no denying that having everyone OUT of the house several hours a day means that all the diaper changing, schoolroom sweeping, food-prep, etc. happens somewhere else, too, and is done by people we pay to do it. In my house, it’s done here.
“Your daughter should go to “X-named” expensive and crispy liberal arts college.”
Um, no. My daughter, pleasant as she is, has a mind like a shark. She would absolutely HATE being surrounded by rich kids taking 6 years to find their path as glassblowers or film-makers. And she’s REALLY strong on personal hygiene, for herself and others.
unpack: I know your children better than you do. They’re cool, like me. Nope, they’re not. I know this, because I KNOW them. I spend every day with them. Â I may look crispy-granola to you, but that’s a choice. My kids are supported in their own choices, and don’t actually chat with their bosses as much as you think. That’s both polite and strategic. If you have not learned the value of being polite and strategic in work environments, you’ve only worked for relatives. Rich relatives.
She offered her services to “edit” my daughter’s college essay. I told my sister this, and heard her head explode.
A) My daughter will write her own essay. Otherwise, she’d be cheating.
B) I was a published writer before you were born. As far as I can tell, you’re not even credited as co-author of a paper in your field. And I looked.
C) I’m not her “mommy”; I’m her teacher. As such, I’m competent to judge an essay.
D) The achievements of my students speak for themselves. Her brother was a prize-winning essayist AND scored in the 99th percentile, nationwide, on the ACT science portion. That’s her brother, the ballet dancer. In her first academic college class, at 16, she has an average test grade of 105 in an accelerated math course. (On a scale of 100. That’s good.) The younger ones have similar accomplishments.
This unpacks to: Really, you’re not a teacher. You’re just an overprotective helicopter mommy who needs to let these poor children out into the world.
INTJ: Worships competence. Plans for the future. Suffers fools seldom.
And had a bad conversation, this weekend. 😀
somedaysislikethat 