OUR GRADUATE

Well, we both finally made it to the end of our homeschooling journey. On May 10th of this year, my Chrysanthemum bloomed into a full grown flower. (Yes, I’m a bit late in posting…it’s been a wild year since then). Back to Graduation…

It was a beautiful ceremony, sponsored by our homeschool group and there were 45 graduates!! There was the traditional "Pomp & Circumstance" entry, solo music, graduate speeches, etc. We were doubly blessed and honored when they announced that Chrysanthemum received the annual scholarship award. What an incredible morning!

But what makes it so different from other school graduations is the opportunity for parents to be on stage to present the diploma and to public address our children and tell everyone just how amazing they are.  And we had to do it in 90 seconds or less!! Not as easy as it sounds… It took me 3 hours to write a 60 second speech!! (Dad got the other 30 seconds).  So what did I say, before G-d and everyone..

"Katherine, My dear sweet Chrysanthemum…so you’ve been called for 10 years beause you always seemed to bloom a bit later than other flowers, when in reality you bloomed right on time. And when you did bloom, you looked so different from the expected: you were more colorful, bolder, and brighter. Your schooling was no different. We reached many academic milestones later than the prescribed time, and your transciprt looked different than the recommended: there were many colors and lots of petals. But, that what Chrysanthemums are designed to do and as chrysanthemums go, you are outstanding. Every class you have taken, every story you have written, every picture you draw, and everything you do with your camera; you do with excellence, with honor, and with utmost integrity. You have bloomed into a beautiful Chrysanthemum, and I would rather have one chrysanthemum than an entire garden of roses.  I love you."

And so ends our journey of homeschooling. She has graduated to the studying Graphic Design and Illustrations at the local community college and is starting out in the world looking for the life that G-d has planned for her. And me… well, she’s my last one and the house seems very empty during the day, as with the rest of my life. What does one do after 15 years of homeschooling? It is my life & livelihood and I’m not ready to step out of this, just because I completed the mission.

So it’s a new beginning for me as well. Only I’ve decided to stay involved in homeschooling. I continue to teach High School Science at the co-op, I’ve started a small group for Moms of highschoolers, and I seem to be spending a lot of one-on-one time mentoring and encouraging other homeschool moms to stay the course and see what’s at the end of the road. And now that I’ve got some free time again (hahaha!), I can resume blogging and who knows, maybe I’ll even get around to writing that book.

Well it’s the end of Chrysanthemum’s Senior year and the festivities have begun.  Our homeschool group is graduating about 45 Seniors this year and last night they sponsored their annual Senior  Forml Banquet.  This is a formal event with sit down dinner, swing dance instructors and lots, and lots of friends.  Most came as singles or with friends and personally, I think that accounted for most of the fun. We did have a young man ask if he could escort our Chrysanthemum, so there was another first for our journal.  And I made sure she was breath-taking!

Of course it wasn’t all smooth sailing….she sprained her ankle two weeks ago and was on crutches until Thursday and a freak blizzard decided to blow ing Friday morning and the formal was almost cancelled (many proms in town were). But we all adjusted our plans, DH and I drove her in, and she had a blast and was princess for the night.  You can see the whole slide show here.

Now all I have left to do is finish her HighSchool scrapbook and get ready for graduation on the 9th.

Panel of conservative influential women taking calls and discussing issues that pertain to women.

Sponsored by TeamSarah.org you can listen in live at Townhall.com 

This is our biggest Happy Dance ever. Sarah Palin is McCain’s VP choice and OUR HOMESCHOOLed son, Adam Brickley, is mainly responsible with his blog "Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President" .  Want a popular blog…he’s got 280,000 hits so far today and the press is all over him.  The front page at Townhall.com has a picture of him on their front page and he’s going to be on Fox News at 5:00 pm EST today and tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.  He’s been contacted by the Wall Street Journal, NBC, Fox New, the local media, and the BBC. And that’s just the beginning.  Here’s the link to his interview on Fox News http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSbOfH4jSyI

If you want to see what I think of Sarah, I blogged about her in June (I think)  Gotta run, the phone is ringing and the press will be here in an hour.

MCCAIN/PALIN ’08

We’re so proud!!!!!

UPDATE: Aug 30, 2008
As of this morning I have received several hits to this blog as a result of my sons recent success. Many of you have left wonderful, encouraging words of praise for my son and his efforts. I have, however, had to delete several cruel, hateful comments about Gov. Palin.  This is blog by a proud mother about her childen, not a political discussion forum.  No hateful, attacking comments about or towards anyone will be allowed or tolerated. Thank You and G-d Bless.

I just figured out that the "links" on my last post weren’t exactly working…but they are now. All except the one for DD Chrysanthemum’s TaeKwonDo. So, I just thought I’d post it all by itself. I’m so proud of her, too. She just finished her Level 1 Instructor Training and is almost half way to blackbelt.  Anyway, I just wanted you all to see her! 

Oh, and if any of y’all ever notice my links aren’t working.. please let me know.  I wouldn’t want you to miss anything. 

That’s it for tonight.  I’ll try to get something up over the weekend.  We just have to keep life moving on an even keel.  Catch y’all later, and have a blessed Sabbath.

And don’t forget to go check out the links in the previous post if they weren’t working the first time.

Julie