Life happenings kept me from sitting at the computer much this summer. Thus, I am just now sitting to reflect back on the last year. The beginning of the year was fairly typical. The second half of the year was anything but typical.
Sims started off the year taking classes at the local community college and taking the NC real estate class. His life quickly switched gears in January when he went on a boat delivery from Charleston to Antigua where he stayed for a couple of months. He then moved the boat around the Caribbean-BVIs, and USVIs- until I called him to come back home to help with Parks as we had a family emergency.
Sawyer started the year off taking classes at a local co-op, online and with me. These included Algebra II through Mr.D math online, American Criminal Justice through Open Tent Academy, creative Writing, Intro to Psychology, Honors Chemistry and Rock Climbing. She finished the year at a semester school where she did not have many choices in her class schedule. Thus, she finished the year taking English III, Algebra II, Outdoor Programming, Health, World History, Environmental Science and completing American Criminal Justice. Her goal was to converse in Spanish by the end of the year. My goal for her was to find an organizational method for school work and time management. Sawyer did not quite meet her goal due to a big change in her year (although, she did speak some Spanish with some of her classmates). I think she surpassed my goal. :). She also gained skills in her physical, mental and emotional self.
Parks finished his first year of high school while taking classes at home and through. a co-op. He completed Algebra I, English I focusing on essays and writing, finance, athletic conditioning, health, topics in US history, bicycle maintenance and rock climbing. Parks’s year went very smoothly through April. In fact, he even got an unplanned visit to England in. He grew up a lot this year. Unfortunately, he and I did not finish his Intro to Physics class so he completed an online aviation class this summer to fulfill his science requirement for the year. Parks’s goal for himself was to learn about making money. He did this in multiple ways including taking finance, playing the stock market game, starting his own lawn mowing business and by getting a job at a local bike shop. My goal for Parks was for him to take ownership of his schoolwork. He rocked my goal! I was quite impressed with how well he did with getting his work done and completing a class over the summer.
This was by far one of the biggest years of change we have had in our family on multiple fronts. All three kids traveled away from home and continued their adventures away from our small town. They all set goals for themselves and hit the goals. I struggle as I see them all growing up and at the same time, I am loving every minute. I can see how our small adventures when they were little geared them up for these high school and young adult years.
Simple Days Make for an Exciting Adventure 