On a side note & just for giggles, I want point out here that when I wrote "highschoolers", spell check told me my spelling was wrong. Wanna know what their suggestion was? It was assumed "preschoolers" was the word I was looking for.
Yeah.
Seriously though both of my boys grew physically, spiritually and academically. Growing pains hurt, for everyone.
While we were busy finishing up our last days of school at home, each outside thing (as we refer to any class/activity taken outside of our home) were slowly trickling to an end as well. This is the part of the blog where I tell you WHAT WE'D BEEN DOING ALL THAT TIME!
Let's Start with the basics:
Ricky finished his first year of Highschool well. He worked hard and accomplished much. He is already looking forward to starting Drivers Ed/Training next year!
This has been a year of growing for Ricky. He went from shopping in the boys section to shopping in the Men's section...in sizes bigger than Jeff or Billy. He is way taller than me, of course. We are sure before summers end he will be taller than Jeff! Heck, that may happen even before the month's end! Oh, and his voice, he has an incredibly deep voice. I mean really deep.
Ricky did awesome in Scouts this year! He had to change uniforms twice because he grew so, so much! Thanks to Granny for resewing patches! He looks forward to advancing in rank next year as he progressively makes his way to Eagle. He is also super pumped to be joining the Explorers Program! He had a wonderful time at the first training day he went to. All of this is such a part of who he is!
Ricky is still madly in love with singing. He never smiles bigger than a day spent singing! He has finished with both the community choir & the church choir for the year. However that's not saying much because it starts back up in three weeks. Even though one group only ended a week ago he is super pumped to get back at it!
Billy finished his Jr Year of Highschool. He is filled with excitement at the thought of being a Sr!
Billy also finished his first year as a part time college student, in Fresno City Colleges immersion program as an "A" student!! He told me that for the most part his classes were easier than things I taught him here at home, which was odd to hear. For those of you who are curious we didn't have any real problems setting him up as a life long homeschooled child in a Jr College. He tested in great & they glanced VERY quickly at his transcripts. The end. He was in the Latin/Jazz band, which counted as one of the two classes he was eligible to participate in each semester. Billy isn't fond of this particular variety of music, but it's a foot in the door so to speak. The first semester he took a computer class, the second a writing class. When I said "we didn't have any real problems", I was insinuating we did have a slight hiccup. That was in regards to the writing class. You see I had looked through the catalog with the knowledge of his academic experience thus far in my mind. I knew what he needed for filling in gaps. I knew what he was eligible to take ACCORDING TO THEIR TESTS. So it was totally lame to have to push for him to be placed in the class we wanted him in. The staff was worried that the class would be too difficult for him.
You know what?
After the very first assignment was turned in the teacher asked him if he wouldn't rather move up to a higher class. Grrr. Lame beginnings, but a great class non-the-less. Oh, & he is registered for Fall classes to boot!
Billy Finished the driving experience & passed both Driving Tests the first try no problems! While he collected permit hours he traveled in rain, over mountains, while it snowed, at night, on freeways, in busy neighborhoods with little children darting about, in fog, in 5:00 traffic & in holiday traffic, in the Bay Area. Breathe. He is a good driver. Really.
On to the Traditions:
There are signs in life that mark particular occasions. Those exist for the exodus of the school year as well. For my boys it goes like this;
CHEFA's Sqaure Dance. It is a wacky, zanny, silly, just-let-loose-laugh-and-enjoy yourself kind of night!
CHEFA's Formal...and After Party
The Vincent Family Evaluation of the School Year. This time around we took a picnic dinner to Lost Lake. It consisted of Applesauce & Raisin Biscuits with a ton of ooh so gooey, glazey frosting (Ricky) Homemade Lemon/Limeade with Strawberries & Raspberries blended in (Billy), Fava Bean Salad & Triptrip cooked in a garlic oil (Me).
The Vincent Family Congratulatory Dinner. This is where we dress nicely, go to a restaurant of the boys mutual choosing and tell them how wonderful they are. This year they chose Olive Garden. We normally present them with the badges that they've earned via the Contenders Program we utilize in our school. We had a scheduling glitch with that one though...oops!
AND. Then there's ALL the End of the School Year Parties! Which of course includes one in our very own little school. We bought the boys a few little gifts to enjoy over the summer, made a "Welcome to Summer sign (which is still hanging up) & ate yummy food. This year Ricky BBQed us his version of a BBQ sauce, bacon & onion ring sportin' cheese burger like a local restaurant serves. Usually he makes his own onion rings, but this day he didn't have the time, so he used frozen. We ended our night at YoDiggity.
Annnd..... then there was the steady stream of the Graduations, and ALL the Graduation parties! Parties, parties, parties galore. I tell you man, it was a jungle out there! I'm talkin' College, High School, Jr High & even cute little Kindergarteners.
As you can see we'd been tying up loose ends with the curriculum side of things and wrapping up all those FUN muuuusssttt does. Quite frankly the big shabang had all but reduced my brain to confetti. So yeah, bye now! hm-mm buh-bye! That was soooo my theme song the last month & 1/2.
2 comments:
I commend you for actually being able to make a summary and for having pictures to prove it! Time flies....
Yeah it's wild how time flies on bye!
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