Well, here we are! Today is the official day - My son's graduation from high school. Well, technically, we celebrated on Monday with just the five of us, but his diploma and transcripts officially state today as the day he's completed his high school education.
Oh yes! It's emotional, but this pain is eased knowing he won't be leaving the house immediately. He plans to eventually attend a college that is so close it's almost in our neighborhood before moving on. So, my empty nest days are still ahead of me, but it's not time for that just yet! I'm ok with that.
We are part of a county-wide Christian Co-Op in which we have the opportunity to take part in a graduation ceremony. This year, they will graduate 70+ students, each technically from their own private home school, together as a co-op group. However, my son doesn't like fanfare. He doesn't like being the center of attention, so he decided he didn't want to walk in cap and gown across a stage or sit on stage for a lengthy pomp and circumstance style ceremony. So, we instead, had a quiet family event! I presented him with his report card, his transcripts, a diploma and a cap with tassle. Then, we ate pizza - pretty much his favorite thing besides programming computers or Culvers double cheese burgers plain!
I've learned to grow with my children with each new time of growth. See, when you have a child, it's not just the child doing the growing. As a parent, I have learned to bend and twist and sometimes break with each new movement going forward. Though, there have been plenty of tears - ABC showing Toy Story 3 was no help in that regard - bring out the Kleenex! But, there has also been laughter. My son shares a similar sense of humor to mine, and he knows how to make me laugh. Though, to be honest, I've been so enamored with each of my children from the time they were born that their every move and new adventures tend to fill me with so much joy that I laugh. We have many moments on video (which we can no longer see because they are on an 8mm Sony video cassette, and the camcorder is broken), but if you could see them, you would hear my laugh, probably to a point of wanting me to stop, but nonetheless, my children make me laugh.
He is the first of the Scott family to receive his diploma from our little Scott Christian Home School. Every homeschooler has a story. Ours starts 18 years ago when he turned us into parents, we had already hoped to school him at home. However, it wouldn't officially begin until he turned 7, since our state does not require children to attend school until the year they turn 7. Though, I really started him earlier than that. We really were homeschooling him from even before his birth.
I first heard about the concept of homeschooling from a Focus on the Family broadcast sometime in the 1990s. I immediately knew that it was something I wanted my kids to experience.
His journey to homeschooling would begin pretty much at birth. I was determined to make books something that my children enjoyed since I dislike reading, or rather, very little that has been written ever holds my interest. So, we handed him a cloth red, white and black book (the colors are thought to stimulate the brains of infants).
I was also given, as one of my baby shower gifts, a Baby Mozart VHS tape (yes, we're that old!) I had never heard of these before, and it was before Disney bought the Baby Einstein Company. I played this tape for him starting at when he was just a few months old. And, I'm convinced the Mozart melodies helped form his seemingly natural ability to work math problems which is a necessity in computer programming which he now loves.
He taught himself, or rather drug me along to teach him, to read by the age of 3. Although, this started as my trying to find something to keep my 21 month old busy while I sat to nurse my newborn daughter. In that 10 to 20 minutes every 4 hours or so in the beginning, that little toddler could destroy the entire house with curiosity. So, I knew I had to find a way to keep him by my side during those moments. I came up with a plan that used foam bathtub letters. As I sat nursing my daughter, I would pull one letter at a time out of the basket that sat near my rocking glider and ask, what does the B say, what does the Z say, etc. I figured that I was showing him what sounds a cow makes, what sounds a dog makes, etc. so, why not treat the letters of the alphabet the same way and tell him what each one of them say? That's what I did. He absolutely loved it! It didn't take long before he was telling me the letter sounds and insisting on writing them. So, I woud pre-plan connect-the-dots on a Magna Doodle board, and he would connect the dots to form each letter as he told me what they said. I also played a Discovery Toys cassette tape (yes, again, I'm that old!) that I absolutely loved as well. I don't think they sell it anymore, or the DVD equivalent, but the songs went something like this.... Apple Apple A A A Apple Apple AAA, and then transitioned into more songs such as, January, February, March and April.... These are the months of the year. ... As I sat to nurse my newborn, my 21-month old was learning the foundation of speech and time. By the time he was 3, he was begging me for Dick and Jane books (I know I know that some argue that is whole language learning and you should teach phonics). But, see, he had both. I saw value in both and didn't see the need to abolish one just because I was teaching the ohter. He had phonics and whole language learning. One late night after my husband returned home from playing music for a wedding, my son was asleep on the couch, with this 66-page Dick and Jane compilation book. When my husband arrived home, he opened his eyes and said - "Daddy, I read da whole ting!"
Of course, his story doesn't stop when he learned to read, but that is what opens up the door to so much learning. We started school traditionally using traditional curriculum from ABeka and Bob Jones. I will never forget his first grade history class when I learned things about how America was discovered that I had never learned in my years of schooling. I was amazed and excited and shocked that this information was true, such as Christopher Columbus actually bumped into the Bahamas more by accident than deliberate, etc. It was a Christian curriculum book, so as I read in disbelief that I had never known these things of history, I kept saying, but it has to be true. At least I would hope a Christian publisher wouldn't lie to me. Whille I'm fascinated with what my First Grader was hearing from his text book as I sat and read it to him, he was bored to tears. He kept asking, When is it over? How much longer? That should have been my first clue that his learning style would require a shake up in my teaching style, but I kept him traditional for awhile.
I won't bore you with each and every moment of each and every school year but I will say that a moment in time when he was in 4th grade, I hit a wall. It was clear to me that the way I was teaching with traditional methods was not striking a chord with his retention of what was being taught. Even though every time he would switch up his learning needs, I would switch up my teaching style, he was to a point where he was just checking off the curriculum boxes, finishing the assignments but not really learning. I knew I had to make a change, but I didn't know what that change would look like. I actually agonized over this in prayer. Then, I came across a book that changed everything and gave me hope. It was a Well Trained Mind and laid out the foundations of classical education. It was the hope I needed and answer to my prayers. Though, it would only last for a few years before he needed a final shake up in teaching style, I still cherish that book and hold it dear to my heart because it kept my feet to the fire and spurred me on to continue homeschooling. For a time, it was what he needed.
Eventually, round about his Freshman year in high school or so, it became clear to me that the way this child learns best was when he is focused and engaged in a topic that interests him. Oh, he would do the course work to please me and accomplish the government requirements for education, but these were not what he would remember. Actually, he would often follow along with the readings, get to the end and completely fail the test questions, because it wasn't sticking in his brain. It didn't matter to him what happened in 1874 or how to solve an algabraic equation or why dissect a frog. All of these things held no interest to him because this child has always had to know why he was learning or why I had aked him to do a specific chore. Once he knew there was a valid reason behind it, he was good to go. But, if it made no sense as to why he needed to know something or how he would use it later in life, he would check out mentally. I began to slowly give way to allowing him to start delight-directed learning. Some call it unschooling. At first, I agreed to every subject except math. I wanted him to get the basics he needed in math, but as time went on I realized that checking those curriculum accomplishment boxes was satisfying my needs and not his. By the time he was a junior, he was almost entirely unschooled. The result? He has self taught himself several computer programming languages, is in the process of learning to read and write Japanese, wrote an Android-based app for his robotics team scouting program, and the list goes on.
Today - he graduates!
Congratulations my only son! I wish you all God's best in your future.
Awwwwwe...he has had quite the journey. Congrats to you all!
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