A Plan Forming for Next Year

The last two weeks have sped past. Rebekah is nearing the end of her high school years. I ordered her graduation announcements and diploma. We are looking for a  picnic shelter in a park to reserve for her graduation party. It is getting very real, and we are feeling lots of emotions around here. While it is an exciting time, it is  also a bit bittersweet. The end of my homeschooling career is very close. I am entering a new phase with less clear guidelines and boundaries. To the outside world, I will simply look like a stay at home mother to four grown kids (two of which aren't launching very fast or at all). It is a tricky time of redefining myself to the outside world who seems to think that I should be racing out into the workforce to do something meaningful. Yes, I have heard that from several people, as if the last 23 years of homeschooling hasn't been meaningful and the very most important thing I could have done with my life. (Not to mention, in my humble opinion, the lack of stay at home parents in children's lives is a major reason we have so many issues in this country.) I feel completely content and certain that my time has been well spent. Fortunately, so do the family members closest to me. In reality, I am not returning to work for a good while yet (if I can help it). I am still very much needed here on the home front. 

Rebekah completed her art project for her college course. She had to follow certain parameters and use photoshop software for the first time. It was a big learning curve, but her piece came out great. It is called Mother Nature and Father Time.

In other huge news ~ Rebekah auditioned and was accepted to a professional training program at a dance academy here in town. The professional program is new and  has two art directors from Ballet West (a famous dance academy and company in Salt Lake City) who have joined the academy. The new directors are amazing and have created a professional training program for teens and college age dancers that will begin in the fall. She will be training upwards of 30 hours a week and will have opportunities to perform in multiple shows and dance competitions. Depending on her goals in a year or so, they can also help her find and audition for dance companies throughout the United States. We are so proud of her and I am so happy that she can remain living at home while she follows her passion at least for another year or so. She has decided to take a gap year or longer from college to give her all to dance. I couldn't agree more. I have been talking about a gap year for a long time. It just isn't possible to work (which is necessary), attend college and dance so many hours a week and still stay emotionally/physically healthy. She finally saw it my way. She will continue to work in the mornings and dance in the afternoons (six days a week). For the first time in more than six years, she will have most of her evenings off. 

We celebrated my mother's birthday this week. We went for a walk down by the river and then ate dinner and cake at home. We also played the adult version of HeadBanz, which was lots of fun. It was harder then the original version, with characters like Napoleon and George Bush, etc. We had a blast!

Elijah did lots of work at Grandma's home this past two weeks. She is finding him to be very helpful. He is also working some at home. He is a bit slower and distracted for me, so I am having him work for her more often. He did learn how to use a tiller at home and how to prepare our garden for planting. For us, Elijah has painted doors, fixed loose doorknobs, did landscaping, decluttered the cedar storage closet, maintained the cats' nails and maintained their grooming, as well as performed his regular daily chores. Their medieval sword play group has returned to playing a few hours on Sunday. Tim and Elijah are overjoyed and come home worn out, sweaty and filled with funny stories of their adventurous battles. It is all good!

I will leave you with a cute picture of our sweet and crazy clowder. Why can't they ever be cute on a fully made bed?

Blessings, Dawn