A New Alumnus in the Family!

Nearly 30 years ago, I graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology.  I had finished all my coursework in December, but walked that April.  Spencer was one-year-old and I was very excited to be done with school.  I never even considered grad school at the time and basically only ever worked part-time until Glen graduated and we moved out East the following year. 

Look how young we all were!  

This past week, Emma graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's of Science in Public Health. 

I am proud of all my kids and their accomplishments, but I did feel an extra sense of pride with this graduation, as Emma was our first homeschool graduate, who never attended a minute of  public school past 7th grade. 

She is a hard worker and a dedicated student and we were thrilled to be there to celebrate this huge accomplishment with her. 

It was fun to run into lots of old friends around campus, but mostly we just enjoyed seeing Emma in her element.    She has given her heart to her time there in Provo and it's clear she is well-loved by many!  

Here she is with her former mission companion and current roommate, Riley, who also graduated.

Next up for Ems...a gap year, probably in Rhode Island with Cam and fam, and then grad school...maybe...if she decides it's right for her! 

It's kind of wild that we've got another kid done with their undergrad...and our first BYU grad! 

Way to go, Emma!   We love you!  

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PS  If you're interested, here's a post about Cami's graduation from the University of Texas.

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Graduation Time!

My baby has graduated from high school and seminary!     

Here's what I wrote about this milestone on Facebook (the first time I've posted since Christmastime):   

We called Ellie our "bonus baby" when she arrived at the end of our five kids. She was our easiest going baby by a mile and she really did feel like a sweet gift to round out our family perfectly. She's had a bit of a rocky road in her life including a seizure disorder that started right at the beginning of her kindergarten year. Despite visiting several doctors over the years and trying countless medications (and natural approaches), she never has had perfect seizure control (even now), she has faced fear and ignorance from her peers, can’t get a driver’s license, and ended up in a school situation that became untenable when she did not qualify for an IEP and the 504 plan the school came up with was completely worthless. So her education has included 3 years of public school, 8 years of homeschool, and 2 years at a private school....plus 3 moves in the last 4 years. Yet she’s still a rockstar! She has found wonderfully supportive friends, has an optimistic attitude, is thoughtful and empathetic, and has grand plans for the future. We are so proud of all she’s overcome to get here and we are excited for her to start at BYU-Idaho this fall. Happy Graduation (from high school and seminary), Ellie! We love you!

 Here's a little glimpse of some of her graduation events:   

First, there was a senior dinner at her school.  We enjoyed a delicious meal together...

While we ate, teachers read a 3-5 minute tribute for each of the graduating seniors.  Ellie's graduating class was about 60 kids, so it was doable for one night, but a little long.   Ellie's tribute was sweet and meaningful and  read by Mr. H--one of her favorite teachers.  

 It was a long night, but a wonderful thing to be a part of.  Ellie attending American Heritage School is absolutely one of the reasons why we needed to live in Utah and I love, love, love that she got to attend there for the past 2 years. It's a truly special place and was the perfect step away from homeschooling that we were looking for when we moved here.   

Next on the graduation docket was seminary graduation! 

 This age got a rough road with seminary because COVID made things difficult right when they were just starting out as freshman.  As such, it definitely took an extra bit of tenacity to be able to finish all 4 years and we are proud of her for this accomplishment.  This picture is with a couple of the seminary graduates from our ward.  There were a couple more that we couldn't track down for the picture.    

During her high school years, this girl has lived in 3 different houses, 4 wards, had 2 of those years marred by COVID, and she is still smiling!  

We are so proud of her hard work, positive attitude, and ability to go with the flow.   

Her future is bright and we are grateful for the light she brings to  our family and to the world! 

Cami graduated!!!!

Once upon a time {approximately 7-1/2 years ago},  a girl graduated from high school with a sparkle in her eyes and her head filled with anticipation at the bright future that lay ahead for her.   She attended BYU for 2 semesters  where she got straight A's and accepted into the nursing program.  Then she started dating her future husband before heading off on an 18-month mission to France.   

She had a wonderful mission and came home eager to continue her relationship with Garrett, who had just graduated from BYU and was heading off to attend medical school at the University of Texas-Austin.   They were engaged before long and married shortly thereafter.   

Cami was too late to get into the University of Texas at that point, so she started back to school at the local community college.   Thus began "the grand run around".   The community college would not accept her credits from BYU, despite the fact that she had a 4.0 GPA.   She then embarked on retaking all of her general eds, in hopes that she could transfer to U.T. the next year.   But the U.T. nursing program doesn't like transfer students and she was informed that they only very rarely accept transfer students from anywhere, so despite her continued 4.0 GPA, they turned her down.    

She went to another year at the community college, but still really wanted to get a bachelor's in nursing.  She applied to a few other schools, besides U.T., and against all odds was finally accepted to the University of Texas...where she had retake classes again.

Then came along a sweet little baby.  

And then Garrett got matched to a medical residency in Birmingham, which meant that they had to live in different cities for her last semester.  

But despite all these odds....she finished.   

On December 3rd, Cami graduated from the University of Texas-Austin with a bachelor's degree in nursing.   

I had a big Relief Society activity I was planning on November 29th and my surgery scheduled for December 7th, but we were excited to squeeze in a quick trip to Austin and celebrate this accomplishment with her in person.

It was a very quick trip, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world! 

I very much enjoyed the bonus opportunity to snuggle this little sweetie as much as I could, especially since I won't be able to hold her (because of my surgery) when she's here for Christmas.   

{NOTE:  That photo may be one of my very favorites ever taken of me.}   

We took lots and lots of photos....

Lucie was completely exhausted by the end of all the graduation / photo taking festivities, but we were still able to finagle some sweet smiles out of her.  She is a baby who loves attention, action, and being with people.  Maybe one our family's first true extroverts?    

It's probably too early to make any of those kinds of declarations, but one thing's for certain, Lucie is certainly destined to be a little smarty pants.   

WE enjoyed the opportunity to visit Austin one last time and to spend a quick weekend celebrating with Cami, Garrett, and Lucie!   

 We are so proud of our Cami Rose--for her tenacity, hard work, and ability to balance life, motherhood, school, church callings, etc.   WE love her!  

Thoughts on Homeschooling, LDSHE, and Adam's Graduation

Adam was in 5th grade when I started homeschooling him {and Ellie}.  I had no idea when we started how it would go or whether we'd keep it up for very long.  All I knew is that I felt strongly that it was the right thing to do and ultimately it ended up being a day by day, week by week, year by year endeavor.   The fact that we kept it up for 8 years was as much a surprise to me as it was to anyone else watching us from the sidelines.  

One of the most common comments I get when people find out we're a homeschooling family is that they could never homeschool their kids, because their kids are too social for that.     I'll tell you that no statement about homeschooling makes me madder.   There seems to be this prevailing notion that homeschooling families sit around the house all day, learning in a vacuum, and hiding out from the world.   Reality couldn't be further from the truth.   My kids are just as social as yours and  their learning is hands-on, individualized,  and engaging.  They interact with people of all ages (rather than only with the artificial age-group settings of school) and honestly, I often feel more like an educational manager, than a teacher most of the time.   My kids each learn very differently than each other and my job has been to find the resources they need to succeed.   

I share all this with you to preface my next statement.   

The last two years of homeschooling were by far our hardest.   Not only did we move away from our beloved homeschooling community in Virginia and start homeschooling in one of the most stringent homeschooling states in the country, but we also got shorted by COVID just like everyone else.   I think a lot of people assumed that we had it easier than them, because of the aforementioned misconceptions about what homeschooling is actually like.   But...just like everyone else...our school year got absolutely decimated.   All our in-person stuff either got canceled or moved to zoom.   All their activities ended prematurely.  AND, because we were new in a state without a lot of homeschoolers or LDS kids,  they didn't have an established group of friends to create a pod with.  We were suddenly living the homeschooling life that people think we live all the time and it was literally about as lonely as lonely gets.   To be completely honest, it was extremely difficult  for all of us, but especially for my very social kids.  

Thank goodness we  had each other.  

We all struggled, but in the process we all grew closer together and made it through.   And, in the middle of all that, Adam got into BYU. 

So, when LDSHE (a homeschooling conference for LDS parents/teens) rolled around this year (in May), we knew we had to find a way to be there.   Because of COVID, they'd moved it from a convention center in Virginia to an outdoor venue in Tennessee...which made it a 9-hour drive for us.   No matter.  We needed to see our tribe again and we needed to properly celebrate Adam's graduation!  

 After two years of isolation and being surrounded by masked strangers, it was a truly emotional experience to be there.   I cried to see my kids have face-to-face (without masks) interaction with people who knew them and loved them!  I ate up every conversation I had with old friends and I just relished being surrounded by people who got me!   No more explaining myself, trying to justify my life decisions, or trying to find my niche among people who really didn't seem to like me all that much (a story for another post).   

Being there was exactly the healing salve we were all craving.   

Pennsylvania was fully locked down until the day we moved away at the end of June, so this little reprieve in May was EXACTLY what we all needed.    

In addition to being schoolmates for the last 8 years, Adam and Ellie are also close friends.  

We did it!!! 

It was so fun to see Adam spend time with his fellow graduates and friends from our homeschooling co-op in Virginia.

Here are a few more pictures from the conference....

His graduation was as validating for me, as a homeschooling parent, as it was for him, a homeschooling student.   It really was a day to celebrate for all of us!  

On the way home, we stopped at New River Gorge National Park...

We went on a hike and soaked in the glorious views...

 

It was a wonderful way to end a wonderful few days!   And then it was time to get back home to packing and moving again.