Homeschool/Life Update Fall 2021

 It's been a while since I posted about what we are doing in our homeschool. This has been the first summer in a while that I completely backed off of having the kids do lessons. We're just easing back in and sorting out our social schedules after I have spent the last several months in a lot of pain from my kidney stones. 

I've been in survival mode for a long time, and it would feel great to have some more normalcy and routine in these chaotic and frustrating times we are living in. 

I'll just start kid by kid. 

Son #1 is 19 (20 in a few months) and graduated in May 2020. We had a graduation for him with our homeschool group, AAHE. He is currently taking classes on upholstery at the community college and working almost full time at our screenprinting shop. His interests are cosplay, gaming, airsoft, and playing pool with his friends. He wants to start his own upholstery business once he has learned the craft.

Son #2 is 17 (18 in a few months) and a senior homeschooler working through Omnibus 3 from Veritas Press. He's read through the Westminster Confession, Pilgrim's Progress and now in On Plymouth Plantation, and also reads books for our homeschool book club. Noel is taking a guitar class at Gracewood. He works for our screenprinting shop a couple days a week. He is currently playing soccer with our homeschool group. His interests are PC and PS5 gaming, playing and collecting guitars, vintage stereos and listening to music, and shooting airsoft. His career plan is to enroll in fire academy to train to be a firefighter/EMT after he graduates in May. 

Daughter is 15 (16 in Dec.) She is in 10th grade this year, taking photography at Gracewood, and sewing and Fashion Challenge in 4H. She's my free spirit who doesn't do an established curriculum. We also use Outschool classes occasionally. She is playing soccer with our homeschool group. Her interests are PC gaming with her online friends (Valorant, Fortnite, etc), watching anime, decorating her room, her parakeets and cockatiels, listening to music, and fashion/beauty. This year, I am focused on creating and participating lots of social opportunities for her to make new friends. (translates into "LOTS of driving") We joined a new group that we meet with a few times a month just for teen hangout time in her age group. She has talked about cosmetology school and piercing apprenticeship for after she graduates. She's also considered breeding birds.

Son #3 is almost 14, currently in 8th grade. He does courses through Veritas Press and SchoolhouseTeachers.com. He is in the same photography class as his sister, and also playing soccer. He enjoys playing military warfare type video games, hanging out in discord with his friends, collecting and shooting airsoft guns, and learning graphic design. He is thinking about doing graphic design as a career, possibly working for our business. He occasionally works at our shop doing direct to garment printing and helping stack shirts.

Our homeschooling looks very different than in the past. We don't do any combined learning times, or read alouds etc. Everyone works at their own time and pace. I always knew the teen years would be a new challenge, and it is certainly different than homeschooling younger children. None of my kids are in a church group at this time, because it's just hard finding liturgical churches with many younger people. The church we have attended for the last several years doesn't have a single person in their age range, and really, no one in my age group either. I'm thinking of trying a new Anglican church soon, I've been watching their livestream on YouTube most Sundays.

As for me, I am on the board of our homeschool group as sports coordinator. I plan and execute the sports seasons. We just joined 4H again, and I might lead an interior design project in the spring. Our neighborhood 4H club really suffered from the lockdown stuff and is quite small now. I'm working on my business now that I'm not in pain 24/7. Due to the growing problem of shortages in just about every sector, I'm just experimenting with creating wall decor. I can't sell t-shirts because the quality shirts I'm used to printing on are no longer steadily available. 

My interests these days are raising ducks and chickens, growing plants, witnessing the downfall of Western Civilization in real time, researching conspiracy truths (space hoaxes and secret societies being my fave topics), decorating my house with secondhand items, photography, listening to business training for product sellers, rewatching my favorite shows and movies because everything new is usually terrible, camping in my popup camper, and of course, drinking tea. 

Mostly, I am focused on making memories of these ever fleeting childhood years. Last year taught me to not take for granted regular life, and doing fun things with people you care about.