The End is Approaching Fast!!

We have been homeschooling for the past 20 years…

All of a sudden, it is coming to an end…

We are setting up for a Senior Photo Shoot…for the last time…

My youngest will have her Senior Pictures taken which will be followed by the challenging task of selecting our ultimate favorites for printing and sharing….for the last time…

Not so long ago, I had wondered if we’d ever get done with the homeschooling journey.  I wondered if we’d survive.  I worried that I was failing as a homeschooling mom and that I was ruining my children’s chances of success.  These past few months, the re-occurring thoughts have been…How did we get here so fast?!?!  We are in our final semester! The finish line is within sight…How is that possible?!?!  There have been several things that we have done in preparing and working through this final Senior year…Lesson plans were completed last summer; Senior Planning Meeting was conducted last month; Senior Pictures tomorrow…all for the last time!!!  This is proving to be VERY emotional!!

If you have ever wondered whether or not you will ever get done with homeschooling…Trust me when I say, you will!  And that day will arrive all too soon…enjoy this time you have!!

(While I may be a little down emotionally right now, this is not to say that I am depressed.  My hope does come from God. I know that even though this particular chapter of our life is coming to an end, He is already working on the next chapter.  I’ve seen the preview and it looks exciting!!)

Another year begins….

Once again, plans are underway for another school year to being. Lots of time and research has gone into pulling everything together for this next year. However, this time around there is a HUGE difference…

This will be our LAST year to homeschool!!  When this next year comes to a close, we will have graduated all three of our children at home!!  Unbelievable!!

Over these past couple of months, I have had moments of reality that this day was coming.  It started when my second born child graduated last year and continued throughout these summer months while preparing for the up-coming school year.  It REALLY hit me, though, after I had completed all the planning, looked over everything that we pulled together for this next school year.  Seeing all that came with the realization that I just finished making preparations for our final year of school!  It hit me so hard that I had to sit down and breathe for a bit…this was quickly followed up by tears…Thankfully, they were tears of gratitude and not those of sadness!!

I am so grateful that God has carried us through these past 20 years of homeschooling!!  So grateful for the honor and privilege of getting to take this journey with my children!!  So very grateful that God has already laid out a plan for me to continue once these chapters of our homeschooling years are complete.  (For more information about that, check out my other blog: Journey to the RN Program)

My purpose for sharing all this?  I hope that this will prove to bring some encouragement (we all need that, right?!?!)  This homeschooling through high school thing really can work!  It is amazing what can be accomplished with and through God’s Grace.  When He is allowed to run the show, amazing things can happen!! 

If someone had told me, way back when we were starting our first year of homeschool with my oldest child…that we would, not only be homeschooling for next 2 decades, but that all of our children would be graduating at home, I think I would have run away screaming!  I would have been completely overwhelmed!  Thankfully, I was taught from the very beginning to simply take it one year  at a time.  By the time we reached the high school years, homeschooling had become such a way of life for us that it was natural to continue on.  Not only that, but each one of my children actually *wanted* to complete their high school years at home!  What a gift!!

It hasn’t always been easy or pleasant.  And I certainly haven’t felt confident in my ability to do this.  However, God has shown that whatever I am lacking in, He provides a way.  He has always provided and guided us…AND it works beautifully…especially when I cooperate!!   

Blessings upon your upcoming school year and upon your family!!

Enjoy the journey…it goes by SO fast!!

Official High School Transcript

Part of being a home educator means also working towards keeping accurate (and official) records for our children.  We have discovered that our children needed a high school transcript, not only for college admission, but also for auto insurance and scholarship applications.

When my oldest was working her way thru the high school years, I waited till she was entering her senior year before I ever research this topic.  I found that I never want to wait until the senior year before I begin to put together a high school transcript!  There is enough pressure as it is without adding this onto it as well…needless to say, once my other children completed their freshman year, I got to work!!

I wanted to share with you a valuable resource that I found to be most helpful when working on their transcripts.  Check out HSLDA’s website. You will see Sample Transcripts (word and .pdf files).  There is a variety to choose from depending upon the look you want as well as what information you want to include on it.  I was able to download the ‘Blank Form’ and fill in the blanks.  This made this process so much easier!!

Here is a link to the website:

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/academics.asp#transcripts

(Note:  If you are choosing to back-up all school records in a safe, secure place–be sure to include all transcripts.  I just went thru this process to help guard against losing this information to *natural disasters*…) 😀

Enjoy the journey…