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["SISU!" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

tonitime AT juno.com wrote:

> Hearty Congrats to your boy and all of you, Bev! Oh how it makes my 
> heart sing to hear of your story.


Thanks!

 As an  HSing
> Mom, i so appreciate hearing of such successes.

TJ was public schooled until the 7th grade when he started to have
problems-behavior problems-associated with his ADD.  We couldn't afford
private school or military school, so homeschool was our only other
option.  It became a done deal after parent teacher conference 5 zillion
+ one when his 'gifted' teachers suggested I homeschool.  They just
couldn't challenge him enough to keep him out of trouble. He did NOT
want that at the time, so it wasn't pleasant at first.  I used an
eclectic approach, mostly college level courses I pulled offline, but
soon realized that unschooling was more suited to TJ than what I had
originally envisioned.  On his own, he ended up choosing almost a
traditional kind of education-reading, testing himself, etc. and by the
end of the second year, he enjoyed his freedom to pursue his own
interests. learning to weld, learning CAD, learning, learning, learning.
 Year three brought even more success, so we were really surprised when
he up and decided one day that he might like to try to return to public
school.  I had seen the changes in him, and was afraid that back in a ps
environment, he would yet again lose the love of learning and begin to
flounder, even if behavior-wise he did well.  I suppose by that time, he
had learned a lot about himself, and basically I just had to learn to
let go and to trust his own decision making skills.  THAT is very hard,
especially with an ADD son.  We reluctantly allowed him to return to
public school, and he skipped a grade going back in.  They wanted him to
skip 2 grades and re-enter as a senior, but as you know, ADD kids are
usually emotionally immature, and I didn't think he was ready for that,
so we put him back in as a junior instead of as a sophomore(where he
would have been if not homeschooled) or a senior(where they wanted to
put him), and although he struggled a bit with the structure, he finally
managed to adjust and graduated a year early, 2 weeks after turning 17
years old.  Throughout the last couple of years in the Navy, he has
perennially been the youngest....the youngest at boot camp, the youngest
at A school, the youngest in Power school, the youngest at prototype,
etc....I think FINALLY, his emotional age has caught up with his actual
age.  He may have been 17 when he went into the Navy, but really, he was
more like 14...SCARY. The Navy, however, has a way of making a man out
of a boy. :)

> When we moved from Sacramento to our ol' Kentucky stead waaaay out in
>  the sticks, we chose that route ourselves.  Always, i wondered if it
>  would be okay, tho knew it was the only way to  do our sort of 
> educating after moving to Appalachia.  The kids came from a 
> background of Public Waldorf methods - which is an alien concept back
>  here!  Our 18 yr. old DH took her college testing once ( other try 
> canceled for snowstorm!) and aced it, too.  We had not chosen to test
>  the girls in 6 yrs., tho they did the Princeton ACT and SAT course 
> on their puter.  Now, our Rose leaves in about 4 weeks for a full 4 
> yr. scholarship to Berea College - a place where this great kid will
>  continue to shine ( wethinks!).

Congrats!  It sounds like your kids, too, have a bright future.  That is
really all we can ask for....what an exciting time...they have their
whole lives ahead of them, and have experienced multiple lifestyles so
that they know there are alternatives out there.  Many kids grow up
knowing only one lifestyle-our kids are fortunate to see several.


> Toni ~  Eastern Kentucky (and so deep in harvest processing and Fall 
> planting that i can't think toooo welll due to canner's brain!)

LOL!  I know that one!  I picked blueberries all morning, tomatoes last
evening and today I've been canning diced tomatoes all day!  I just took
the last 6 pints out of the canner...now I am trying to cool the kitchen
off again...lol....
What have you been canning?

Bev


--
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm      NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W