Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Road to College...

Exciting news here...Allison has been officially accepted into three of the seven colleges that she applied to. Two of the colleges are public and one is private. The private college has offered Allison an 8-9 thousand dollar merit scholarship. That happens to be the highest scholarship they offer! Pretty neat! The only bad thing is, that it is really pennies when you consider the actual yearly cost of going there. On the up side, we fill out the FAFSA in January which will also qualify her for more aid directly from the college and maybe just a teeny tiny bit from the government. She'd really like to go to this college, but we'll have to see where we end up after all the money comes in.

In other news, the kids are signed up for the ACT this weekend. Jon, in particular has been working his rump off in hopes that this will be the last general test he'll need to take. He will still be taking the CLEP and the SAT II in Chemistry this coming Jan-Feb and will also be working toward other SAT II's in the future. He wants to go to Cal-tech, so he needs to work hard.

Allison is finishing up her first semester in college this week and also on Monday of next week. She's hopeful that her grades are A's and that she'll really impress those college recruiters. I'm thankful that she has made a quick and painless adjustment into college. When you homeschool someone from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade, it can be a little nerve-wracking to send them off into the unknown. I hoped that I had prepared her to the best of my ability, but really you never know until that first paper or that first math test comes along and they come through it with a good grade and the confidence to continue on. I'm thankful that God's grace has covered all my short-comings and allowed Allison to blossom in college and in real life. Watching her hold down a job, swim on the swimteam, and take three college classes all at once and do well in each area, makes me proud of who she is becoming and the direction that she has chosen to take.

One thing that has impressed me, is that Allison is really considering her future and how she'd like to get there. She'd love to go to the fancy private college, but is also considering staying here for the next two years to get her AA. She's not closing any doors. Instead she's making sure that the decision she makes won't cause her to leave college with major debt. I think that shows a lot of maturity.

One thing I'm looking forward to, is going back and being just an elementary teacher after this year.LOL Jon will take all of his classes at the CC next year and Allison will be a fulltime graduated college student. I'll be back to homeschooling the littles, with a little guidance counselor thrown in for good measure. What a blessing.LOL

Blessings,

Friday, December 04, 2009

Our Annual Christmas Photos...

Yesterday, I decided to take everyone's photo for our Christmas card and the yearly photos of the kids. Allison isn't done designing the card yet, but here are some of the photos...

Genevieve age 7
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Sophia age almost 3
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Isaac age almost 5
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Jonathan age 15 1/2
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Allison age almost 18
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Me with a couple of stinkers...
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Eric and I, not telling how old...
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I'm pretty excited to see the final Christmas design and I'll share once it's complete.

Blessings,