Growth

Our oldest daughter was graduating from high school last weekend. I was holding her cap with the tassel while she brushed her teeth and made final preparations to walk out the door to the ceremony. I set it down for a second and - it just hit me: our baby was graduating!

Brag Blog - Part B

So I thought my last post would sum up the end of the school year - Ha!

Since I wrote that last post...

K passed all sections (scoring Advanced or Accelerated) of the OGT, meaning she is eligible to graduate from high school now. She won't have to retake any sections of the test, she just has to put in the time and earn credit hours for the next 2 years. That's a good feeling!

D was selected for a P.R.I.D.E. Award. (People, Respect, Involvement, Dedication, Education). The teachers nominate students for this award. Her nomination said she was selected for this award because she is hard-working, has insightful ideas, is an outstanding writer, is a nice person and a good friend. It ended with, "You are sweet and scholarly...what more can I ask!" We are proud of our PRIDE student!

Still not done though...

One of D's artwork pieces that was part of the Celebration of the Arts last month was selected to be framed and displayed permanently at the school! Only 4 pieces were chosen this year!

And finally...

The letter arrived last week saying K was accepted into the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir! Over 600 high school kids from all around the state applied and they selected 200 for the choir. K will spend 18 days living in a dorm at the fairgrounds and singing 4-6 concerts each day of the fair. If you're planning on going later this summer, you'll have to try to catch one of their concerts. They are an awesome choir, she's going to make lots of new friends, and most importantly it looks great on college applications!

Okay, I think I have come to the end...for now anyway!

Brag Blog

It's hard to believe that this school year is ending in just a few days. Almost seems like we are on fast-forward sometimes.

Time to pause and take a minute or two (and a deep breath or two) and brag about my girls. End of the school year brings concerts, banquets and ceremonies for the various activities the girls are involved in. Honors and awards came our way once again - but it never gets old, it only makes us prouder.

The various concerts the past two weeks were great - you could tell they had worked hard all year to put on these performances. D's band (she plays the trumpet) played at their Celebration of the Arts and she had 3 art pieces on display as well. K's choirs had a Kaleidoscope concert, a Spring Sing, and finally the Show Choir had a Cabaret with the group dancing and singing show tunes. She even sang a duet from Guys and Dolls (Sue Me) and a solo from Cinderella (In My Own Little Corner).

K was invited to the academic awards ceremony at her school and earned a letter for her school coat for her outstanding GPA. Her drama awards banquet yielded another certificate (their musical "Bye Bye Birdie" this Spring was fantastic!). Then at the VMAs (that's Vocal Music Awards - they even dressed for the "red carpet!") K was presented with a letter for her school coat for her involvement in the vocal music department. So two letters for her coat now, guess we better get it ordered! She is most proud of the letter she earned for music, though her daddy and I are pretty darn happy about the academic one.

Miss D has us busting with pride - she was inducted into National Junior Honor Society! She got the letter saying she was nominated, she wrote her required essay and waited to hear. She is not a patient wait-er either. The school called and told us she had made it, but asked us to keep it a secret from her until the ceremony. It was so hard to keep telling her "Maybe next year" everytime she'd ask if we heard anything yet. The day of the ceremony they kept us parents hiding in the hallway as the students' names were called. And to keep them guessing, they didn't announce them in alphabetical order - then put D as the very last one named! It was quite a moment - she was thrilled (and a bit worried that her signature was so shaky from her nerves when she signed the induction book)! They gave them a medal which she immediately hung prominently in her room when she got home that day.

Looking back at the year, I wish I could rewind and do it all again - it's been a great year!

Spirit of Fire

This past weekend was Homecoming at the high school my daughter attends. As times are evolving, things are becoming more electronic and so much is geared around the internet and social networking, but I’m happy to say that some things haven’t changed at all. Long-standing high school homecoming tradition is alive and well!

The entire week featured various spirit days (dress like your favorite teacher day, “what not to wear” day, green and white day, etc.). As expected, Friday evening was the football game - and as their school’s tradition goes, they lost. Saturday was the dance - boys looking uncomfortable, girls in pretty dresses, corsages, going out to dinner - the whole bit.

But the part that impressed me took place on Thursday. Late afternoon featured a parade consisting of the marching band, guard, ROTC, cheerleaders, football team, homecoming queens and kings, and floats for various school groups and each grade. They paraded through the streets and wound up back at the school parking lot where everyone assembled in a huge circle. With the fire department looking on, the bonfire was lit. You could see the flames from blocks away. The marching band played various school fight songs. It seemed the entire community was there showing their support and cheering on the school.

I always thought these storied bonfires were a small-town tradition or something out of my parents’ high school years. The pep rallies we held in our gym during the school day were nothing to compare with the spirit and tradition I saw that night. I hope it is a tradition they will continue for years to come.

Homework - Help!

I was always a good student, in all subjects. For math, I took all of the college prep classes and passed the necessary math in college. Granted, there was not much of a math requirement for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, but I took what I had to. So I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it. I can balance a checkbook, figure square footage of a room, measure for curtains or for sewing dress hems.

(Reader: imagine a sufficiently ominous/scary music bit for effect here).
Then my daughter came to me with her 7th grade homework. (AAaaagh! Not that!)

I don’t remember there being so many different kinds of numbers: composite, prime, whole, rational, real, reciprocal, and integers. When did they come up with all of those? What do you need so many kinds of numbers for? A number is a number! Dividing fractions, common denominators, cube roots – remember how to do those? I don’t! Negative times a negative is a positive, positive times a positive is a positive, negative times a positive is a negative – it’s enough to make your head spin!

Okay, so I sit down and try to drag some recollection from my classes (so long ago!) and begin to try to help her understand the assignment. I think I get it and start to explain it to her.

This is when it really gets good (insert more ominous music here) – she tells me they don’t do it like that anymore!

What? Can they really change HOW you do math? Aren’t there formulas and equations and an order of operations? How do they expect us to help our kids to succeed with their schoolwork if they go and change it all on us? It’s hard enough to remember how we were taught, but to have to learn new ways of computing word problems? No thanks! And I don’t know about you, but how much of that stuff do you actually still use in your day to day life? None! I can honestly say I haven’t had to graph a parabola, or figure out how many apples and oranges Susie and Billy are sharing, or anything about trains leaving stations traveling in opposite directions. Of course this line of reasoning doesn’t go over real big with your kid’s teacher.

I said earlier that I was a good student, I’m a fairly intelligent person. So I do what anyone would do in my situation – I yell to my oldest daughter to come help. She’s in 10th grade, they can’t have changed things in the 3 years since she learned it. Oh, but they can!

I don’t get it (and honestly, I don’t want to), but I have confidence my daughter will - it will just take time. In the meantime, she can call Uncle John who teaches math in high school.

And I’ll tell my daughters that I’m a whiz at English – unless they decide to change it on me.

High School Musings

High school seems like a whole other lifetime to me. I graduated over 25 years ago (now that's a statement that will make you feel old!). I have some good memories from those times, and bad memories too of course (high school girls can be so mean). It's such a short span of years that you spent there when you look back at it.

I signed up for Facebook recently, just to look at a friends' photos on her profile. I started looking around the FB site a little and discovered a few old friends from high school that I hadn't talked to in years. I've added them as friends now on FB and re-connected with them, and discovered that two of them have actually gotten together after all these years and are now engaged.

Then at a friends' house this weekend, she introduced me to their new neighbor. Amazingly, we had gone to high school together - I recognized her right away, after sooo many years. Though we hadn't been close back in those days, we did have some mutual friends. We spent some time reminiscing and talking about who ended up with who, the class couple that actually got married and are still together, all our old friends and what they're doing now.

Hopefully as my daughters go through their high school years I can offer some insight. Those years have an impact, but the dramas and relationships are easily forgotten over the years. Though it may be hard to believe now, any tragedies experienced - no matter how big or small - will recede from memory as they grow older. The friendships can continue through the various stages of life, but it will take effort. The boys that break their hearts are just stepping stones along the way to finding "the one." Things that happen now, friends and enemies they make in high school - they all help make you who you are, but they don't define you. Enjoy every minute of it - the good and the bad.

Change is good

We were set on the idea that our daughters would go to parochial school. They were enrolled in a small, local pre-k thru 8th-grade private Catholic school beginning at age 4 for both of them. Looking back now, we don't regret them attending there - it was a good foundation to begin their education. The Christian values that were instilled in them at that young age are a big part of who they are today. However...

When the tuition was increased by over 50% in the course of two years, we felt it was time to analyze the situation - were we getting our money's worth? Were we happy with the education they were getting? After much discussion and observation, we realized there were a couple of problematic areas for us at the private school, the main one being how everyone was treated exactly the same - which may sound like a good thing, but... there was no enrichment, no honor roll, everyone was expected to do everything adequately - not to excel at anything. Essentially, students weren't pushed to strive for anything above mediocrity.

So we made the switch, and were second-guessing ourselves at first. But then... we saw the proof that we made the right decision.

(Prepare for the bragging to begin...)

D started 5th grade at a public intermediate school - only 5th and 6th graders, but there were about 1500 students in the building (big jump from the 250 total students they were used to). It was a fairly new building - bright, colorful, air-conditioned, and had a great computer lab, library, music room, art room, etc. - far exceeding the facilities at the old private school. The first week there, she was elected to student council. Friends were made and she loved her teachers. When grade cards came home - all A's. These were the first A's we'd seen since at the Catholic school they used the +, check, and - grading system (which is awful in my opinion). Then her classes went on a learning field trip to Exchange City and D's classmates voted her as the mayor for the day. The A's continued. At the end of 5th grade at an assembly with the parents, she was chosen by her teacher as the model student of their class. Sixth grade continued in the same manner - she was elected for student council again and made honor roll every grading period. She was in the choir and she started playing the trumpet and took to it naturally. She memorized 120 places of Pi and won a class prize. And at the end of 6th grade at the assembly with the parents, she was given an award as one of just 9 sixth graders that got straight A's the entire year (that's 9 out of 800 - pretty awesome accomplishment!).

(And the bragging continues...)

K's introduction to public school was at the local middle school as an 8th grader. She was voted as student council rep (she ran every year at the old private school but was never elected). K was in the choir and selected for solos/duets, she made the Power of the Pen team (competitive creative writing), and was chosen by one of her teachers to receive a Pride Award for her positive attitude and leadership. She eagerly gave up her afternoons in the Spring to be a track statistician. Even with her busy schedule, K still managed to make honor roll every report card. Freshman year at high school saw more of the same - she joined the yearbook staff and Pencil Dust (the creative writing magazine). She was in the choir and each performance had a solo/duet. In the Fall, in order to go to all of the away football games, she volunteered to be the water girl for the varsity football team. She got to ride the bus with the sports med staff and got to watch each game from the sidelines. (And as a bonus she got to be around the upperclass football players!) If you know K, then you know how much she likes to perform - she auditioned for the Fall play and got a part with a monologue. She auditioned for the winter muscial and got a role in "Once Upon a Mattress," so she got to dance and sing - all while wearing a pretty princess dress and crown (a dream come true)! In the Spring she auditioned again and got a role in a one act play. All this stage time, as well as Saturdays that she gave her time to paint the set and props, earned her an invitation to join the International Thespian Society. You'd think all that would be enough, yet she still offered her time to the track coach back at the middle school and went to their meets and kept stats for them again. And her grades? Honor roll of course.

Currently, K is in her sophomore year of high school (for details on her schedule, see my earlier post: Back to Reality). This year D is at the middle school for 7th grade. She is changing classes for the first time and has a locker for the first time. Her schedule includes classes with 8th graders (pre-algebra, language arts, science) as she is in the accelerated classes because of her good grades the previous years. She's in the band playing trumpet again. We'll see what the rest of the year holds for Miss D, but I'm confident she will continue to thrive in public school.

Did we make the right choice? If they had been left in the private school, would they still be stagnant? Would they be satisfied being average? I think its evident that adequate just doesn't cut it for our girls!

Which one are you?

Last night was D's turn to visit her school, get her schedule, find her locker, meet her teachers ... and WORRY. She is a worrier. What if I can't find my classroom? What if I can't get my locker open? What if I break my pencil? What if I don't have anyone to eat lunch with? What if..? what if...? what if? Aaaahhh! Needless to say, it was a bit stressful - for both her and me.
When we got home and I shared the story with her daddy, he asked her to come outside with him where he was grilling our dinner and had a chat with her. He tried telling her how a positive attitude can really make a big difference, but she wasn't quite getting it.
Then, being the good father that he is, he came up with a great analogy. He asked her, "Are you Eeyore? Or are you Tigger?" She completely understood what he was getting at, and thanks to my wonderful husband, overnight she has become the most bounciest tiggeriest Tigger there is and is truly looking forward to the first day of school tomorrow.
Which one are you? Are you Eeyore? Or are you Tigger?
Me? Definitely a Tigger through and through.

Back to reality

We've been home from our camping trip just over 48 hours, and I'm ready for another vacation! Arriving back in town in time for K's schedule pick-up for her sophomore year at high school, she was able to find out her classes and teachers, locate her locker (almost directly across from her "bestest" friend - what could be better) and finally see so many of her friends from school (lots of hugs and screaming all around). As for the Readin' and Writin' - she made the honors block for English and U.S. History (they combine the two classes together for some honor roll students upon the recommendation of their teachers) and she is very proud and excited. For 'Rithmetic, she has Geometry. Rounding out the curriculum courses, she has Chemistry, Health and
Spanish II. She has Symphonic Choir again this year, and in addition, she tried out for and made Show Choir - so now K will be dancing as well as singing. With all of that, she actually doesn't even get a lunch period (we had to sign to give our permission for them to go ahead and schedule it that way). But the choir teacher has given his okay for granola bars and small snacks to be eaten during his 3rd period class for these kids with overflowing schedules. (D has her schedule pick-up on Monday, so I'll provide a rundown of what she has going on next week sometime.) School starts on Wednesday, August 27th, and they can't wait.
That was just the beginning of the running since we've gotten home - both girls have already had friends over, gone to our parish festival at least once (we're going tonight and doing our duty as good parishoners and volunteering a couple of hours), and done a little school shopping. K went to the high school opening football game last night, and a pool party today.
I know we're just getting back into the swing of things, but I can't help but wish I was still sitting in the pool sipping a frosty beverage and looking forward to a nice campfire and s'mores later.