Today is my daughter’s fourteenth birthday. Sometimes, it feels like ‘just the other day’ when she was born. It’s so wonderful to see how much she’s grown and seeing her talents shine. She’s good listener and her friends tend to come to her when they just need to talk. They know she won’t share their information and that she will be honest with them. Lying is big pet peeve of hers, as with me. I pray that she has many more birthdays.
This fall, my daughter and I will be going on a short vacation. It’ll be about two to three days and will land on the days when I don’t work out of the home. I recently picked up an additional job that has me working out of the home for a few days each week. Why? I have long-term goals, which I’d like to cash flow, one which involves relocating in five years.
Initially, I was going to surprise my daughter, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized this would be a perfect opportunity to hand the vacation planning reins over to her and let her choose the place… on a budget. A budget can be as big or as small as you want. In our case it’s fairly small, $500. It will be cash flowed so no hanging debt, just how I like things. I told her the the state, Virginia and she surprised me and told me she would not mind visiting Harpers Ferry. I haven’t been to Harpers Ferry since I was about 14. I love visiting historical sites and am pleased my daughter seemingly shares my enthusiasm. She really enjoyed her class trip to Colonial Williamsburg, VA. She wanted me to attend and so I accompanied her as one of the parent chaperones.
Harpers Ferry is a historical landmark recognizing the last stand of the abolitionist, John Brown.
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry (also known as John Brown’s raid or The raid on Harpers Ferry) was an effort by armed abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown’s party of 22 was defeated by a company of U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Israel Greene. Colonel Robert E. Lee was in overall command of the operation to retake the arsenal. John Brown had originally asked Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, both of whom he had met in his transformative years as an abolitionist in Springfield, Massachusetts, to join him in his raid, but Tubman was prevented by illness, and Douglass declined, as he believed Brown’s plan would fail.
I gave my daughter the details. I wanted the place to be nice and cost under $130 nightly. I wanted to stay in a place that had a kitchen, so a condo or cottage. Having a kitchen means that we can prepare our own meals. I most likely will prepare the meals in advance, so the only thing we have to do is heat the meals and eat! Preparing your own meals, also reduces the cost of what you will spend. It also means the meals will be nutritious and delicious. I love to cook. She accepted the challenge and not only found several places, but a few were under-budget by at least $200! From her list, I did find a location that seemed perfect for us. It had excellent reviews and was owned by a retired couple that have a house on the premises. The cottage where we’d reside used to be home to dairy cows. Don’t worry, it’s doesn’t look like a cow’s home. The couple grows and harvest grapes which they then have processed at a local winery. They also have sheep! As a spinner, you know I’m thrilled. The only drawback is they’re about 20 miles away from Harpers Ferry. My daughter found a few other places also, but this is the one that really jumped out for us. They have a large pond on their property and that was a huge draw for her, also it’s secluded. We both love that. I’ll be following up with the owners very soon.
Outside of family, this will be the first vacation we’ve taken together. We’ve done day trips, but no overnight trips for just the two of us. I’m not counting the school based trips where they were away for a few days or the La Leche League Conference, that I attended with her, when she was only a few months old. We’re both looking forward to this time away and of course we’ll be armed with some portable crafts, excellent walking shoes to check out the historical sites and of course there will be lots of laughter.
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry
Later this year, my daughter will be entering the ninth grade and she will be homeschooled. She approached me about 1.5 years ago and told me it’s what she’d like to do. Her reasoning being she wants to finish school a bit earlier and the freedom to move at her own pace, which tends to be fast. I already knew a lot about homeschooling, but told her to think about it for a year, do some research and if she was still interested, I’d make that happen. She was and so I went through the steps needed to get her registered with an accredited Christian homeschooling program.
Of course, the question I hear most often is socialization. What about that? It’s always nice when people parrot whatever they hear, right? But I don’t say that, I usually laugh and say what about it? What exactly does that mean? How is her socialization going to change? My daughter is quiet but interacts with a small circle of friends as well as others. In fact, her ‘socialization’ is much more well rounded than most her age since she interacts with all age groups based on the various ministries I’m involved with. But back to socialization, she’s still going to continue interacting with old friends and also develop new relationships with others she meets during her homeschooling experience. We became actively engaged in a few local homeschooling communities a little over a year ago.
A few months ago, my daughter told me she wanted to start homeschooling “right away.” I questioned her, but she was firm and gave me her reasons behind that and I support them. Her main reasoning being she’s has never ‘taken off’ in the summer. My daughter has a thirst for knowledge. The beauty of it is, that if she wants to ease up she can since she will be working at her own pace. Earlier this week, I followed up with the school where she’ll be attending, and told them our plans. I registered her towards the end of last year, but then the plan was fall. She’s now a student, just waiting for the full transcripts from her Lutheran school. She’s taking a few weeks off of school and then she’ll be in school. Working during the summer isn’t new to her since I have always had her do ‘mom assignments’ throughout the summer. NO, she doesn’t need a break. She doesn’t take a break from strictly fun activities during the school year, so why should she take a break from education just because she’s out of school? Also, her Lutheran school had summer work assigned to the students. There reasoning was similar to my own. Students within the USA, are lagging behind many other countries. Knowing this, I’ve always made sure that I gave my daughter all the support needed at home and when she’s at school.
“Academic Performance
The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. (The public school average is the 50th percentile; scores range from 1 to 99.) A 2015 study found Black homeschool students to be scoring 23 to 42 percentile points above Black public school students (Ray, 2015).
Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.
Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children’s academic achievement.
Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.
Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.
Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.
Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development (Socialization)
The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.
Homeschool students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work.
Adults who were home educated are more politically tolerant than the public schooled in the limited research done so far.”