Graduation!

 Good morning blog friends!  I am back from vacation and will blog about that the rest of the week.  But before that, today I am sharing highlights from my daughter's high school graduation.

I may have mentioned this before, but my oldest daughter was homeschooled through 12th grade and my youngest entered public school at 9th grade, but both of their graduations took place at the same church, which was special.  

This girl graduated with lots of cords and honors.  

Family picture

Me and my baby girl

Sisters

So gratefu to have both set of grandparents in attendance.

And my sister came too!

Congratulations Brook!

Graduation was at 9am that morning.  Afterwards, we came home for a quick lunch and headed to the airport because we had a 3pm flight the same day to Miami.

We made it to our connection in Atlanta & then Ubered to our hotel in Miami for the night.

It was a long, but good day and the next day, we boarded our cruise ship! The rest of the week will be cruise re-cap.

Hope you all had a good long weekend!

Senior Year / Graduation

Happy Friday!  

This is a favorite, although it is a belated favorite from last month.

Isabella had a busy month of attending graduation parties and events.

There was a senior banquet at our church for the seniors.  Here is a picture of the girls with some of their leaders too:

The next weekend, was graduation!

My sister in law came with her kids, and this is Isabella with her youngest cousin.

Father and daughter

Grandparents

Family photo

Our graduate

Sisters

Aunt Sara

Grandparents

We talked about afterwards what a blessing it was for Isabella to have all 4 grandparents at her high school graduation.  That was a special treat.

It was a long ceremony, but a good day.

Now on to college prep!

First Day of School ~ A week late :)

Last Monday was a big day for our family.....especially our youngest daughter.  

As some of you know, I have been a homeschool mom to my girls for most of their education.  When we lived in Bogota, Colombia, they did attend school there for the first time.  Isabella attended there for 1 1/2 years and Brook attended for 1 year.  When we returned to the United States, we also returned to homeschooling.  It was familiar and honestly, the easiest option for our family.  We have loved the flexibility homeschooling has allowed our family.  I am so thankful for it, even though I wasn't the greatest by any means.  And I am not so sure how well I taught them many days, but I am hoping they have learned something in spite of all my weaknesses!  Now that I have returned back to work, occasionally I think had I stayed in my position, I would have a lot more vacation and higher pay now.  That thought is quickly fleeting though because then I remember all the time I have had with my girls.  I am truly blessed and thankful.  I would not have had it any other way and all the sacrifices have been worth it.  I will never regret a day home with my girls.  

This is the girls when they use to attend a homeschool co-op every week.

Here are the girls on the first day of school in Colombia.

Now that my girls are a little older, I see the time flying by so fast with them.  I sure miss those younger days.  I do love time with them now, but I miss the hugs and snuggles and simplicity of so much.  Before I go on and on reminiscing, back to last Monday and this blog post!!

Brook, our youngest daughter, began public high school last Monday!  This was her first experience of school in the USA.  Overall, she had a really good week and now to do it all over again....and again....and again.   She is still adjusting to the schedule of going to bed and waking up earlier, the schedule of finding her classes, homework, teachers and meeting new people.  It is a lot, but she has gone with confidence and we are so proud of her.  This is a family effort of helping her get ready and to and from school each day.  We are praying for her and her teachers and hope it's a great school year!

We spent time organizing binders and supplies the night before school.

I dropped her off and she walked away with confidence and I drove off with tears.

In a blink of an eye, we went from homeschooling at the kitchen table..... 

to the first day of high school. 

Coming up in a few weeks will be a post on how my oldest is beginning her senior year!  Mommas, enjoy those days at home with the kids.

ECA Fundraiser

We had the opportunity last week to host some friends from Bogota.

My friend, Lauren, and I walking on Beale Street.

We also went to the Civil Rights Museum.

Our friends were hosting a fundraising dinner for El Camino Academy.

Isabella did a great job speaking!

We ended their visit with a visit to the local donut shop.

We loved having friends we met there visit us at our home in Memphis & to catch up on life in Bogota.  We are so, so thankful for these friendships God provided for us while we were living outside the country.

Subbing

I have survived my first few days a substitute teacher.  I have had mostly 4th grade over the course of 3 days.  They have been rough at several times, but I haven't left frazzled at the end of the day or not wanting to come back.  I will say, my respect for teachers has grown, especially teaching at schools in harder neighborhoods.  The day-to-day of teaching these kids, many with troubled home life & the paperwork on top of the classroom time must be exhausting.  So, you've heard it before, but now I will remind you, go thank a teacher!!

Back to School!

Yesterday was the official first full day back to school for Isabella and Brook.

Isabella began her sophomore year in high school yesterday.  How can this be??  It seems like yesterday when I began homeschooling her kindergarten.  She had a good first day back, almost like she never left :).  She was out the door at 6:20 for her bus pick up and arrived home at 3:50.  So she is gone 10 1/2 hours every day.  Then, she had homework in geometry, read a chapter of a book...in Spanish, and read and answered questions in Biology.  The teachers don't waste anytime with homework! 

Brook began her 1st day of 7th grade yesterday at the Bridges academy, aka, homeschool.  Brook decided in the spring she wanted to be homeschooled again, and we all quickly decided this was the right choice.  She hasn't changed her mind at any point.  She actually didn't feel too great Sunday night and woke up with quite a bit congestion Monday morning, so even if she weren't homeschooled, she would have probably stayed home the first day of school.  She had a good day back for the most part.  It will take a few days to get back in a routine of school at home, but she stayed pretty busy today doing school from 9-2:45, with a lunch break.   

This is the lesson plans we are tackling with Brook this week.

Since we missed the awards ceremony at the end of school in May (we left early and came on to the states), the girls received their awards last week.  

Brook received an extra recognition for being an alumni of the school and also a certificate for reading 35 books last school year.

In spite of Isabella's homework, our family went to Crepes and Waffles for dinner (Isabella's choice) for our back-to-school dinner.

We have a team meeting today, so Brook will go with us and do school work there, so we are already being flexible with this schedule.  

Day 2, here we come!!