Dress Shopping With A Teen

Next Saturday is Hannah's Civil Air Patrol Banquet.

Her first ever formal dance.

And she needs a dress, and that's where the fun begins.

Hannah wants a dress like this...

and I'm like

ummmmmm. NO.

I want a dress like this...

and she's like

ummmmmm NO.

Then we will need to find shoes, and a bag, and jewelry.

My credit card is already crying.

Wish us luck. 

hahahaha

Be blessed,

Debbi

Homeschool Monday - Cadet Airman 1st Class Huntington!

Many homeschool families take the summer off, but we decided to just scale back a bit.

We're sneaking in some "learning" with the fun of our local Civil Air Patrol.

Last fall we allowed Hannah to join CAPs so she would have opportunities to not only get out and meet new people, but to learn self-discipline. You can read about it here...on our Homeschool Daze page.  Well, we are so proud that she has promoted twice already, and is on her way to getting her rocketry badge.  Last Thursday she promoted again to Cadet Airman 1st Class, 

and because she had participated in robotics before, they put her in charge of leading the teams to build some robots last week.  She got frustrated trying to get the older cadets to listen to her, but overall she did great.

That was Thursday, then on Friday they mustered out to Camp Butner for summer encampment...

FOR 10 WHOLE DAYS!

She's taking classes in Wilderness First Aid, and she will receive training on gun safety, and shooting an M-13.  She flopped back and forth between excitement and terror for the past 3 weeks, but she went....

that's Hannah marching wearing the red glasses.

I got a call from her early this morning....crying and ready to quit.  :(

After she calmed down we talked and she told me how she had her first flight yesterday, and even got the chance to control the plane.  I reminded her that the first few days would be the hardest, and now the rest of the week will fly by...between flying and first aid and the rifle range, before she knows it...it will be Sunday, and graduation.

I have to tell you, encouraging her to stay was soooo hard!  I was ready to jump in my car, in my pajamas, to go get her and wrap her in my arms and just protect her from the hard parts of life.  But I know that this will ultimately be good for her.  For her self-esteem, self-discipline, and independence.  Our dream for our daughter is that she becomes a leader, not a follower.

Enjoy the video of her promotion....and if you have children, homeschooled or not, consider enrolling them in ROTC or The Civil Air Patrol.  You will not regret it.

Be blessed,

Debbi

Homeschool Monday - Socialization and The Civil Air Patrol

Like every other homeschooling parent out there, I hear, a lot, that my child needs to socialize.  

Well, it was the lack of social skills from her peers that caused us to remove her from the public school system and homeschool her in the first place.  I'm sure everyone has a bully store, and probably more than one story.  In order for our child to learn good social skills, we involve her in all sorts of activities with people of all ages.  We have a teen group that gets together fairly often for fun and some community service.  She has a few friends that we make the effort to spend time with (that's how you know someone is really a friend, they make time in their life to see you).  She is involved in our church, and attends our Tuesday Morning prayer meeting (which means she gets to see all her "grandparents" lol).  This past Saturday she volunteered at the homeless shelter with our church, and she helps with the younger children during church.  

And now, she has joined The Civil Air Patrol...and is absolutely loving it!

She has made new friends there, from the ages of 13 all the way to early 20's.  The kids are great, and the parents are all involved.   One thing I have noticed with almost every homeschooled child I have ever met, they all know how to carry on a full and interesting conversations, with other kids, and with adults.  So if anyone asks you about socialization...you have much more to offer your child then you might think, things they will never learn in a public school setting.

Tell me, how many of you homeschool, or have thought about it?

Be blessed,

Debbi