Last first day

During the month of July I was working feverishly confirming enrollments, checking graduation requirements, and ordering curriculum.  Our school year usually runs from July or August till March or April.  Sometimes we get a late start because of a delay getting our materials from the US.  This year we got started on August 1st.  A few days before the first day, Alyssa made one of those simple statements that ends up hitting you like a ton of bricks.  "This will be my last "first day".  I hadn't been thinking of it in those terms, maybe I was in one of those denial modes, but I realized she was right.  This is 12th grade, a Senior, the last "first day".  Of course there will be other first days, but this one is significant.  This will be the last "first day" studying at home.  The last "first day" that they all are in school together.  I have taught her at home since the first day when I, in my eagerness, started Alyssa in kindergarten at 4.  It's not always been easy.  There have been days when I wanted to quit, and days when they wanted to quit!  But I wouldn't trade it.  Anytime when we threw around the idea of enrolling the kids in a school for a year or two, I was the one who dug in my heels.  I didn't want to give up this unique opportunity. Not everyone is blessed with the chance to be able to do what I do.  Recently, Alyssa wrote her name on my hand, and said "There, now when I become famous, you can tell everyone you were the first to get my autograph".  I told her, "Nope, when you become famous, I'm going to tell everyone that I taught you to write"!
I know this year will be bittersweet in many ways.  There are big changes coming for our family.  Lord willing, after this school year, we will take Alyssa to the US and she will enroll in college there. That's a scary sentence to write, for a mother.  For all those of you sending your kids to college this year, imagine if you had to leave them there, knowing you'd fly back overseas soon.  Pray for our family as there are a lot of decisions and arrangements that have to be made in the near future.  For now, we enjoyed our last "first day" together, eating waffles with cherries and whipped cream for breakfast, and working through all the bugs of the first day.

Alyssa - 12th grade

Naomi - 11th grade

Alyssa always tells me, "I know you'll cry Mom..but don't start yet!" So, I'll try not to (much), and I'll try to enjoy every day, the way it should be enjoyed, the last few months of this season, before a new season starts for us.
And here are my students for the 2016-2017 school year

Kara - 2nd grade

Melody - 9th grade

Ethan - 7th grade