My Owl arrived...

I am happy  to announce that I am officially back in graduate school. To reference Harry Potter, my owls arrived these last few days and I was so pleased to read that I was accepted to the graduate school program that I had hoped to get into...ULM.

I'm thinking of this as my early 40th birthday present to myself...or my version of an academic midlife crisis. LOL.

ULM is Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe. They have a new MA in History program available, online, and one look at the class list that would be before me and I was in love and knew which school I wanted to work with to pursue this degree. It was so tempting to be a SunDevil (ASU) and go in person to Tempe's beautiful campus instead of a warhawk (ULM) for this endeavor, but an in-person tract at ASU at this time would have meant time away from the kids and I felt that particular personal cost was more than I was willing to pay (and I can always become a sundevil in 2014 in person if I still desire more. ;-)

My husband just read that last line over my shoulder and said "there might be more?"

I think it is important to never stop learning. I think it is important that while we grow and change and work on becoming the best version of ourselves that we always keep our biggest priorities paramount in our minds. For me, that is doing an online MA this time around instead of an in person one like I did when I was getting my speech pathology degree.

Someone once asked me right after I graduated from SIU in '95 with my speech path degree. if I thought I would ever go back for more college. I distinctly remember saying something along the lines of "NO WAY"...

Of course, this new endeavor means my schedule is getting ready to go all James Franco...where I initially thought I was going to start with only 3, maybe 6, but probably 3 credit hours, it  looks like this semester willactually find me taking 10.  And of course, homeschooling and I'm still leader of the daisy/brownie troop. Well, that's okay...sleep is over-rated.

I will be making many sacrifices, but I am setting a great example.

As excited as I am for my own new academic path, I am still more excited for what this new school year holds for my own kids. The boys are 6th grade age and puberty is fast approaching. Audrey is starting second grade and Charlotte, kindergarten. I remember all of those grades well. Kindergarten was exciting and in second grade I survived a terrible short as a boy's haircut that my dad "thought was a good idea at the time" and 6th grade meant  lamenting the idea that the next school year would mean I would officially have to go to the new Junior High (which turned out was not so bad). Funny, I just realized my boys are the exact age that Harry was when he got his first owl to Hogwarts...

This time goes so fast...I feel good about my decision to pick a program where I am not missing any of it.

 One of the things I hold the most dear about homeschooling, besides the time it gives me with the kids,  is the chance it gives my children to be children longer. There is still time during the day to read "Anne of Green Gables" or check on our fairy gardens. Afternoon lessons more often than not are concluded with having a spot of tea and this seems to be one of the girls favorite parts. A part I will have to make sure continues into the new harder grad school schedule.

I am writing lesson plans but what I am making is memories.

What are you making? in your homeschool? your life? Do you need some encouragement? A cheerleader? A push?  my email is always open. homeschoolfam@gmail.com We are all in this together.

Blessings,