Jack is leaving. My heart is full of emotions, none of which come out well in words, all of which threaten to bring me to tears at any moment. I will miss him so much. I am so glad he’ll be testing out his fiery independent streak on someone else. I don’t want anyone to be unkind to him. I want someone to put him in his place. It feels so very wrong. It feels so very right. I have heaved big ugly sobs for a week now, and still, the well of my motherhood keeps pushing up new, harder feelings with which to grapple.
Jack
End of the Year Report
The official school year is over. Tennessee is a state whose laws require homeschool families report to either an umbrella school of their local school district; it’s an added wrinkle, but not one that has much bearing on our days. It does have one perk, however; I judge the end of the homeschool year by the day I turn in my final grades and click the “180 days of instruction completed” box.
Trust Them
Jack was sworn in to the Air National Guard Friday. At 17, he has taken a massive step into adulthood, and begun to chart his path forward.
On Manhood
You probably haven’t noticed (because hey, we have a lot of kids) but Jack has been missing most of this summer. He’s been in our hearts, he’s been on our minds… but he has rarely been in our actual midst. The reason is simple: Jack has spent the bulk of his summer throwing himself headlong into the things he loves best. In other words, Civil Air Patrol, and all that it entails.
Everything
You were always a little different. Always going in your own direction. One of my favorite memories of you as a toddler is of watching you paint alongside your 7 year-old sister and 4 year-old brother. They had each started in the center of their blank pages, using just the tips of their brushes to craft bulbous, two-dimensional animals— perfectly age appropriate representations, perfectly expected results when kids put on their artist hats. But not you. At two, you had sat and chewed your lip for a moment, considering. And then, when the idea had come into your head (apparently fully formed) you began. Fat lines, thin ones, colors mixing, all corners of the paper splattered and streaked and alive. For forty minutes, you focused and worked on that one, single sheet.
Do Hard Things
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The book Do Hard Things is required reading in our house. While I don’t hold to every view expressed in its pages, the main message is one that our family embraces: forget easy, focus on right.
The Call of Duty: To Lead By Example
I’ve been spending the week serving as a second lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) during the Tennessee Wing’s annual cadet encampment.
I’m here mainly because Jack is attending, but it’s giving me a chance to meet new people and gain a better underestimating of what CAP is about when it comes to the youth who participate.
Missing Grandpa Jack on Memorial Day
For longer than I can remember I made an annual phone call to my Grandpa Jack every Memorial Day.
How I Supplement Sonlight for My High Schooler
Jack is wrapping up the tenth grade, which means that we’re entering the window of “make it or break it” for pumping up test scores, curating the perfect transcript, and impressing admissions officers.
So what are we doing to ensure that Jack has the best possible chance at those scholarship dollars? How are we giving him the edge that will translate into more bang for his buck in the college entrance race?
Have Sonlight, Will Travel
It was Sonlight C that introduced Jack to missions thirteen years ago. I still remember reading through the selections in Window on the World that year with my two little “official” homeschoolers on either side of me on the couch, and three year-old Jack squirming in my lap trying to get the best view of the maps. His earliest years were spent immersed in Missionary Stories with the Millers, Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma, Catching Their Talk in a Box, and other stories chronicling the spread of the Gospel.