OUR SON GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL LAST WEEK....WHO KNEW?!

Many people believe that homeschooling families stop homeschooling when their children reach High School age. They believe this because "Everyone knows" that if we don't enroll our children into an "accredited" school then they will not have high school credits logged onto their "permanent records." Oh my! (snicker) What's more is that we will not have a choice to enter them into the 10th grade or 11th or 12th because they "need" to have credits logged or the schools will not accept them!! Good Gravy!! Sakes Alive! (rofl)

Truth: Some public schools will not accept high school, homeschool credits. There are Many schools both in person and online that WILL accept homeschool credits and allow students to graduate their senior year with an accredited diploma if, for some reason, the family feels the need to forgo a perfectly legal, acceptable and REAL homeschool diploma.

For those of us who do not feel the need to follow the same road that the vast herd is following however, we hop over to that narrow road where we homeschool all the way through High School. We take the road less traveled and sing along the way. (Some of us whistle)

Sometimes, when walking a road less traveled, we bump into things that the ordinary Joe has never seen. Sometimes we experience an out of the ordinary life altering taste of the world that makes us smile and yes, even laugh at the normalcy we have escaped. We run...WE RUN...to find a living soul that will listen to our experience. We SPRINT to tell all we know so that others can wake up, feel, taste, and ENJOY the NEW WORLD we have discovered!

I sit here, panting. I've run to find you! Excuse me, I need to catch my breath! Will you sit with me? Listen to this that I have found.

Something very odd happened on my narrow road last week. I was walking the path, minding my family, when I stumbled upon a college door and opened it. Going about my motherly duties I entered the college counselors office with my 16 year old son at my side. He, traveling his own narrow road, met me at the intersection and sat with me to listen. Since his 14th year of life, he's attended college classes, you see. He has been experiencing all there is to offer on his journey. This, however, was a new sight to behold and the joy is that we got to experience it together. We both wondered what could be so new that we were called into the counselors office after all this time.

Then the college counselor spoke...

"Kazz, you need to declare a major. You will be graduating next year."

I sat upright. "He is not graduated from High School yet!" I said, from the depths of my still brainwashed soul.

She turned to look at her computer screen, then turned to me and said,

"He's on the Dean's List."

My thoughts raced. I didn't understand. 'What does that have to do with anything? WHAT does that have to go with ANYTHING AT ALL?! What is she saying? I'm lost. I 'm lost on my path. The weeds and brush are too high to see over. I can't get through! Where's that dog gone machete!?'

She turned to Kazz as I faltered in my mind. She asked, "Kazz, What is your major?"

I could hear my son. My young, narrow road traveling son, sat upright, looked her in the eye and said, "I'm a business major."

Without Pomp or Circumstance, and with only a few strokes of the counselors keyboard, one of my children, My First Baby, is graduated from High School. He is no longer a school aged boy. He has his college ID, his driving license and his name placed on the Dean's List. His name, unknown to any of us, was on that list when he was Fifteen.

As we walked out of the college, the machete had done it's job. I could see the path clearly. In an instant, I understood completely what the counselor was trying to say to me. She too was trying to cut through the weeds and brush that blocked my path.

Do you see it?

"He's on the Dean's List" paraphrased means...

"You have finished what you started, my friend. He has arrived."

Can't I have just a few more homeschooling steps? I'm not quite ready to head to the next phase of his life....of my life.