Entries tagged with franklin

A day of end-of-the-year presentations by teens in the Diploma program. (I'm on the committee, and have been for at least 6 years, and I think 7.) This was an excellent group of kids, over all. Prepared, and knowledgeable. We have two days of these, 9 kids in all. They give their presentation (3-5 mins. on a topic of their choice), then we give feedback on that, and on the packet of written things they gave us two weeks ago.

( details you might find uninteresting if you're not into homeschooling or education )

Altho he doesn't have to (having already fulfilled all the required things), Thomas is taking advantage of the committee being "in session" to give his presentation of his Senior project. He needs every opportunity to practice those communication skills. And presenting a scientific, calculus-based project about gravity to lay people will be quite the challenge. I'm especially excited because this year for the first time, we have a business owner, who regularly speaks in public and puts together proposals and such, on the committee. His insights have been fresh and educational for some of us committee members as well as the kids. And he knows how to give good criticism. He makes it clear what you need to improve on, but leaves you feeling like yes! I can improve on it.

I don't know if I will continue on the committee since both of mine will be gone. I do enjoy it, and love helping the kids to improve. But, on the other hand, maybe they need someone fresher. Maybe I need something new. Very mixed feelings.

I just need to decide what I want to be, now that my kids are all grown up, and I have to figure out how to fill the NEXT 45 years.

Thomas and I got up while it was still dark to drive to the Birmingham Art Museum. One of the other moms from Franklin School set up a high school field trip and got us a discount ticket to the special exhibit from Pompeii. She also set up an afternoon tour with a docent of some other art, but we couldn't stay for that because of violin lessons. So we just got to do the Pompeii part, but it was definitely worth it!

First we stopped at Mat and Rhiannon's to say "Hi" to Mat and get Rhiannon to come with us. It was great to have Rhiannon with us. I miss her too, not just Mat. It was good to spend the day with her. She sees things that others miss, so it's really fun to do things like museums with her. She and Thomas are probably two of the top ten most interesting people I know. So it was a great morning.

We lingered at all the pieces and exhibits. We were still only about 2/3 of the way through when someone back-tracked to tell us that the rest of the group was already in the cafe eating. Rhiannon and I just looked at each other like -- "what fools! here you are, with your one chance to study treasures from across time and the ocean, and you rush through to lunch." So we just finished the exhibit with only a few minutes left to grab a postcard from the gift shop and view a room of Asian art before we had to leave. And we stayed until the very last possible second.

In fact, we had to just dump poor Rhiannon out on the street in front of the apartment so we could grab Thomas some eat-in-the-car pizza, and get back in time for violin.

By evening our feet really hurt, and I was too exhausted for anything but I wouldn't have missed any second of the whole day for anything.

Working day

Pompeii