A Week to End All Weeks

This week, there are a lot of events that are meant to close the year out. Kind of ironic, isn't it, that the school year ends just when the earth is opening up to new life and beginnings? We only loosely follow the traditional school calendar, but are happy to join in special events available this time of year.

As I type, the girls are upstairs getting dressed up for a cruise on the Ohio River with area teen homeschoolers. They've gone several years in a row and are very much looking forward to it. Wm and I are planning to frequent the museum at the Falls of the Ohio, a unique fossil area unlike any place in the world. He will enjoy the replica of the mammoth in the lobby, I am guessing. In the past, we've just played in the park, but it is awfully cold here. Thank goodness the boat for the cruise has an indoor area.

On Friday, our county homeschool group is having a "field day". I'm hoping the weather gets better, but we're expecting rain for the next six days.

On Sunday, Lauren will play her Chopin piece in her beautiful red dress. She will be awarded at the recital for having completed the curricula of the Suzuki Piano School and for having completed Level 8 of the Royal American Conservatory Examinations. To complete it, she had to take a practical exam, playing over 7 pieces by heart for an examiner, and this past Saturday, she took a written exam on music theory. I have heard that Level 8 is what some students strive to finish by the end of high school, and yet she is but 14 yo. We plan to go out to eat after for this momentus occasion, a graduation after many, many notes and hours of hard work. She will continue to study with the same teacher.

It is nice to have such special occasions to mark the achievements of the year. We celebrated Anna's thirteenth birthday yesterday by having her ears pierced, and she didn't even flinch! The man (yes, a man!) who did it kind of looked at me funny when I told him she had to wait until she was thirteen - a sort of rite of passage. Then, he seemed to get it. So much in our lives, maybe even especially as homeschoolers, goes on without celebrating, without making special occasions, without dressing in red fancy ball gowns and beautiful earrings. Maybe this week will be that week.

Oh, and P.S. My love to my family and especially dh for making a point of making Mother's Day special for me. You're the greatest!