Love at First Sight, Seriously

OK this is not exactly about homeschooling or college admissions or dual enrollment. It IS about what happened to me my first semester in college. With many students starting college either right out from high school or even dual enrollment, I thought this may be a good idea to tell what can happen. In a good way.

I graduated from a public high school on Long Island, New York back in 1977. Doesn't seem that long ago, but hey, I don't feel 50 either! I had a boyfriend from high school who was pretty much bad news. Not sure why, but there it is. Anyway, at the end of my first week of college I met Al. Yup my hubby. My roommate and I heard Jethro Tull's "Songs From the Wood" coming from the suite down the hall and my roomie decided she HAD to meet whoever was playing that album. (back in the days of vinyl records)

Al and his roommate were there listening to said album when we waltzed into the suite and into the bedroom. Such bold girls. We talked for a while and then went on our way. Later I learned that my dear hubby thought I was a total flake. :) I guess I was, actually. He ended up coming around my room to say "Hi" quite a bit and then we started going to breakfast together. Fast forward to now, 32 years later, and we are still together. I was 18 and he was 19 when we met. My parents were thrilled that I broke up with the bad news boyfriend but not thrilled when I announced that Al and I were serious and he was "THE ONE." I was only 18. We both graduated from college before we married. An important step, I think.

We've had 32 really great years with a few times that were rough. Who knew having kids could be so stressful? Also, who knew you can't really live on love and money is pretty important? We were young. Now, we are settled and the kids are grown. We have a lot in common still and like each other's company! So, parents, when your daughter comes home from college saying that she found "THE ONE" well, he just might be! Give them a chance. You never know!

My daughter met her husband when she was 17. Sigh. History repeats itself!

Back to College Time

My son heads back to UCF for the Fall semester this weekend. First of all, I can't believe that he is a senior already since he is MY BABY! How can I have a baby that old? Also, how did the time move so fast? Seems like just yesterday he was 16 and heading to his first Dual Enrollment classes excited but nervous at the same time. He has been a college student, part time and full time, for five years already and he is 21.

The next two semesters are going to be brutal for him. He picked a difficult major, economics, which is mostly a form of calculus. All of the "fluffy" classes have been taken and now comes two semesters of ALL economics classes and of course all the really difficult ones. Since UCF doesn't offer all of the economics classes each semester he has had to double up on two of the most difficult classes in one semester, econometrics and reasearch methods. He also has two other classes which I believe are international trade and something else I can't remember right now. Mom is getting old I guess.

My daughter and I are moving him in to an apartment today but he won't actually fully move in until Dad can help us with some heavier stuff on Sunday. His last apartment situation was OK but his roommate was weird. Nice, but weird. He actually acted as though my son was invisible most times. Made for a lonely first year away at school. He decided to get into an apartment with three bedrooms to up his chances for meeting some nice people and it is cheaper. We like the cheaper part.

He is closing in on the last year of health insurance from us. Scary thought! He will need to find something out there in May to make up the difference. He is pretty confident that a job is out there for him but I am a worry wort.

This and That

We just got back from moving our son out of his apartment at UCF. It actually wasn't too bad although I did mention that the tub was actually white, originally! :)

It is hard to believe that our son, who is 21, has finished his junior year at UCF! How fast it went! He decided to move out of his apartment because he seemed to have gotten the booby prize of roommates. Don't get me wrong, the guy was nice enough, and even helped my son with an internet problem, but MAN is he weird. He acted as though my son did not exist most of the time! I know he was not wild about having a 20 year old junior move in when he was in his mid-20's and a grad student. But come ON! At least give the guy a chance to show he is not some moronic twenty year old who parties all the time! My son seems more adult than I do most times!

Anyway, my son is going to try his luck with a three bedroom apartment instead of two. This way there will be two guys other than himself and maybe, if he's lucky, one of them will be decent. Heck, maybe even a fun roommate he can do things with occasionally! Plus the three bedrooms are cheaper than the two. Can't hate us for that!

Both of our kids went to pretty large universities. UCF has 50 thousand students and is the largest in the state system here in Florida. There's not a whole lot of stuff going on, at least not the way it was back when my husband and I were in college. My daughter went to FSU and also did not have a lot of stuff going on. Weird. Such big schools and not a lot of college sponsored activities!

My husband and I went to a fairly small, or maybe mid-sized, college in the State University sytem in New York. We were in Central NY in a town called Oneonta. A cow town really, with two colleges, SUNY (State University of New York) College at Oneonta and a private college called Hartwick. The writer of the Dilbert comic strip was at Hartwick while we were at Oneonta! Small world. In the three years we were together at Oneonta (hubby is a year older than I am) we saw: The Kinks, Stan Rogers - watch him here,, Stanley Clarke - watch him here, Carlos Montoya- watch him here, The Dixie Dregs- watch them here, How to Change a Flat Tire (I know, weird name, but it was Celtic music), a guy from Africa with the Mbira or African Thumb Piano, Peter Gabriel, Howie Mandel (when he was with The Comedy Store) and so much more! All in three years! We saw Stan Rogers, now deceased sadly, many times!

We are sad that our great college experience was not the same kind of experience that our kids have had. I am not sure if it is just the way things are now or what! Anyone have any insight? My college years were the best years of my life! The most free and the most fun!

"Umbrella" School or Not? That is the Question!

When my kids were still homeschooling we had the option to use a private "umbrella" school or sign up through the county. We actually did the private school thing for the first year then decided that they were just not for us. What I would have liked was a nice secular private school with a wide range of ages but also with a nice group of teens. At the time, I could not find what I was looking for. We went through the county. There really is NO problem just flying solo with homeschooling until your kids reach those high school years. Here is my list of reasons why we SHOULD have used a private "umbrella" school.

1. Math classes. I have a degree in English and did not need a math class, back in the 70's, to get it! Enough said!

2. Companionship. While my kids had friends who were not homeschooled and kept up a fairly busy social life, they really could have used a nice group of college-bound kids who were also homeschooled. My son had always said that his public schooled friends just never "got" the homeschooling thing.

3. Advising, both parental and student. I had to do all the legwork to figure out things such as how to get students signed up for SAT tests, how to apply for scholarships, how to make an ok-looking transcript and how to (and when to) apply to colleges.

4. Bright Futures Scholarship (Florida specific). A homeschooled child in Florida who is not in a private school must score higher on the SAT or ACT tests to receive the SAME scholarship as a public or private school child. Yes, how unfair! My son missed the 75% tuition Bright Futures Scholarship by ONE POINT on the ACT. He refused to retake the test. (you can lead a kid to the ACT but you can't make him take it!) He is a stubborn kid (young man) and is now literally paying for his stubbornness. He knows it. We don't talk about it. He has student loans out the ***. Had he been in a private school, he would have received the 75% tuition scholarship.

5. Diploma and professional-looking transcripts. I know, a diploma is not necessary. My kids don't have one for high school although I have the pretty diploma paper for the computer and never used it! Their transcripts are OK but certainly don't have the credibility of a school transcript. Has this hurt them? Not really. Would it have been a nice touch? Hell yes!

6. Never having to say Home Schooled to a college admissions officer. Oh yes. Try going to the college admissions office during your college seeking trips and telling him your child is homeschooled. Watch the glazed look come into his eyes. "Home schooled?" Yeah, as though they have never ever had a home educated kid at the university before. Sigh. We got the runaround while looking into colleges for our daughter. Our son went to the community college for his AA first and I worked there. No problem.

Had I known all of this before I would have started my own secular private school for homeschoolers earlier!

Home Schooled Students Starting College

When my kids were 16 they started Dual Enrollment at the local community college. They each were nervous about it beforehand. My daughter is the older child and went through this first but what is funny is that my son also went through the same insecurity. "What if the public schooled kids know more than I do?" "What if the public schooled kids can do better in college than I can?"

Now, it is almost laughable! Both of my kids maintained a 4.0 throughout their dual enrollment and each went on to keep up a good GPA through the university level. What is funny is that they need not have worried about what the public schooled kids knew, it was not the knowing of facts that was different. What my kids found out was that the public schooled kids, on average, did not want to work for their knowledge. They were used to getting the facts and "knowledge" handed to them on a silver platter!

Group projects were a chore for my kids since they had to badger the other students to get their work in! My daughter was like the Mom of the group always delegating and trying to make sure that the group members did their job. How sad. My son has come up against this as well at a different university in Florida. Public schooled kids do not seem to have the same work ethic, when it comes to college classes, as home schooled kids. Period. I know, I know, your nephew who is at MIT and was public schooled is a go-getter and works full time and still manages an active social life and keeps up a 4.0. OK, sure. There are some exceptions to the rule. I also know a couple of home schooled kids who couldn't pass a college class. But as a whole, I see that the public school system needs to make kids accountable. Mom and Dad can't complain that Johnny got a C and now he can't get into the college of his choice. Well, too damn bad! Obviously it is not just schools who have to make kids take consequences for their actions.