Yesterday was rather surreal.  I was at our local community college registering my son.  Well, WE were there.  My husband and I.  Our son is on a trip, and won't be back in time to sign up ahead.  So we did it for him, and picked up his books.

He should be a senior in high school this year, but he really wanted to be done and get a start on college.  That is the beauty of homeschooling.  You can start racking up the credits ahead.  So we kind of considered him "graduated" this year, but we'll probably have a big party next spring - it's kind of all overlapping, high school graduation and the beginning of college.

This is Ricky with his "Woody Guthrie" guitar.  It says "This machine kills
fascists, which is what Woodie Guthrie had written on his guitar.  This is actually his
beat up guitar that he takes camping and doesn't mind if it gets banged up.

At any rate, we struggled through our homeschooling.  I changed math curriculums over and over again.  I have a hefty supply to choose from for the last two I'm homeschooling.  I did no formal "English language" courses.  He just read, and he wrote a lot on his own.  What did he write?  Conversations online, mostly.  I know that we want to protect our children from online dangers, but he just needed to be connected to others somehow.  Most of his conversations were with people he knew locally, but sometimes he would get into discussions with atheists over faith, or discuss the war in Iraq.

He was not "academic."  He did not fit into the academic box.  At one point, I just had to STOP trying to pound him into that box and just let him learn on his own.  I might suggest things.  Like Johnny Cash's bio.  I know, seems weird, but he has a great interest in music.  Along with Johnny Cash's bio came quite a bit of history of that time ere in the south.  We talked, and I figured out he was learning something.  So sometimes he would take my suggestions, sometimes he would "Nah."

I am not pushing him to go to college.  He is pushing me.  Which totally surprised me.  My non-academic son.  So I kept telling him "You had better study for the placement test if you want to go."  Well, you don't really study for a placement test.  They want to know what you already know, not what you can learn in a short time.  So he refreshed himself on the math.

We picked up his scores last week, and he did GOOD.  He's in.  The girl going over the scores with us kept telling him how good he did, and that many people do not pass at all.

Let me tell you, I was walking on air.  Only a homeschool mom can know how I feel.

BUT - let me never forget that if he DIDN'T do well, and if he DIDN'T want to go to college - that God has a plan for each life and its just going to be a different path.

Sometimes, God really surprises you though.  I know only one thing.  When I hit the wall crying, I prayed.  Then I prayed some more. And more, and more, and more, and more, and more.

Don't think for one minute that I consider myself done.  There will be lots more praying and seeking guidence for him and the rest of my children.