NAU Parent Weekend

This past weekend, the first weekend in October, was Parent Weekend at Northern Arizona University where my son is attending college. We were looking forward to visiting him, seeing how he is doing, and spending some time with him.

We live on the east coast, and right now the time is three hours later than the time in Arizona. We were leaving on a 7 a.m. flight. It is a one hour drive to the airport, and we aimed to arrive 2 hours early so we could park in a satellite lot, get through security, eat breakfast, etc. That meant we needed to leave our house at 4 a.m., so I got up between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m., which is midnight of the night before, Arizona time! 

We flew for 4-1/2 hours, direct flight, and did our best to sleep some on the way there. We had a nice flight on Southwest Airlines, but upon our arrival it still took an hour to exit the plane (25 minutes), walk to baggage pick-up and get our bags, ride a shuttle to the car rental place and get our car, and get on the road. We were hungry for lunch by this time, 12:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, so we found a subway as soon as we could (1/2 hour) and ate lunch at 10 a.m. Arizona time! An interesting point, we left 82 degrees with 97% humidity and flew to 82 degrees and 37% humidity.

The plane flies in to Phoenix, and the drive to Flagstaff is another two hours, which was next on our agenda. Dry in Arizona, we were already slogging down loads of water! Arriving in Flagstaff at about 12:30 Arizona time to a temperature of about 42 degrees, we were now adding a layer over our T-shirts for warmth. We contacted our son, but he was too busy with homework to see us right away. We needed to check in with the University's Parent Weekend people, so we did that first. Then our Airbnb allowed us to check in early, so we went there and took a nap for a couple of hours. 

Our son was still not available when we wanted to eat dinner, so we went on our own. After we had eaten he was finally available for the evening. NAU had a Casino Night planned, which we all attended, and it was a lot of fun. We all played a little poker (Texas hold'em), but for the most part we all preferred playing Black Jack. The student really cleaned up! But it was not for cash -- it was for raffle tickets for prizes, and we didn't win any of the raffles.

The proceeds of the evening went to scholarship funds for students on the Hotel Management field at the college.

The next day we woke to snow! No big deal -- a couple of inches that melted quickly except for on the mountains.

We invited our son to join us for dinner but he wanted to sleep in. We dined at Denny's, which is a treat for us since our local Denny's went out of business some time ago. Later in the day he did join us for a barbecue hosted by NAU Air Force ROTC. This lunch was followed by a football game, NAU vs. Weber State University, which our student again bowed out of to do more school work. It was an exciting game, filled with turnovers by both teams, and NAU won. I didn't take photos, and the ones I can find on line are protected by copywrite.

We wanted the student to join us for dinner, his choice, and we dined at a steakhouse, Sizzler. I was feeling more like shrimp, which they also had! They had a killer salad bar that came with my meal, with veteran's discount and senior's discount. Very nice!

On Sunday a brunch was planned, but once again our student did not join us, so we dined alone. It showed us yet again that NAU offers the students a huge selection at meals, everything from donuts and muffins to really healthy choices, as well as some very gourmet choices. After our meal our student allowed us to spend some time with him in his dorm. He had been looking forward to some of dad's back scratching time. After a while we went to a movie, at his request - Venom. It's not a movie his dad or I would normally go to, but we didn't mind going to see it with our son since it was the movie he wanted to see. I ate way too much popcorn.

After the movie we offered our son dinner again, but he was again feeling pressure from his assignments, so we took him back to his dorm. We decided to eat dinner at a small local restaurant, and we found a real good one called Salsa Brava. We shared a chimichanga. I highly recommend this restaurant. We especially appreciated their wall honoring the military and their MIA/POW table for the one(s) who won't make it for dinner (kinda like the Air Force's Missing Man formation).

The next morning we again dined at Denny's before beginning our drive back to Phoenix for our 1:30 flight. We made one stop on the way there, and I was happy to get some more photos of Arizona plants. Here are some of those photos:

Barrel cactus:

Cholla cactus:

with a bird's nest found on closer inspection:

And I didn't walk all the way up the hill, but saguaro cactus. Hubby was concerned there might be rattle snakes.

We got to Phoenix, turned in our rental car, rode a shuttle to the airport, checked our bags, went through security, and got to our gate around 12:30. We got ourselves a sandwich, which we shared, since we figured it would be an early dinner when we got back east (5:00 on our body clock, 8:00 EST).

Then they announced the flight was delayed. Two hours. ::sigh::

By the time we actually landed, picked up our bags, rode the shuttle to satellite parking and got underway in our car, it was actually about 11:00 p.m. We had gone from an "early" dinner to being concerned that there would be no restaurants open to get a bit other than fast food restaurants (which we don't like to do, particularly for dinner). Thanks to the G**gle machine, we found a barbecue spot on the way that was open since it was a sports bar and there were people there watching Monday Night Football.

So, midnight found us getting home and eating dinner. What a way to eat an "early" dinner! So we're back. I did not get a menu plan posted. We limped through on some standard quick meals.

How was your week?

Monthly Update for 6/30/18

June is coming to a close. 

At Homeschool-Review, it has been a somewhat quiet month. School finished up in May. Our Boy Scout meetings ended for the summer in Mid-June with our Court of Honor/family picnic.

True confessions -- this photo is from 2017. I didn't take any photos this year.  My son has moved on from Boy Scouts. When he turned 18 he could not longer be a "boy" scout and he has other things going on and did not choose to continue in Scouting in adult leadership.

His main other interest, these many years, has been Civil Air Patrol (CAP), in which he is still active as they permit cadets to participate until age 21. He had a momentous event in CAP this month when he was promoted from Cadet Technical Sergeant to Cadet Master Sergeant. I'm so happy for him!

I've been selling off school books and decluttering. I am working on a quilt for Quilts for Kids, and I sent hats and booties to my other charity, Online Angels.

My son went on lots of job interviews, but so far no summer job or internship.

We spent Father's Day in Virginia visiting my daughter (who is expecting my first grandchild!).

I voted in the primary election in my state.

My garden is growing. I weed and water it daily.

And that's about it. What happened in your world in June?




 

School Year in Review

This school year began a year ago when we transitioned school years in June. The first summer event of note was when the student went on his first job interview at Trader Joe's for a summer internship. He got the job!

On the way to the job interview:

Before beginning his summer job, the student went to Civil Air Patrol Summer Encampment at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.

He had a great time, but doesn't want to do it again! For the rest of the summer he worked at Trader Joe's. At the end of the summer we squeezed in a quick trip to Assateague for a mini-vacation.

Then in August we got his wisdom teeth out.

He also got to enjoy the Demolition Derby at the County Fair. Quickly enough it was the first day of school.

The student took dual enrollment classes at the local community college in addition to the subjects he studied at home. In the fall he took ENGL 102 and HIST 135 and in the spring he took SOCY 100 and SPAN 101. He also stayed active all year with Civil Air Patrol and Boy Scouts.

In January the lad got his driver's license! In February he completed his Eagle Project with Boy Scouts.

Then college visits began. He visited Patrick Henry

and University of Arizona.

After that he finished up his Eagle paperwork and in April he passed his Eagle Board of Review.

In May we had an Eagle Court of Honor for FIVE young men in our troop who achieved the rank of Eagle this year.

Shortly after that he had a foot surgery, from which he is now mostly recovered.


He completed all his course work for the year and rolled right into senior year with a summer course at the community college!

So that is a brief synopsis of 11th Grade. Thanks for reading!

Week in Review, 4/21/17

It has been a while since I did my weekly review, so this is more like a catch-up review.

In late February, on a 75-degree day (that just doesn't happen in Maryland!), the Life Scout pulled together Scouts, CAP friends, and friends of friends, and got his Eagle Project completed. A county park path had been rerouted, and the job was to make the old path disappear. It was called reforestation and trail reclamation.

In March, in addition to attending his two college courses of Spanish 101 and Sociology 100, the high school junior visited two colleges -

Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA

and University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ.

He was scheduled also to visit University of Maryland, Baltimore County, but sickness prevented him from making this visit as scheduled.

The lad really likes U of A. It has an Air Force ROTC program, which is important to him, and he loves the climate and the topography. Being there brought back the rockhound in him (one who searches for rock samples).

Upon his return from Arizona, while scurrying to make up work missed in his two college classes (missed a Friday and a Monday), the lad had paperwork to finish on his Eagle project. He had to write up his Project Report and get it signed off. After that he had to write up his Eagle Scout Rank Application (a.k.a. "ESRA"). Then every date and merit badge needed to be checked, double checked, and re-checked. Then his Eagle notebook needed to be compiled with his Life Statement and copies of the 21 merit badges he was applying to the Eagle application. He had been in three troops, and some of his merit badges and some of his rank advancements were not in Internet Advancement, and that needed to be completed. Finally, he met with the District Eagle Coordinator, who still found errors in the paperwork, which got corrected. Now the Scout is scheduled to have his Eagle Board of Review next Friday - he missed the Board of Review opportunity in March because of his trip to Arizona (and the paperwork wasn't finished anyway!).

A test, the ACT, was rescheduled because things were just getting too packed in the schedule. 

Mom, meanwhile, has been revising Transcript and Course Descriptions in preparation for college applications in a month or two. 

In addition, the following products are currently in use for upcoming reviews:

• Daily Bible Jigsaw
• Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels”
• ArtAchieve, Level IV 
• The Secret Bridge
• High School Essay Intensive   
• Only Passionate Curiosity
• The Typing Coach Online Typing Course
• Thin Stix 6pk of Classic Colors
• Heroes of History- Douglas MacArthur

Watch for upcoming reviews! So what's going on in your home school?

Week in Review - 3/17/17

Well first of all, happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish, but since Patrick was actually British (and I'm half British), I'll celebrate anyway! His life should be an example to us all.

My student has been on spring break this week. I, as the mom, have not. Products currently brewing in my homeschool (watch for two more reviews next week!) are:

• Creating a Masterpiece;
• Bessie's Pillow;
• First Form Greek;
• Shepherd, Potter, Spy--and the Star Namer;
• Digital Savvy;
• Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels”; and 
• ArtAchieve.

Monday night was Boy Scouts. My Life Scout had his Scoutmaster Conference for Eagle Rank. Now he needs to finish up the paperwork on his Eagle Project, complete his Eagle Rank Application, and get approval signatures. After that he goes to his Eagle Board of Review. We are aiming for April -- he will be out of town when they do Eagle BORs in March.

Tuesday we had a family night and played Settlers of Catan. I WON! I never win! What fun for a change!

Thursday part of our Scout Troop attended a Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner to welcome some Webelos to our troop as they bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Scoutmaster (my husband) drove to blue and Gold Dinner where he met four of our Scouts and more of our adults. Meanwhile, Assistant Scoutmaster (me) drove our Civil Air Patrol cadet and friend (another cadet) to their Civil Air Patrol meeting. After I met our CAP Wing's new commander and visited a few minutes, I booked cross-town to the Blue and Gold Dinner to help out.

When the Bridging was over I got to go home. Scoutmaster booked it across town to pick the cadets up at the end of their meeting. It had been PT (Physical Training) night. I knew that our cadet needed only to pass his PT Run to qualify for advancement to Tech Sgt. We think he did it! He'd been looking at the Cadet Super Chart wrong and thought he needed to run the mile much faster than he actually did (speed needed varies by height/weight/age ratio). We think he's done. But he can't advance next week when they'll do advancements - he'll be out of town.

Friday my high school Junior and I visited Patrick Henry College in Purcilleville, VA. 

He loves it. I don't know if we can swing it financially. We'll be seeking scholarship(s), but still don't know if we'll be able to afford what would be left. So we will still be visiting other colleges as well.

Friday night and all day Saturday my church hosted an If Gathering for women. I went but was exhausted. Kept falling asleep during Friday night's meeting!

What was your week like?

Friday Wrap-up for 2017 Week 9

Just for fun, I thought I'd start with an old photo. The above photo is from 2002. Now my "baby" is 17, has his license, is in Civil Air Patrol, and a week ago he completed his Eagle Project in Boy Scouts.

My oldest lives 2000 miles away now, so no complete family photo to show the passage of time.
Busy days we have during Junior Year. My student is taking Spanish I and Sociology at the community college. We've been working on Geometry at home, and ACT preparation, as well as Accuplacer preparation. We've been looking at colleges and scheduling visits.
In less than two weeks my boy and I will visit Patrick Henry College.
One week later my boy and my husband will visit University of Arizona. One week later the lad and I will visit University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Five days later we hit a college fair. Two days later he takes his ACT.
So many possible colleges. Need to determine priorities -- is a Christian college more important, or one with AF ROTC (and why are there no colleges that fit both requirements). One hour from home? Or two? Or 2000 miles? BS or BA? Computers or Government? So many things to decide.
So we are busy here, wading through spring of junior year. How is your school year going?

2017 Weeks 4 and 5 in Review

The student is attending Spanish I and Sociology classes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at our local community college through the Dual Enrollment program.

These classes are his main focus right now, but in addition he is taking an online Accuplacer preparation course. He is supposed to be working on Geometry as well, but right now he is not.

The student is also a Boy Scout and is in the final stretch to reach the rank of Eagle Scout.

His Eagle project proposal has received a few revisions and has gotten all its signatures. Weather permitting, the project work should be accomplished at the end of February.

The project is reclaiming a section of forest at a local county park that has previously been a hiking trail. The trail has been rerouted and the old trail needs to become forest again. Trees will be planted and the path covered with forest debris to discourage use by hikers and to give nature the opportunity for regrowth there. It helps the county park out, and my son is pretty excited about the project.

My son is also a Civil Air Patrol cadet (Master Sergeant) and attends meetings on Thursday nights. This past Thursday was ABUs night (uniform name - Airman Battle Utility). 

The weather has been amazing for February (40-50s), but the cold seems to be returning (thank you, Pauxatauny Phil). It goes down to the 20's or 30's at night. Daytime temperatures are unpredictable. We'll have a high of 35 one day, but 65 a few days later. I love the warmer days. I don't want to take a coat when I go out in my polar fleece jacket. I am waiting anxiously for Spring.

How was your week?

2017 Week 3 in Review

This week has been quite a week for us in comparison to the quiet life we normally lead.

Monday night we had a Boy Scout meeting. My husband is Scoutmaster and I am an Assistant Scoutmaster. There is an issue going on in our troop right now that we are working through -- regarding something that happened on a recent camping trip. It's not an easy issue to work through, and I certainly won't go into it here, but it's taking up a lot of my husband's time and is leaving us drained. My son is not involved -- wasn't on that trip. He stayed home Monday to do some work on his Eagle Scout Project Proposal.

Wednesday my son was scheduled to take his Driver's License test, but there were all these things we needed to take with us for the test -- papers I had lost track of when I cleaned up for Christmas. So Tuesday I tore through boxes and storage folders and bags of papers looking for the New Driver's Logbook, the Driver's Handbook and the two pink pieces of paper given to my son that certified he had taken the driver's ed course and done the six hours of driving with the course. Then once I had found those I had to go through calendars and lesson planners to transfer records of hours driven to the logbook, because the notes had not been written in the logbook as the driving was done. Then there was a form to print out to certify that we have him insured. Finally got it done.

Wednesday we drove to Frederick, Maryland (not the closest Motor Vehicle Administration to us) because we had heard bad things about going to our local MVA for the driving test. We left at 11:00 a.m. for a 2:00 appointment. I figured we'd eat when we got there, but my son ate breakfast late and had no appetite for lunch. We were at the MVA and my son was practicing some driving and parking, but I realized we had only a quarter of a tank of gas, and the MVA specified to make sure the car had half a tank, so we left and got gas.

We reported in at 1:45 for the 2:00 appointment, turned in the paperwork, and then we had to wait. And wait. And wait. At a little before 3:00 hubby was texting me to ask how the test went, but we were still waiting. We had been sent to the car and were in a queue behind the building, but we were still waiting. Finally my son's turn. I got kicked out of the car by a nice instructor (I guess you'd call her) and I went inside to wait.

My son was nervous, but he passed first time and is now a licensed driver! :) 

He is still a little nervous to drive in certain settings, but is willingly tackling small driving tasks. When we got home from the driver's test I let him "solo" driving around the neighborhood. Next day he wanted a haircut and decided to drive himself. Then that night he drove to the store (1 mile) to get a few things.

Wednesday we got a call from an old friend we knew from Denver, Colorado 25 years ago (he now lives in West Virginia). 

He wanted to go to the Inauguration and wondered if he could stay at our house for a couple of nights. We said, "Sure!" He arrived Thursday and went downtown to enjoy some of the pre-inaugural events Thursday. That night the Scoutmaster visited a Cub Scout pack while the young man attended a CAP meeting. The dad met the cadet for the meeting when he was done at Cub Scouts.

Now on Monday my 17 year old son had said to me, "Can we go to the Inauguration?" It wasn't an unreasonable request -- we're really close! But I had no intention of going, so I said, "No." But now our friend was coming and was planning to go. So I asked Don if he would consider taking our son with him, and he did! So my son got to go to the Inauguration! They got up at "0-dark-something" and drove to the local Metro stop, parked there and took the Subway down to DC for the day. My son had a good time, and I was so glad he got to go!

My son, who has a certain amount of anxiety hanging in groups of people he knows, has no anxiety meeting and talking with strangers. Don commented how my son was very sociable and a very pleasant person to make the trip with. I joked with him about "Unsocialized Homeschoolers"!

Friday night mom and dad had a small group meeting ("Care Group"). Saturday will probably be menu planning, grocery shopping, and a movie in the evening. Next week the lad's classes start up at the local community college. I NEED him to take that Accuplacer test, but it hasn't happened, and he needs to get serious about his Eagle project.

How was your week?