Homeschool Academy, dancing, and more! {Life update}

This blog is feeling pretty empty now! The weird thing is that I feel like I'm writing stuff for this blog all the time, but you guys don't realize it. The back end of this blog has probably close to 50 unpublished drafts of posts. Some of those are terrible, and will never see the light of day, but some might... We'll see.

I think it's time for a little life update! I'm blogging (semi-regularly) on The Daily Ramble about my day to day life, so for a more complete idea of what I'm up to, go over there.

I've been pretty busy this summer. I'm teaching Latin still, plus some friends and I teamed up for Homeschool Academy, where we teach a bunch of cool classes. I'm co-teaching Geology, plus I'm teaching Irish dancing each week. It's a ton of fun, and it's super relaxed and laid back, which is nice.

I'm not doing any ballet this summer, but I am doing Irish, and we have some more performances coming up! We're dancing and the Whidbey Island Highland Games in a few weeks, and then at Birch Bay State Park a few weeks after that.

College searching continues. This weekend we're going to the east side of the state to visit Gonzaga University and WSU. I don't have any interest in WSU, but my sister wants to visit, and I love college campuses, so it should be fun. Plus, I've never been to either Pullman or Spokane, so it'll be fun to see more of the state.

I just finalized my class schedule for the fall. I'm taking Intermediate Algebra (unfortunately I didn't get into Precalc I), German I, and Introduction to World Religions. I think it should be a fun load, albeit a challenging one.

In the winter, I'll be taking Precalc, German II, and Western Civ III (assuming all goes according to plan.

That's my life right now! Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

Prep for the Lit Analysis class I taught for the Homeschool Acadmey.

Aslan and I.

Bad pic, but I got a WTNV shirt!

Awesome necklace I bought at the steampunk festival yesterday!

Beautiful sunset over the dogpark

University of Victoria {College Visit Notes}

Welcome to my first college visit post! These are all going to have the same basic format, which some changes for each school to cover it's unique points. This is going to be in the form of a Q&A, with the questions being ones I asked at the school, and the answer being what information I received or gathered on the topic.

What is the living situation for students?

Dorms are guaranteed for first year students, but no one is required to live on campus. Most students live off campus after their first year. Most dorms are single rooms, but there is also cluster housing, where six or eight students share what is basically an apartment. There are also a small number of double rooms.

What travel opportunities are available for students?

There are many foreign exchange options. Also, through the co-op program, students have the ability to gain paid work experience in their field of study, and those opportunities often involve travel all over the world.

All the stuff I got sent home with.

What is the academic focus of the school?

Academically, UVic seems to be a strong school in most fields. They have a strong focus in research, particularly undergrad research, which tends to lead more to a focus in STEM fields, but it does seem like they are strong in many areas.

How are Running Start credits handled?

This was one question I didn't really get a good answer to. I'm not sure how they would handle my RS credits. They did say that if you had 8 or more transferable college courses you were automatically a transfer student, so that might be how that would go.

What is the size of the school?

There are 17,000 undergrads and 3,000 graduate students. A lot bigger than a lot of the colleges on my list. Not necessarily too big, but I wouldn't want to go any bigger.

What is the cost?

$27,000 a year (including room and board). One major issue potentially is the ability to take U.S. scholarships to Canada. Some you can take, others you can't. It's a bit iffy.

What is the town like?

Victoria is a beautiful city. It's one of the safest cities in the world, and I think it would be a great place to live.

I don't have any pics of campus, but this is downtown Victoria.

What is the campus like?

The campus itself is a little confusing, thought I'm sure if I went there I'd find my way around pretty fast. It's a young school (about 50 years old), and that means the campus is in an odd position where it doesn't have any of the beautiful old buildings you see on many campuses, but  it also doesn't have any of the shiny new buildings you see on a lot of campuses. 

How are homeschool applications handled? 

This is another iffy thing. If you homeschool through an "accredited program" it's fine, but if you don't (and I don't), it's trickier. We're currently looking into how this might work.

11th Grade Goals

*This post may contain affiliate links, and if you make a purchase after clicking them, I will receive compensation.*

With a new school year soon beginning, I think it's time to make some goals for how I want the year to look. This year is bringing a lot of changes, both in my personal life, and in my social group that are going to make things pretty different. Several friends of mine are leaving for college (or have already left), and while that doesn't really change how I do things, it changes my experiences. I'm now doing Running Start as well, which is completely changing my school structure, and I'm doing a lot more dancing that I've ever done in the past.

Goals:

1. Be as healthy as possible, both physically and mentally. While this isn't entirely under my control, I do want to do whatever I can to stay healthy, whether that's making sure I eat well and exercise, or in some cases taking medication and going to the doctor to figure out that some of my problems are. Last year, I was sick nearly all year, and I would really rather that not happen again.

2. Accept that I'm not always in control. This goes with #1. Sometimes, I just can't do as much work as I would like, because of illness, or just life circumstances. While I can make an effort to deal with my anxiety, a lot of that is just accepting that I can't always change things. My goal is to learn to go with the flow.

3. Finish the Latin book I'm on. One thing I'm really sad about is that I probably won't be able to keep doing Latin. But, I am 3/4 of the way through the book I'm working on, and I really want to finish it, even if it takes me all year.

4. Manage my time better. I have a lot of different things going this year: dance, college classes, school at home, volunteering, blogging, reading (I have some exciting things on that front to talk about soon), and more. I have never been particularly good at managing all the things I have to do on a daily basis, but to keep up with all these different things, I'm going to need to get better at it.

5. Start thinking about college. I have a year left until I need to start applying to colleges, and that means that it's time to start thinking a little more seriously about where I might want to go, what is important to me in a college, and what schools I want to visit and eventually apply to.


These are some of my goals for my junior year of high school. I will try to check in every few months, and talk a little about what I've been doing to help achieve these goals, and how it's going.

University of Washington Homeschool Days

This Friday and Saturday, my mom and I went to the University of Washington to take part in the activities put on by the Homeschool Advocacy Group on campus. Overall, it was a pretty great experience, and I'm really glad we went.

This stretch down to the fountain is very pretty. When you're in the main part of the campus, you almost forget that you're in downtown Seattle.

On Friday, we sat in on a couple of classes, and went on a campus tour. The first class we went to (an English Literature class), we went in and sat down in the back, and waited, and waited, and waited. Nobody showed up, including the professor. We were positive we had the right time and the right room, but unfortunately, we didn't get to see the English class. I was a bit disappointed mainly because that was the class I was most looking forward to, but also because it was a small class, while the other ones we saw were quite large.

We spent some time wandering around campus before sitting in on Psych 101. It was in a huge lecture hall, with probably about 400 people in it. We ate some lunch, and then headed back to the homeschool people for a tour of UW.

The Gothic Reading Room (AKA the Harry Potter room), in the Suzzallo library.

In the afternoon, we went to see an Art History class (in the same room as the Psych). It didn't have as many people in it, but it was still really full. It was kind f strange for me, because it felt like something out of a movie. At 2:30, the professor walked in and started lecturing about Rembrandt. She continued to talk continuously about other artists and paintings until 3:20, when the bell rang, and everyone immediately got up and left. It felt like such a stereotypical college lecture. There was no class interaction, no time for questions, just her talking for 50 minutes.


After that, we drove home. Saturday morning we got up early to make it back to UW (which is a little less than two hours away) by 9am.

Mary Gates Hall, where the events on Saturday were.

All the things Saturday were workshops about applying to college, particularly as a homeschooler. The first part was about preparing your transcript, and how to make sure you cover all the classes required to get into college. We then talked some about finding a college that is a good fit for you, and then ate lunch.

The campus is full of beautiful old buildings like this one.

After lunch were the more interesting parts (in my opinion). First, there was a session on writing your personal statement, which I thought was really helpful. They had great tips and ideas to help write a good essay, and some warnings about what not to do. The last part of the day was devoted to how to pay for college. Since my mom is a college counselor, this is a topic she knows quite a bit about, but I found it helpful. The woman leading did a really good job of explaining financial aid in a way that made a lot of sense to me. She also talked about applying for scholarships, which was helpful.

Red Square on Saturday afternoon. On Friday, where were hundreds of people in this space.

Overall, I thought it was a really good thing to go to. Even though the idea of going to a a huge university like the University of Washington is a little scary to me, this definitely made me start thinking more about applying to colleges, and about where I might actually want to go.

Update: Furniture Moving, Test Taking, and Doctor Appointments

Last Friday, I went to the Allergy and Asthma doctor, to see, basically, if I had allergies, or asthma. After talking for a while, and doing a number of lung capacity tests (they take some practice!), the doctor decided to get me a prescription for albuterol (an asthma inhaler). I'll be using it as needed for the next few weeks, to see if it works. I have a really bad cough right now, which I think it part of a long running cold going around our community, which is making my breathing worse, and may have skewed the results from. Interestingly, using the inhaler has actually helped me cough a little less.

It's quite large, much bigger than I expected.

Next week, I'm going back the the doctor to do a skin allergy test (they dip these toothpick like things in the allergens, and then poke them onto your skin. If you're allergic to it, you'll get a little hive there.), and some asthma breathing tests. I'll also talk more to the doctor about how the albuterol has or hasn't helped. 

On Saturday morning, I went to the community college to take the English placement test (which all Running Start students have to take to qualify for the program). I've done a lot of standardized testing (homeschoolers in WA have to take a test every year), but I'd never done any on the computer before, so it was a bit of a new experience. I must say, I like it much better than filling in bubbles. I am quite happy with my test results; I got into the program (which I was sure I was going to do), and I tested into English 101.

Today, I still have this terrible cough, so I probably won't be doing a lot, but I am planning on doing some organizing in my room so that I can move some furniture around. I am planning on moving my desk out of my room and into the family room/school room, but I have a bit of work to do before I can really do that.

Some Thoughts for 2014

This morning, I wrote this post, and then decided not to publish it. I thought it was too long, too strange, and too philosophical for this blog. But just now, I reread what I had written earlier, and I decided to post it anyway. Yeah, it's long, and confusing, and mainly fueled by sugar and sleep deprivation, but I kind of like it. This blog is many things, but at it's heart, it's a place for me to write. A place to write book reviews, and about my writing, and about what I'm thinking. This is the kind of thing I write, and so it belongs here. If anyone actually reads it all the way through and understands my thought process while writing it, I will be duly impressed. :)

Well, it's 2014 now. I went to a very fun party last night where I ate lots of food, talked a lot, played some poker, played a bunch of various card games (spoons, peanut butter, and more), talked books and movies and was generally nerdy, and just generally had fun with the "Usual Suspects." See my last post for more on that if you're confused.

Right now, I'm about to head out to park day to see if any other Bellingham homeschoolers bothered to come out on New Year's Day, but first I thought I'd try to find something to write about here.

I don't know about you, but when I eat too much sugar, and get too little sleep, I tend to get far too thoughtful and reflective. :)

Today, I've been thinking about something a friend said to me last night.  I was telling two friends about a project I'm thinking about taking on, and I was asking them if they were interested in helping at all. I mentioned that I thought maybe one of them could particularly help with a little writing part, and the other friend said to me, "But you're the writer."

While I didn't think anything of that comment in the moment, other than maybe he was right that it was kind of silly for me to ask people to write things for me, later I thought more about it.

The new year is often a time when people think about who they are and who they want to be. Right now, I often feel like I'm in an odd spot. When you're a teenager, you have every possibility open to you. You make choices that will affect you for the rest of your life. Right now, I'm 15 years old. I still have several years before I have to make the big decisions (college, jobs, etc.) that will change the course of my life. But I'm still at a point in my life where I can decide who I want to be, how I want to be seen, and in what direction I want my life to go.

Who you become is something you can change, but it's also a group project. There are a lot of people in my life, both kids and adults, who I think have a hand in that process. When my friend said to me last night, "You're the writer," while he probably didn't mean that much by it, it showed me part of how he sees me. When my friend's mom asked me how late the library was open on Tuesdays, fully expecting me to know the answer, that showed me part of how she sees me.

To make this even more confusing, I've been realizing that while how other people see me is important, there are sides of me that none of them have ever seen. Parts of me that I'm not sure I want them to see. There are parts of me that are unsure if I'm up to being "the writer" or the responsible person other people seem to think of me as.

But I rise to the occasion when I need to. When I need to be responsible for other people, or when I need to rise above my own fears, I can if other people expect it of me. There have been times when I'm not sure if I can keep it up. I have a reputation for being an overachiever, and for being on top of everything, but the reality isn't really always the same as the reputation. Sometime it's hard because I can't keep up with the way people think of me.

Sometimes I realize that I'm caught between who I want to be, and who I am. Where's the balance? Where do I want the balance to be? Is there even a difference?

What I'm trying to say here is that I'm realizing that how these people see me affects the person that I am, and that I have to decide if that's really the person I want to be. I have the ability right now to be anything. Do I want to be the writer? The booklover? The overachiever? Sometimes I'm not really sure.

Right now, I can decide who I want to be. I will always be "the writer." That's a title I'm proud to have. I'm thrilled to be considered a booklover, especially by my friends who are better read than I am. That's just one side of me, but it's a side I'm happy to let people see. I'm happy with who I am, but I'm also happy to think that that person isn't set in stone.

Thanks to my friend, whose comment sparked this post. If you're still reading at this point, you deserve a prize!

A Question from the Comments

Today I am finally answering the question I got over a month ago from Nita in a comment:

I have an 8th grader going to High School soon and I graduated my 16yr old after just 5 months of homeschooling since she was taking college courses. Do you think that taking a class outside the home with other students motivates you more or gives you less time? Is it harder to meet more people when you are homeschooling for high school? My oldest daughter seems a bit misplaced. She doesn't do the same things the kids at the Community College does, but she isn't in typical high school to meet other kids either, do you have this challenge?

 First of all, I'm so sorry it took me so long to answer your question! Now, let's get into the actual question. I'm going to answer it a few parts.

First of all, I think that taking classes outside of the home is very motivating. Having the structure and demands of a traditional class setting can be strange to a homeschooler, but it is a good thing to experience, especially if you plan on going to college. As far as time goes, I find that it all depends on what else you are doing. Typically, when I have done classes outside of the home, those are my priority. Two years ago, I took a Brit Lit class, and a Chemistary class, and the homework I got was always the #1 most important thing. It came before my work at home (history, latin, math, logic), and it came before any free time I had. In general, I would not say that doing classes gives me less time to do other school, or to have fun, I think it requires more planning and time management.

Is it harder to meet people when you are homeschooling for high school? This is a varition on the #1 question most homeschoolers get (What about socialization?), and because of that, I have a bit of a knee jerk reaction to it (as many homeschoolers would, I suspect). I think, though, that while most homeschoolers are not going to be forever outcasts of society because they never had any friends, it is still something that homeschoolers struggle with, and not something to ignore.

My simple answer is yes,  it is harder to meet people. You don't have the built in friends that come with school, but that does not mean that you have to be all alone. What you need to do is more proactive about seeking out friendships. As a rather shy person, this is often hard for me to do. My suggestion is to find some activities with other people. If there is a homeschool group in your area, maybe connect with them. If you like sports, maybe consider joining a local team. I volunteer at the local library, and I have made several good friends through that.

Don't assume that friendships with come to you, but at the same time, don't force it. I suggest finding activites to do, because that way you will be around people who you have things in common with. Even if they go to school, you both love soccer, or chess, or writing, and that can be the common factor you need. At the same time, not everybody is going to be your best friend, so don't assume they will be.

If you are taking classes at a community college, think about joining some clubs. If you like photography, you might find friends in the photography club, or even on the staff of the college newspaper. So, there is my advice. While homeschoolers are not friendless outcasts because of our educational choices, we do sometimes need to do a little more work to get that social interaction.

I know this post is late coming, and its longer then I anticipated, but hopefully some of you find it helpful.

If you have any more questions on this, or any other topic, leave it in the comments, and I'll answer it, even if it takes me a while. Also, if you would like to contact me privatly about homeschooling, or my blog, leave a comments, and let me know you would like to keep it private. I won't publish it, but if you leave an email address, I'll get back to you.