Milestones for Lyndsay

This has been a busy month, for sure.  Senior year in high school is intense, for the student and for the parents.  And expensive, let me tell ya.  But she did it.  I did it too, if I do say so myself.  And I haven't even completely fallen apart yet.  Yet.

I became intensely interested and involved in Lyndsay's (and then my subsequent children's) education when she was barely two years old.  The internet was new at that time, but I scoured web pages and learned all I could learn about what she should learn, when, and how she should learn it.  I interviewed Montessori schools, played around with Joy School, and when she was three, I knew I wanted to homeschool her.  I remember very clearly planning out her curriculum, placing my order, and receiving that first shipment of homeschool materials.  I was in heaven with my little girl.  And then my little boy. And pretty soon with another little boy in a sling.  I remember the first "real" year she stayed home.  That first year that everyone else her age left home and went to school, and I felt brave for following my instinct.  We watched the bus drive by out the dining room window.  And then we sat back down at the table and got to work.

I still have most of her homeschool work, three-hole punched and categorized by subject and grade in binders.  She doesn't remember most of it, the hundreds of books we read, the poems she memorized, the science projects.  But somehow, it all seeped in there and began to shape her mind and her study habits.  When it was time, when the Spirit whispered to me that change was coming, we both took the next step in faith, and off she went to high school.  Public high school.

Not every influence was good.  Many, many were not, and that made me heavy-hearted.  I watched a lot of her innocence get chipped away.  I already knew what Lyndsay was made of, though, and in those four years she found out for herself that she is strong and capable, and a light that others recognize as shining brightly.  She made a difference.  And now, she is ready for the next step on her journey.  In August, just a few short months away, she will leave the nest and begin her college education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, on scholarship.  We always knew this was part of the plan.  From the time she was three I was mapping out in my mind and hers the importance of gaining as much education as possible.  "At least a Master's degree," I always told her.  "You need to be educated.  You want to be prepared.  And, you want to be interesting.  It's much more enjoyable to talk to educated people, and you'll be a better mother."

On Sunday, we attended her Seminary Graduation.  Four years completed, and four years earning the Excellence in Seminary Award, which means that each year she had 100% attendance, 100% daily reading of the scriptures, 100% scripture mastery (memorizing the 25 scripture mastery scriptures), and completely reading each of the books of scripture being studied that year.  I'm really proud of her and her commitment to early morning Seminary.  I know it made a difference in her life.

She's got a lot to do in the next several weeks, working and putting money away, registering for classes, and preparing to leave home.  She's excited, but not so much, if you know what I mean.  As in, DENIAL.  She'll get there, and I'm thankful she's not a teenager who's dying to "get out of here."  We'll get to spend some time together, and then I'll drive her up to school.  I'm sure at that point, I'll be falling apart.

It's going to be a bittersweet summer.