You know, I really like having teenagers in the house.
Just a few things that have been going on. On Tuesday, while I took Youngest to her voice lesson, Eldest stayed home and sewed herself a skirt. She had no pattern, though she's planned it out on paper. The sewing machine was giving her troubles, too. For some reason, it would suddenly "burp" at her, and the thread would get all tangled up or break. Then the needle suddenly broke. I guess the "burp" noise was the needle hitting the metal base plate or something. Thankfully, she was almost finished and could hand sew the rest of it. We do have more needles for the machine... somewhere. So she now has a light, flowing summer skirt for herself.
Meanwhile, Youngest has been helping me crochet a huge, ugly blanket to keep in the van. We used up all our cheap, virtually indestructible acrylic yarn. Some of it was left over from projects, others we just never found a use for. It's got at least 10 different colours in it. By the time we were done, it was quite huge. Despite it's incredibly fugliness, both girls love it. Youngest has decided to make another one for herself. She's been slowly buying skeins of Bernat Satin yarn in pairs of colours, without really knowing what she would do with them. She liked the colours. She's made a couple of pairs of slippers, and she and Dh have both made attempts at knitting with them, but that's it. So she's gathered it all up and will be using them to make another blanket for herself. The one she made for herself before used chunky yarn and a cluster stitch. This one will be much simpler. She's working from the middle, out, in rounds until the yarn runs out. Who knows how big it will end up being?
Today, Eldest and I went to the monthly meeting with one of the home school groups we're members of. I've only been to one meeting before, and I can't say I felt very welcome there. I know some of the members in person from park days, but most I meet only through the email list. Today didn't have most of the people who were there last time. The president of the group made it out, which was great. She's such fun. :-D I got to meet someone in person that I'd only spoken to on the phone before, though I realized later that I'd already met her son before.
The meetings usually have specific subjects to discuss, but this one was different. There was a panel of teens, ages 14-18, that were willing to answer questions from the adults in the meeting. The idea was for people to ask questions, then each of the teens, or those the questions were specifically aimed at would provide answers from their own perspectives. Eldest was on the panel, which turned out to be really great for a new person to the group who has recently taken her kids out of school. One of them is less than motivated and, from the situations she described, he's just like Eldest, except that he's dyslexic. I think she came away from the evening feeling more reassured and confident.
The questions they got were interesting. Those that had also gone to public school got a chance to describe their experiences, and the good and bad of both. They were asked what future goals they had, if any (the youngest of them talked about her interests, but had no specific goals yet - and rightfully pointed out that no one can really say what they will, or won't, be doing in 5 or 10 years). The new home schooling mom asked what motivated them, and for advice on the situation with her son. They were asked if they felt home schooling was preparing them for the next stage of their lives, and if there was anything that they would change or do differently if they could. All in all, it was quite interesting. I really enjoyed it.
The teen years are something that have been on my mind a fair bit, recently. No surprise, since I've got two of them, but the thing that comes to mind is that I don't really think of the girls as "teenagers." Eldest may be chronologically a teenager, but as far as I'm concerned, she's an adult. Sure, she might not have a lot of life experience yet, but she has all the capabilities, skills and maturity of an adult. (Actually, more than a lot of adults I've met over the years, but that's something else entirely... *L*) Youngest isn't there quite yet, but she doesn't have far to go.
Whatever roads their lives take them, I have every confidence they're going to do just fine.
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