Down Mulberry Lane

Are we ready for college?

Yesterday was a busy day of trying to figure classes out. 

My daughter has at the moment, decided that elementary education is where she would like to focus her attentions.  She seems fairly happy about this, having come and gone from it a few times, she is fairly certain it is where she wants to be and needs to be.  She has a scholarship for school's first couple years available through our local college and is now trying to make sure that classes will transfer to the college of choice for her when the time comes she needs to transfer for her degree. 

She was at college taking a Successful Start Seminar (which is held before classes officially begin).  I was busy calling and emailing the college to get her first semester's courses pinned down... finding out if they will transfer.  At 12:10 they got back to me in an official way and I headed out to college to meet my daughter who just got out of class so we can rearrange her courses and purchase her books.  We found out that we can't change her classes because all the guidance counselors are away at meetings and won't be back until Monday.  We were going to leave to go camping Monday morning, but we will now need to delay that to see if she can add one more class (Intro to teaching) before school starts. 

We finalized her finances, short of needing to send a copy of her schedule to the scholarship committee.  We then purchased her school books for this semester... $538.16!!! and if she can take this other class, another $110!!!  Crazy, crazy, crazy!!! 

I think I mentioned her blessing of getting a desk from freecycle and it works wonderfully!  We moved her sister out, so she is alone so that she will have uninterrupted study time.  She is still organizing her room, but is loving it.  Last night she says, "I'm going to my room, my very own room," with a sheepish smile on her face.  She's almost 19yo, but I think finally feels like she is growing up and her confidence has soared since working at camp.  She was praised for many things and received an award for her hard work, and ability to smile through the disappointments.  A lot of the staff looked up to her.  With all that positive attention over the summer, she opened up and gained friends and they loved her even with her quirks and she just blossomed.  I know she was thankful for her schooling (at home) before, but now she is happy in who God made her to be. 

Well, we are hoping she can get into the teaching class and that this trip on Monday is worth stalling the camping trip over.  *grin*  Little things like this can be like a grain of sand under a toenail to my DH. 

Kate has already made new friends at college with this Successful Start Seminar and feels like college really isn't as scary as she thought it might be.  For those interested, her reason for picking elementary education is two-fold.  She loves family and wants to first off be a wife and a Mom and hopes to homeschool her own kids some day.  The education background she thinks will benefit her in some ways as having a degree in Iowa she could school at home, but also be a supervising teacher, allowing her a small bit of income while staying at home and encouraging other parents of homeschoolers.   Secondly, if she doesn't have kids right away because it just isn't in God's plan, well, she loves kids and feels this is a good place for her to set her attentions.  She loves finding ways to see faces light up, to see kids "get it" just makes her heart soar.  

I'm happy to see things falling in line.  Some times it seems we are always behind, and yet it seems we may actually be ready for college.  Praise God! 

Warmly, ~Melissa