Celebrations

Finally getting around to posting the pictures from the end of our year. Hope you enjoy!!

Painting their last day of school rocks


on the couch with their model of the ISS


Singing this. Nathaniel did the speaking part.



Samuel entertained the crowd by singing the Battle of New Orleans, complete with a tennis racket banjo


Then he decided that he needed a microphone


We also went to Susan Moore High School's graduation recently. It was probably the best graduation ceremony I know of recently. Instead of a bunch of adults tooting their own horns the whole focus was on the class and their achievements. The salutatorian was a babbling idiot(let's just say she made a good advertisement for homeschooling!), but the valedictorian was well spoken enough to more than make up for it.




The boys with Uncle Jonathan


Amanda, Jonathan, and Anna Claire


Maybe I enjoyed the graduation since I got to hold Anna Claire during the whole thing!

School Pride

Shockingly, this is not a homeschool post. There is a saying in Albertville, Alabama: Once an Aggie always an Aggie. (Our football team was called the Aggies. Our mascot was the devil. not sure why) Watching this little old lady, I believe the saying.


The thing that really sets Albertville apart from other schools that I have been to/been a part of is that school pride runs deeper there than anywhere else. The school system's motto is "Spirit of Excellence" They mean it, too. The choirs, the band, the math team, the science team, even the PTO get awards. (No joke, we got top PTO in the Southeast one year!) The football team for a few years was really bad, but nobody really cared. The academics were strong. They even got rid of *good* coaches who were bad for the boys. (My former high school football coach was hired at Albertville, and fired. He was a Sunday Christian. He'd come to church, make the football team come once a year, but during the week he'd cuss those kids like they were dogs. My school tolerated it, because he was a winning coach, Albertville did not)
So while you might not ever see me wearing one the "Aggie for life and proud of it" t-shirts, I do feel a certain sense of pride when I see the band perform at the Macy's parade. When the choirs receive awards. When the math team comes in top ten in the nation. Ditto Science Team. And yes, I was a member of the PTO the year we won.