Jennifer Lambert

A Sacred Balance

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High School Graduation

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My third child is launched out into the world.

As a CCP student for several years already, they applied officially to our local university with enough credits to be almost a junior.

They attended a CCAD College Preview which confirmed they did not actually desire to complete art school. They take commissions and work on lots of arts and crafts projects.

They’ve taken figure skating lessons for years and leveled up frequently. They’re taking a break this first semester of university so they’re not overwhelmed with their schedule.

They’re practicing driving but now have to go through the driver education course this winter due to new laws.

I love how they change their hair and makeup so frequently and have such a fun thrifted unique fashion style.

The last six months were very stressful and I feel I missed out on so much.

We love going to museums and arts festivals. We had some fun day and weekend trips and a great Offspring concert. We had a family beach trip this summer.

I love that I got to provide a nontraditional education to my nontraditional kid.

They won a COLA Dean’s scholarship and is active on the Dean’s advisory board. They should graduate debt-free and probably with extra funds for grad school.

They’re studying classics and art and writing at university and have impressive goals for their future. They’re secretary of the Classics Club and also like attending events with the metaphysical club. They applied for a reception job at their college. They tutor their classmates and are an unofficial TA in Latin.

They’re still living at home and commuting to classes with their sister (and little brother in CCP!) which makes things cheaper and more comfortable and easier on them in many ways – better meals at home and sleeping in their own bed and having their safe space.

They have lots of goals and plans to travel and learn abroad.

High school graduation time is a lovely transition into adulthood.

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Our Curriculum for 2025-2026

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Check out my Instagram to see what we were up to this summer. We went to several fun concerts! I took several trips for baseball tournaments and we had a lovely family summer beach trip to Alabama.

We often celebrate the end of summer and beginning autumn and a new school year with not back to school activities.

This summer seemed to fly by. Honestly the last six months were very busy with my traveling to Atlanta so often to care for my parents.

I highly recommend the books by Louise Bates Ames. A good guide to follow are the What Your ?-Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. His books have some problems, but it’s a great jumping off point.

See how we do history. Our main curriculum Tapestry of Grace (and the way I supplement it each year) covers all the humanities – history, literature, art, music, philosophy, government.

My middle two are both officially attending university full time. One is double majoring with biology and environmental sciences and the other majoring in classics. They both took college algebra over the summer instead of the placement exam for maths. Tori is on the uni noncompeting gymnastics team, and she still does aerial weekly. She works in the entomology lab. Tori is taking Spanish, entomology, calculus, and an education course that satisfies social science element. Akantha is in the classics club. Akantha is taking French and Latin, chemistry, and art.

My son is fifteen and starting university with Ohio CCP. He’s taking Spanish and Earth Science at a local state uni. He will continue with our homeschool humanities program while working through maths and physics with his dad. He plays elite travel baseball and high school baseball with our local district. We have to submit transcripts to the school so he knows he has to keep up with his work which is great accountability.

We encourage our kids to live at home as long as they need for support and saving funds. I still do laundry and cook meals and pack lunches and drive two of them to classes and activities.

We are fortunate to be able to provide an environment my kids feel safe and comfortable as they transition into functioning adults.

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Our Curriculum for 2024-2025

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We had a fun beach trip to Panama City Beach, Florida.

We checked some items off our Ohio summer bucket list with several staycation day trips.

I went to a lot of fun concerts with Tori!

Check out my Instagram to see what we were up to this summer.

We often celebrate the end of summer and beginning autumn and a new school year with not back to school activities.

I highly recommend the books by Louise Bates Ames. A good guide to follow are the What Your ?-Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. His books have some problems, but it’s a great jumping off point.

See how we do history. Our main curriculum Tapestry of Grace (and the way I supplement it each year) covers all the humanities – history, literature, art, music, philosophy, government.

They are all finishing up chemistry and physics and maths.

We have been lucky not to be required to take SAT/ACT, but they do have to complete maths placement exams for university.

My kids are very active with skating/roller blading, cycling, hiking, walking, fishing, playing the Wii and Switch, in addition to their classes and sports.

Some electives the kids are pursuing in addition to sports are cooking/baking, creative writing, drawing/animation, arts and crafts, jewelry making.

  • Tori continues aerial gymnastics twice a week.
  • Akantha continues figure ice skating lessons several times a week.
  • Alex plays elite 15u baseball with Midland Dayton.

My son is “officially” 9th grade according to his age and on transcripts that I must submit to the local high school for his eligibility to play baseball. He may decide to do CCP next year, 2025-2026. I am starting over again with Ancient History Year 1 cycle.

Akantha is “officially” 12th grade according to transcripts that I must submit to the local university for their third and final year with College Credit Plus for admission next year. They’re already a sophomore. They’re taking Latin, Hindu Goddesses, writing, and Greek Magic. Love seeing their watercolors this summer and they’re starting an oil painting class! Follow their journey on their Instagram.

Tori is beginning her first “official” year of university with honors biology and environmental science, minoring in photography. She’s already a sophomore from two years of CCP.

I stilll love learning along with my kids.

We are reading aloud several classic novels to round out our education. We are finishing up The Philosophy Book.

We are reading through Discovering Life’s Story and History of US by Joy Hakim.

My eldest child is working full-time in a blood donation center.

I’m still very needed to make breakfasts and pack lunches and help getting my college kids to their campus since only one drives and their schedules don’t overlap much this year. We eat a hot dinner together almost every night. I cherish these last few years before they go off on their own.

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Ohio Summer Bucket List with Teens

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My teens are 18, 17, and 14…and we have a list of fun things to do that they’ve asked for or that we planned together, to explore Ohio. My eldest is 23, and can sometimes join us when her work schedule allows and she’s interested.

We’ve been cooped up with quarantines. Last year was college preview camps, job stress, and ongoing personal complications. This summer is our year finally to have some fun.

Akantha will attend ice skating sessions to keep up their skills. They’re looking for a part time job. They’re baking their way through The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

Tori has aerial arts lessons twice a week. She also works part time at a local grocery store. She wants to go kayaking on one of our local rivers. We’re going to several concerts this spring and summer: They Might Be Giants and Kraftwerk in May, The Chicago And Earth, Wind & Fire: Heart & Soul Tour and The Totally Tubular Festival in July, and The 311 Unity Tour with AWOLNATION and Neon Trees in August.

We do have some baseball college scout days for Alex and a big tournament in PCB, but we’re all home this summer other than that.

I don’t believe all that we only have eighteen summers with our kids.  I am blessed that my eldest lives nearby and we are all still close. Tori plans to live at home as long as she can commute to college.

We have lots of plans for day trips, weekends away, or longer – yes, while it is busier to plan with teens and young adults and all the scheduling conflicts, we still strive to make memories happen.

Activities

My four kids all have passes to Kings Island this year. They can go together or with their friends whenever they’re free and the weather is agreeable.

We have Premier passes to Mason Community Center and they have a fun waterpark too!

We have some arts and crafts that have sat in the office closet for years. We have some household projects that the kids love to help with. And we’re gonna do it this summer!

  • Dutch wooden shoe painting from our trip to Amsterdam
  • Mosaic trays
  • Tie dye
  • Refinish garden bench
  • Painting walls and doors and garage steps?
  • Refinishing stair banister
  • Staining deck

We have some places we’ve been wanting to try to see what all the fuss is about.

  • Topgolf
  • Main Event
  • Pinball Garage
  • Ohio Antique Mall
  • Trader World and Treasures
  • lots of fun local places to eat or get snacks

We have some things we love to do all the time too:

  • Jungle Jim’s
  • Various thrift and antique stores
  • Bowling!

We have some fun places we’d like to visit around Ohio. We’ve been to lots of places already and we might revisit some of them.

There are also some fun museums on the Blue Star Map!

Dayton

Where we’ve been:

Dayton Plans:

Cincinnati

What we’ve done:

Cincy Plans:

Columbus

Where we’ve gone:

Columbus Plans:

  • Dawes Arboretum
  • Westerville, especially Birdie Books
  • Dublin, for the statues and street art
  • Tensuke Market
  • Inniswood MetroPark
  • Indian Run Falls
  • Hayden Run Falls
  • North Market
  • Franklin Park Conservatory
  • Park of Roses
  • Topiary Park
  • Stuart Little’s home: 717 1/8 S. 3rd St. Columbus Ohio 43206

Toledo

Where we visited:

Toledo Plans:

  • Libbey Glass Factory Outlet
  • Toledo Museum of Art
  • Tony Packo’s

Cleveland Area

We took a trip to Cleveland last summer, but we have so much more to explore near that city – to include Canton and Akron and area natural forests. We probably won’t get to many of these this year. It’s not a day trip from Dayton.

  • Smucker Store
  • Majestic Meadows Alpacas & Boutique
  • Stan Hywet
  • Squire’s Castle
  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park
  • Chagrin Falls Waterfall
  • The Holden Arboretum
  • Rockefeller Park & Greenhouse
  • Umbrella Alley

There are some other places that aren’t near major cities.

We’ve been to Hocking Hills and Burr Oak.

Tori and I did an ODNR Contac trip to the Zaleski area (where I got my first tick so we call it the tick forest).

Where we’d like to see:

I’m in several Facebook groups for Ohio road trips and day trips that give us lots of fun ideas and reviews.

What are your favorite places to visit in Ohio?

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Yellow Spring Hike

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We went on a little hike I’ve been wanting to do for years and we just never got around it for various reasons.

We finally saw the famous Yellow Spring!

We drove through Yellow Springs and parked at the main Glen Helen Vernet Ecological Center on Corry Street. It’s $10 for a day pass or $50 for an annual pass. They’re a nonprofit and no longer a part of Antioch College.

Tori and Akantha have been CCP students these past two years.

Tori took us along on a short hike Inman Trail that copied her college geology lab class field trip. She led us on a circle by the creek and to the spring and back to the welcome center.

The Dam was fascinating and looked like it defied gravity.

The Cascades and rock formations were really beautiful.

There is a small Adena Burial Mound right beside the path.

The Yellow Spring is so orangey-red from the iron and other minerals.

Read some cool history about Yellow Springs.

The hoodoo rock formation shows erosion split it in half.

The Grotto is a lovely rock cave waterfall.

After a picnic lunch, we drove to see some local covered bridges. There is another closed bridge within Glen Helen that we will find another time. Tori wants to visit all the Ohio bridges. We saw the longest one last summer near Cleveland.

We got to drive through one!

We have a fun summer bucket list before Tori starts college – “for real.”

And I don’t believe in the old criticism that “we only have eighteen summers” with our kids. I am blessed that my eldest lives nearby and we are all still close. Tori plans to live at home as long as she can commute to college. We have lots of plans for school breaks and summers and yes, while it is busier to plan with teens and young adults and all the scheduling conflicts, we still strive to make events happen.

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Graduation Day

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Well, the invitations are coming in and my graduating student is thoroughly excited to celebrate with her friends.

And I feel like garbage.

I didn’t get a copy of Oh, the Places You‘ll Go! signed by everyone she’s interacted with since toddlerhood.

I didn’t get senior portraits in a field of weeds.

We don’t have any parties or trips planned.

I didn’t do any of the trendy Instagram-worthy Pinteresting things that I wasn’t even aware of.

It’s been a rough few years, with COVID closing all our extracurricular activities for a couple years. And after that, my teens aged out of a lot of classes and camps and some never started back up after the quarantine. There have been several ups and downs with job changes and income levels fluctuating.

I feel like I really dropped the ball and the end of this year has kinda snuck up on me.

My own senior year and high school graduation week was a fiasco.

I was one of the first students in Georgia to attempt dual enrollment with high school and college. My counselor and principal refused to help or grant any concessions or early dismissal, so I went directly to a local college and enrolled as a Freshman Scholar. I was still required to complete senior English, so I had to take marketing and another elective in order to leave early. I was require to work part time retail for my marketing class.

Senior week is supposed to be a fun time with graduation practice and whatnot, and when I showed up, several students forgot I even attended the school.

Graduation itself was funny. We handed condoms to our principal as we accepted a fake diploma. Several of us brought silly string and hid it in our sleeves. In order to receive our diploma folder, we had to return our cap and gown and a silly penlight since they thought it was a good idea for some “candlelight” moment. I dropped mine so they threatened to withhold my actual diploma.

My parents decided to go celebrate my graduation in downtown Atlanta at Chops steakhouse. Then they got upset I ordered lamb chops instead of steak. I swear I have seldom been so embarrassed: they stole the steak knives from the table. As we left, I pointed to a case by the door where they sold the knives and branded merchandise. I don’t even remember getting any gifts. We didn’t have a party with my large extended family or any of my friends.

I don’t really like ceremony anyway, but I always wanted my kids to feel special and that any day of celebration for them was about them and not about me.

My first child completed our homeschool in Germany and we were so happy for her and I got some fun photos at a nearby park and I ordered a cute pink mortarboard for her. We didn’t have a party since we didn’t have anyone to invite. We had traveled to many cities in Europe so she has some special memories of her teen years. We moved back to the States and she got a part time job and started college a year early. She didn’t want her driving license until she was eighteen. She resented a lot and regrets a lot of what we had to do, but she also wishes she could have graduated college during COVID somehow like some of her peers.

My elderly parents live near Atlanta, but they don’t communicate with my family; they express no interest in my kids at all. They don’t even seem to remember that I have four children, and often lump the middle two together. We haven’t seen my parents since 2018. My husband’s sisters don’t talk to me or the kids. They live near Chicago, and we haven’t seen them since 2012. It’s lonely and sad.

But I can celebrate my child even if no one else will.

She has performed with aerial gymnastics for about seven years – silks, lyra, and trapeze.

She has a part time job at a local grocery store since she was fifteen.

She has been a College Credit Plus student at a local university for two years, so she is already a sophomore in college at high school graduation. She is accepted as an honors student there this fall and we are very proud. She plans to commute so she can have better food and the comfort of her own bed and space.

She wanted her driving license as soon as possible so we got her the mandatory driving skill classes and a cute little Prius when she turned sixteen.

She attended Space Camp last summer, which has been her dream all her life.

We’re thrilled she got invited to the local high school prom with a group of girl friends.

We are very proud of everything she has done and she has some great goals I am sure she will meet!

Yes, I know that admonition about having only eighteen summers, and I know we have had some great and busy ones and some boring not so great ones. I also feel I have a few more summers to make some great memories, and I have no intention of just sending my kids away to live their own lives without me. I will stay as involved and close as they will let me be. I am blessed that my kids still want to go shopping, attend events, and travel with me.

This summer, we have a beach trip planned, but it will be a multitasker for my son’s baseball tournament. I hope to have a few long weekends or short trips to places that are interesting to my graduating child – hiking or thrifting, art and history museums.

Graduation should be a time for celebration. It’s a huge milestone for kids on the cusp of adulthood.

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Dayton MetroParks

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We love exploring the Dayton Metroparks: hiking, fishing, wildlife.

It’s great that we have so many options that are mostly free or frugal family friendly natural outings.

There are only a couple of these parks we have not visited, but we’ve only lived in Ohio for 6.5 years. There are a few we visited and surprisingly didn’t get any pictures! I think we were all busy oohing and aahing over flowers, rocks, leaves, or wildlife.

The Dayton Metropark 19 facilities are:

  1. Aullwood Garden MetroPark, Englewood
  2. Carriage Hill MetroPark, Huber Heights
  3. Cox Arboretum and Gardens MetroPark, Dayton
  4. Deeds Point MetroPark, Dayton
  5. Eastwood MetroPark, Riverside
  6. Englewood MetroPark, Englewood
  7. Germantown MetroPark, Germantown
  8. Hills & Dales MetroPark, Kettering
  9. Huffman MetroPark, Fairborn
  10. Island MetroPark, Dayton
  11. Possum Creek MetroPark, Dayton
  12. RiverScape MetroPark, Dayton
  13. 2nd Street Market, Dayton
  14. Sugarcreek MetroPark, Sugarcreek Township
  15. Sunrise MetroPark, Dayton
  16. Taylorsville MetroPark, Vandalia
  17. Twin Creek MetroPark, Germantown
  18. Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark, Dayton
  19. Wesleyan MetroPark, Dayton

The Metropark 8 conservation areas include:

  • Dull Woods Conservation Area
  • Medlar Conservation Area
  • Needmore Conservation Area
  • Pigeye Conservation Area
  • Sandridge Prairie Conservation Area
  • Shiloh Woods Conservation Area
  • Twin Valley Conservation Area
  • Woodman Fen Conservation Area

I know my kids have seen some of these areas and I’m planning to explore the conservation areas with them soon.

Some of our Favorite Metroparks:

Cox Arboretum

We’ve been to Cox Arboretum many, many times. It’s nearby and so lovely in every season.

I even made it up the treehouse tower once! I’m terrified of heights.

We love the gardens, prairies, and walking paths into the woods.

Tori and I really enjoyed attending some of the Eco Talks at Cox Arboretum this past year.

Taylorsville

We love the easy three mile hike along the river with pretty wildflower and rock formations at Taylorsville Park.

The first time we went, we got a little lost on our way back to the parking lot. We missed the sign with the right arrow and direction and then it started pouring down rain, so now the park is nicknamed That Park We Missed the Turn.

Germantown

We’ve been to the Germantown park several times over the years. It’s just so pretty. It might be our absolute favorite with so many different views and ecosystems.

We love the prairie, high view, and Bob Siebenthaler Natural Area.

We love the big trees and creek.

There are several places to park for different trailheads and some cool fishing spots!

Twin Creek

Twin Creek park is nice and very similar and close to Germantown.

We enjoyed seeing the Hopewell Mound.

Huffman

We really love the Huffman park and there are two main parts – the dam walkway and around the pond. We’ve been a few times and it’s always lovely.

Possum Creek

We’ve only been to the Possum Creek park once and it was such a lovely day!

It’s really interesting it used to be the former Argonne Forest amusement park and there are placards explaining the ruins. 

Sugarcreek

Alex and I hiked in Sugarcreek Park and saw the fun Osage Orange tunnel and Three Sisters!

We love hiking and exploring nature, and I’m so pleased we still go often as a family now that my kids are teens and growing up and getting so busy.

I want us all to remain active as we grow older – it’s good for our health!

Linking up at these blogs.

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Our Curriculum for 2023-2024

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Summer was exciting with a fun Alabama beach trip and a lake trip near Cleveland.

Tori attended Space Camp!

Akantha attended a CCAD art college preview on merit scholarship.

Summer seems shorter and shorter each year.

We often celebrate the end of summer and beginning autumn and a new school year with not back to school activities.

I highly recommend the books by Louise Bates Ames. A good guide to follow are the What Your ?-Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. His books have some problems, but it’s a great jumping off point.

9th Grade

My son is 13 and working on high school texts. I am not worried at all about his academics. I’m trying to find materials to keep him interested a few more years! We might focus more on writing this year.

12th Grade

My middle two kids will attend a local university with CCP this year. It will be their second year doing this.

Tori has her driver’s license, a car, and a part time job at a local grocery store.

Tori is in her last homeschool year and will apply to the university to continue her studies.

Akantha has two more years before they can apply to college. So they will have like a double senior year, since they’re mostly done in our homeschool.

Both have always done much of their school work and many activities together.

First semester:

Tori is taking photography, ecology science with lab, and freshman writing.

Akantha is taking Latin and drawing.

Some electives the kids are pursuing in addition to sports are cooking/baking, creative writing, drawing/animation, arts and crafts, jewelry making.

My kids are very active with skating/roller blading, cycling, hiking, walking, fishing, playing the Wii and Switch, in addition to their classes and sports.

  • Tori continues aerial gymnastics twice a week.
  • Akantha takes ice skating lessons three times a week.
  • Alex plays elite baseball.

Our main text this year would be (as soon as it’s released!) The History of the Modern World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade by Susan Wise Bauer. I also hope to find the Study and Teaching Guide: The History of the Modern World: A curriculum guide to accompany The History of the Modern World by Julia Kaziewicz. We have so enjoyed the other three books in this series!

We are technically on Year 4 in our history cycle. Year 4 covers some important near history and I cannot wait to dive deep into literature. Since this series follows a slightly different timeline than our earlier cycles, I can pull ideas from our Year 3 books while we wait for publication.

We are enjoying these books in the meantime:

See how we do history. Our main curriculum Tapestry of Grace (and the way I supplement it each year) covers all the humanities – history, literature, art, music, philosophy, government.

My eldest child is working full-time in a local hospital with the medical laboratory and phlebotomy.

I hope everyone has a great year!

You might also like to see our other homeschool years:

Recommendations:

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CCAD College Preview

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So pleased my child earned a partial scholarship to College Preview at Columbus College of Art & Design.

Akantha’s sister, Tori, attended Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, this summer! That camp was only one week long.

I was really nervous about them being away for three whole weeks, the longest I’ve ever been apart from them their whole life. But they did great!

They stressed in email communications and during orientation all the freedom the students would have. It’s truly a preview of what college will be like.

What I wished I had known:

  • There is a communal microwave in the common lounge on each dorm floor (no fridge). Some students brought their own mini fridges.
  • Lockers are provided for each student in each dorm room (I ran out and bought a lock, which I could have brought from home.)
  • Three big trash cans are provided in each dorm suite.
  • Floor mats for bathroom are needed!
  • Students are responsible for their own meds. There is no nurse to turn meds in, like at every other camp we’ve ever attended, and these are minors, so I was surprised. (I ran to CVS and bought 3 of those little daily pill organizers, which I could have brought from home, had I known.)
  • Maybe a full supply list, including anything recommended or optional, would have been helpful. My student had to buy paper from the shop twice and I had to send ink and pens via Amazon.

Overall, it was very organized and safe and seemed very well done. They’ve offered College Preview for over ten years.

My student did fine on their own, and only forgot their meds a couple times. They ate ok and we made sure they had access to money via Google pay and Doordash for snacks and supplies. It was nice that I was only about an hour away, but they didn’t need me.

The schedule was emailed and printed for each student. Educators for each major emailed their students some detailed information.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are each weekday and brunch and dinner on weekends. Weekends were for studio time. There is a cute little grocery on campus.

Morning sessions were for each major area of study:

  • Animation
  • Comics & Narrative Practice
  • Fashion Design
  • Fine Arts
  • Film & Video
  • Game Art & Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Illustration
  • Interior Architecture & Design
  • Photography
  • Product Design

Afternoon sessions were assigned alphabetically to explore other artistic interests and information.

Some evenings offered fun events like a welcome bonfire in the courtyard, a visit from the Canid Center ambassadors, guest speakers, and optional city walks.

Weekly field trips:

  • Franklinton Arts District
  • Columbus Museum of Art
  • Otherworld
  • Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Columbus Institute of Art
Otherworld

There was a lovely art show for students Friday evening and for families and friends Saturday morning.

My little overachiever is the only comics student who made time to color their pages and also had the most pages (12!) to get their own wall for the show.

The commencement was short and it was so nice to see our students walk the stage for certificates of completion! My baby is a Barbie for sure.

The CCAD College Preview is a great experience for high school students who are interested in attending art school. While it is of course a pipeline for CCAD admission, it’s a good way to see if art school or a city college might be a good choice.

Follow Akantha on Instagram! Their commissions are open!!!

Linking up: Pinch of Joy, Eclectic Red Barn, Random Musings, Ridge Haven, Grammy’s Grid, Pams’ Party, Stroll Thru Life, God’s Growing Garden, Suburbia, Scribbling Boomer, Jenerally Informed, Esme Salon, LouLou Girls, Perfectly Imperfect, Grace Filled Moments, InstaEncouragements, Jeanne Takenaka, Joanne Viola, Homestead, Ducks in a Row, Fluster Buster, Slices of Life, Life at 139a, Modern Monticello, Coastal Bohemian, Answer is Choco, Momfessionals, Lisa Notes, Try it Like it, Shelbee, Katherine’s Corner, Pieced Pastimes,

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Space Camp

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My daughter has wanted to go to Space Camp for about ten years and we were so excited to finally send her this summer!

She attended the first summer week of Advanced Space Academy and was one of the older teens there.

There was a huge waiting list since COVID, so she was in overflow, and stayed in military barracks and not the cool Space Camp pods. It was not as comfy and she was a little disappointed.

Space Camp is nothing at all like the movie, by the way.

We drove down from Ohio to Huntsville, Alabama, and stayed at the lovely Drury Inn just across the way. We didn’t want to risk being late for check-in, but to have an afternoon and evening to relax a little.

Check-in was an absolute nightmare.

There is a new building and it was just not organized at all.

There could have been so many different and better ways to go about checking in. It was just a free-for-all of all age groups and parents, siblings, family and friends (even though every single communication said one parent to check in the camper). Apparently, some parents had an even worse time checking in several children of different ages or for different camps happening simultaneously. They had to even get back in line!

Per all the emails, I was supposed to arrive for the older teen check-in between noon and one. It took about two hours to get through the check-in process and I assumed I could be in and out within an hour. If they had staggered age groups or had different lines for different campers, it could have been so much better.

After check-in, I had to load all her stuff back in the car and drive to her barracks. I did get to see her in her bunk before leaving. I had a long drive back from Alabama to Ohio.

She said the food was good and she got biscuits every morning.

No outside food or drinks are allowed. We did not opt for prepurchasing snack packs or loading her ID wristband with money for vending. She did not want a flight suit. She bought herself a James Webb pin from a gift shop and that was all.

She was excited for EVA missions, anti-gravity tests, SCUBA, and the ropes course.

She was busy, busy and couldn’t get many pictures on her smartphone, but there is a photographer and about twenty photos were uploaded and available for free downloads. There were also photo packages available for purchase.

I drove back to Alabama at the end of the week, and again stayed at the Drury Inn for a night.

The graduation process was so much better and the age groups were separated into the auditorium and parents were corraled before allowed to get check-out stickers for their kids. Since I only had the one child, it was easy for me. I heard having several children in different age groups was difficult since they wouldn’t allow but one sticker every two hour increment.

We were informed literally the day before graduation that families could tour the museum and grounds after picking up a camper, but we already had reservations for Gulf Shores. We just didn’t have time.

She wanted to attend the special invitation-only Elite Space Camp next year. After sending three emails asking about the invitation and them telling me “not yet” they never sent the invite and then told me it was sent “last year” and sold out in two hours. Probably for the best, since they’re not organized in the least.

Tori’s sibling, Akantha, attended CCAD college preview this summer.

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