No time for pictures today.

I've got no time to upload pictures. Personally, I dislike photo-less posts. But, whatever. I guess something is better than nothing, right? Since school started this week 85% of my slave labor has evaporated. Trying to nurse Ruby while keeping Ralph out of trouble is quite the trick!

So school started this week. My traditional first day of school photo session was spoiled by morning thunderstorms. Rose, Jordan, and Thomas started on Monday. Thomas must have been up and dressed by 6:30. Can you tell he was excited?

Leroy started pre-K on Tuesday. His little bus comes to the door at 7:45. Dad walked him on and helped him put on his seat belt. He gets home shortly after noon and tells me each day that he didn't get into trouble! 

Richard and Chipper started on Tuesday also. Richard is taking as many Advanced Placement classes as he can cram into his schedule. Transferring from the Classical School really put him short on graduation credits. Oh, and get this: his world history class curriculum doesn't include anything prior to the Renaissance. Huh? I guess the state history tests don't cover anything earlier. How can you understand world history without studying Greece and Rome at least? At least he studied primary sources in ancient history at CSW.

Chipper has an excellent American history teacher. She claims to be the oldest person in the building, but she is so enthusiastic. History is his favorite subject, so it should be a great learning situation for him. His geometry teacher is interesting. He's never taught geometry before, hasn't seen the book yet, and has an engineering background. Reminds me of myself a couple of years ago. Yeah, can you believe that the math textbooks have not arrived yet?

Wesley passed his Western Civ CLEP test today. I'm so proud of him for taking personal responsibility for learning the material to pass his exams. I've heard several negative comments from well-meaning people about him missing out on the "college experience." These people must not know Wesley very well. He's quite a social person and has a very strong network of friends. He started a local writer's guild to connect with other area writing enthusiasts. He has a strong connection to his family, a (nearly full-time) job that he enjoys and is paying his own way in life. 

I guess he could be racking up student loan debt, sitting in classes taught by unenthusiastic grad students who may not even speak passable English, hanging out in hookah bars or drinking himself into oblivion and cutting classes the next day. And dorm life, don't get me started. It was bad enough 20 years ago, I can only imagine what it's like these days. Much of what I consider the "college experience" is quite negative and no great loss. 

Now, Richard is another story. His mind is set on running cross-country in college so he will perhaps be partaking in the "college experience." I hope he will narrow down his choices soon. It is time to be sending in applications for schools and scholarships. 

Pictures soon, I promise!