School Year Wrap-up

My homeschooling days are two years past now, but our lives perpetually revolve around the school year calendar. Last week was exam week for everyone. I still have a few papers to grade, but Randy has his grades all submitted. Here we are with the traditional end-of-the-year ice cream celebration!

We took a quick trip down to North Carolina midweek to help Duncan pack up his dorm room and transport stuff home. He'll be out in the Pisgah National Forest for the next three weeks as part of a class —backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, etc. 

Duncan at the climbing wall where he works

Had a nice dinner with Duncan and his girlfriend, JR

So, Duncan has now finished his sophomore year in college (or will have after this 3-week class), Jesse has finished year 2 of law school (one more to go!), and Laurel and Hunter graduated with their master's degrees!

They actually both still have a summer semester before they official graduate, but their divisions both walk in the May ceremony. At the end of July, Laurel will be a Master of Marriage and Family Therapy, and Hunter will have a Master of Divinity. And then... who knows? They are job hunting!

Last day of class!

I finished my first year as an adjunct writing instructor at Maryville College, teaching freshmen composition. It's basically always been my goal to teach part-time at the college level, and I absolutely loved it. There was definitely a learning curve —especially with technology — but I just enjoyed helping these students grow as writers, find their footing in college, and persevere to the end of this very strange year. I'm hoping there will be a class or two for me to teach again next year!

The pandemic of course made family gatherings rare. This photo was taken on Mom's birthday in April. It's the first time we'd all been together since Thanksgiving, and we are all fully vaccinated! Speaking of being fully vaccinated, here's Dad proudly sporting his "Fauci Ouchie" button.

Summer couldn't join us that day, as she has been commissioned to do a mural for the Dogwood Arts Festival. She did an amazing one at the Knoxville Zoo and then also did this one a different weekend at World's Fair Park. Isn't she incredible?

So, here we are, at the end of the academic year! Randy and I are looking forward to doing lots of hiking and waterfall exploring this summer. 

We hope to take a trip up to NY, as Duncan will be working at my brother's orchard in Ithaca.  Beyond that, we don't really have any solid plans! We're just so happy to have vaccinations all around so that we can venture out safely.

And that's a recap of academic year 20-21 in our own small world!