DD 9th grade: Math: Precalculus (I think) 1 credit English: Honors English (working toward AP English Lit but may have her take exam next year because so many great things to read) partly at home and partly with tutor. 1 credit Science: Chemistry. 1 credit History: Medieval History. 1 credit Foreign Language: French. 1 credit. Also Irish Gaelic but maybe not for credit...might be more extracurricular depending how much time she ends up putting into it. AP Music Theory online class. 1 credit Extracurricular: Violin lessons, fiddle lessons, teaching her student, and volunteer/fundraising projects....too much music stuff to list. Going to gym 2-4 days per week (possibly a credit of P.E.??) Blogging and writing. Drawing and interior design. She loves studying anything Irish history related and has been reading, watching videos, and taking online courses...not sure if it's enough for a credit.

I struggled with these questions early on. Dd (with her brothers) began doing music gigs very young and people would ask for a business card or if she was on YouTube so they could show [whoever]. They wanted to know where she was performing next. At first I did YouTube videos and kept a blog mainly for family who lived all over the country and as a sort of journal for myself. I cannot remember when I finally created a webpage but the kids were still young maybe dd was 7 or 8? It was a free page except for purchasing the domain name and I put on some basic information....Bio, pictures, links to video, and schedule so local people would know where they were playing. I kept, and still keep, a separate hidden page with any info a venue needs for promotional purposes so once dd is hired I can send the link and the venue has access to downloadable materials to create posters or whatever. As dd has gotten more into the public eye, the webpage has included more information and when she put out a CD last year I purchased the option where people could buy the CD directly from the webpage. I held out on a Facebook page until dd was 12 and even then, it was a "fan page." I post to the page and moderate everything (sometimes it's a little funny when young boys attempt to contact dd through the page and I type back "this is her fan page and I am her mother who keeps it up to date.") Initially I allowed the fan page because one camp she was involved with (which was for people 15yo and up so figured everyone had Facebook) sent all correspondence through Facebook...schedule for the day and important notices. It helps with promoting events and seeing where people we like to hear are performing. Dd now has a personal page as well but it is for her "friends" and I keep an eye on what is going on there. She also has her own Instagram and Twitter which I allowed at 13. She has friends all over the world and she keeps in touch with the through these. She started her own blog a few years ago and she posts about her musical adventures and does interviews with other musicians. She and her writing tutor have fun with that. Her interviews helped her get an offer from a fiddling magazine, who interviewed her for an article about her, for her to submit an articles written by her...the editor found out about her blog during the interview, liked her writing style, and asked her to do a specific topic. She has to wait for the topic event to happen then she will write and submit her article.

Teach the child you have. Chose curriculum that fits your child and don't try to fit your child to the curriculum.

I've been in every state of the contiguous US except Washington and Oregon....but will be in Oregon next weekend. I've been to Canada and all over Ireland. Will visit Scotland and England this fall.

Yes. The only one still considered a kid turned 14 today. She plays music gigs.

I would think many families begin things having no idea where they will lead. Not every activity a child begins ends up becoming a life-consuming passion requiring huge time and money commitments. Our family has been involved in so many different activities over the years…soccer, wrestling, dance, taekwondo, and music. I asked the kids to pick an instrument to learn and figured they'd take their weekly 30-60 minute lesson and practice 30-60 min a day…that's what happened with me and it is what we could afford. We had no idea that our kids would be passionate about it and the costs involved…I didn't even know the Irish traditional music world existed when the kids were young and having a child talented in classical (or any) music was not even on my radar…didn't happen in "my" world. I think it is the rare family who can afford to fund participation at the highest levels of skill but it is the rare family who needs to be able to do it because the majority of kids do not reach those levels. If every family limited their children's participation in things thinking about what costs might be if their child reached those highest levels, there would be very, very few people enjoying musical instruments, dance, or sports and enjoyment comes from participation at all levels of skill.

I would allow her to pay for it. I think working toward a goal and earning their own money helps kids take ownership and learn the value of their work. My kids have always used their gig money to help pay for music related expenses that, as a family, we could not have afforded otherwise. Ds2 is 18 and fully funds his own music expenses and camps with gig money. My dd attends a camp every summer for which she received a full scholarship a couple times. Now she "works" at that camp to pay her way. She uses her gig money to help with her other camp and her own travel expenses to Europe for competition. She paid for half her full size fiddle and has purchased an expensive travel case and a bow she wanted (she busked in Ireland for that one). Any money she has left over goes in her bank account.

We moved on with spelling with Spelling Power, did poetry memorization work, and read a lot. I think around 1st we did the MCT language arts program.

I use google calendar. Our schedules are crazy with two of my kids performing with multiple groups (different people scheduling and needing to know quickly if a date is available) so everyone who needs to know is on a shared calendar. It's been working well.

My parents are not divorced. Dh's parents divorced when he was 19....each was married prior to marrying the other and each married another person afterward who they also divorced....substance abuse by both. Dh's father has twelve brothers and sisters and of the twelve, six have been married more than once. Two of my mother's four sisters have been married more than once.

Maybe sports are not his thing. There are so many different activities out there for someone to be interested in. My oldest wrestled his whole life. He lived and breathed wrestling and will probably help coach at a high school this coming year. He also got his black belt in taekwondo. Middle ds wrestled off and on, got his black belt in taekwondo, lifted sometimes, and played football. He enjoyed the socializing of team sports but was never competitive in the least. Music is his thing and it is what he does now. Dd tried all sorts of physical activities such as soccer, taekwondo, dance, etc… Music is her life but she just recently began to enjoy going to the gym to lift weights and do cardio. She also recently developed an interest in drawing.

I am enjoying them at every age as it comes rather than missing what is past. I love seeing the adults they are growing up to be.

Traveling across the county for dd to perform…plans include a 4th of July parade, orchestral performance, and fireworks. Looking forward to everything except the actual air travel part.

Depends what you consider a vacation. I travel regularly with my kids for their music gigs/competitions, probably gone long weekends every other week and week long trips every 2-3 months. We take a family vacation where everyone goes about once or twice a year but these usually involve a visit to family, holiday, or something music related.

My dd will be beginning high school this year and I am in the midst of helping her figure out what it will look like. I am learning to let go of my ideas of what it should be so we can make it fit for her. She has a 90-120 min classical lesson weekly and an hour twice monthly fiddle lesson (which takes all day due to travel 3 hours each way). When she is home, she practices 2-5 hours daily. If she has a busy day, school suffers, not her practicing so she tends to make it up on weekends and by doing a longer school year. We travel nearly every weekend for performances, sometimes long weekends, sometimes whole weeks and if we are home usually spend hours in pubs at least once a week jamming with other musicians for fun. Summer is full with travel for music camps, festivals, gigs, and competition. Her schedule this past year tended to be wake up, eat breakfast, practice, school, practice, school....until about 4pm then often some practice with her brother in the evening. She runs her own schedule and is completely independent with practice and completing school. My job is to let her know what schoolwork to complete each day. She meets with a tutor 2 hours on Tuesday mornings for languages arts. When traveling, school is done in the car or in airports. We listen to a lot of Great Courses while driving...everything from music history to mythology to history. She has interests in literature, writing, and, recently, psychology and neuroscience so I am still trying to figure out how we will fit everything in. She took a music theory course this past year (8th grade) and will take AP Music Theory this coming year. She has her main instrument but messes around picking out accompaniment to pop songs on piano or Irish tunes on flute or tin whistle. At this point her goal is to play music for a living but she is not sure yet if she wants to study only music in college or study something else. She doesn't think classical performance is her goal so if she did study music in college, possibly Berklee or the Irish music program at University of Limerick.

:grouphug:

Dh had a college professor like this. Dh was working full time and going to college at night but had a 4.0 GPA. This professor would give tests with questions never discussed in the readings or in class. He bragged about how badly everyone in the class was doing. Dh was failing the class going into the final even after going in for help frequently. The professor handed out the final, Dh said he looked at this last test with nothing at all resembling material from class, stood up, said, "This is ****," threw it in the trash and walked out. Dh was very surprised to see an A- as his final grade the next week.

When the kids were young, they were each involved in multiple extracurricular activities to introduce them to a variety of different options…various sports (individual and group), martial arts, music, and dance were some options. Some activities they excelled at and others they were mediocre at but it didn't really matter. They gained some sort of skill doing each activity even if it was a more personal or social skill. If they began something, they completed a season (or year) of it but then none ever begged to quit in the middle of something so not sure what we would have done. As they got older, they dropped some activities and tried others but eventually each of them slowly migrated to something they loved (this came at different ages...from very young to 10th/11th grade depending on the child ) and that thing gradually took up more and more of their time requiring them to make decisions on how they wanted to spend their time. At that point it was more about following a passion and time/cost constraints limited their involvement in other things.

Ds20 Finally decided what he wants to be when he grows up and earned a 4.0 this year in college. Ds18 Graduated high school. Began performing with a trio of young adults (in addition to all his performances with his sis) and is loving life at the moment. Earned enough money to purchase the new custom-made guitar of his dreams (it should arrive early next week after months of waiting). Dd13 Had a great year academically. Had an awesome year musically-lots of performances including her first two week "tour" which ended with a 5-show run in Boston where she performed and put forth her own ideas on arrangements with musicians over twice her age. It was so cool to watch her work. She also rediscovered her love for classical music (don't think it will ever top her folk music but she was wanted to quit classical completely about 10 months ago so it's nice to see her putting in hours on her own and loving it). The thing I am most proud of is a project she was inspired to think about over two years but in the past few weeks, finally started moving forward on…it's a fundraising project and I can't give details yet but I am really proud of her vision and how fearless she is when putting her ideas out there to others.

Nearly everything dd gets to do (performances, recordings, attending shows, etc…) is because of people we've met or know but this one might top them all… For the past 3 years, dd has been invited to perform at a Christmas show in NYC run by a musician we met who loves her playing and has been in the business for a really, really long time. During each show (usually a long weekend of 4-5 shows) in the run, he has someone "important" like an author, poet, political figure, actor, etc… come onstage at some point for a one-on-one interview segment with him. During one show this past Christmas, he had the composer of Riverdance on for the interview. Dd was able to meet and talk with him and he stayed around to listen to the rest of the show. A few months ago, the man called and asked if dd would like to travel across the country to perform his music with an orchestra…so in a few weeks we are headed to Oregon for a long weekend, all expenses paid and dd paid well, so she can do this. She is extremely excited!

If she is traveling with her viola, she might ask the flight attendants checking people in if she might board the flight when they begin calling for boarding rather than waiting for her level of boarding if it is near the end of the line. That way she is sure to get her instrument onboard and safely stowed in the overhead while there is still room especially on a full flight. Edited to change violin to viola…LOL…listening to one while typing didn't work out.

Hmmmm. Thought I had responded to this. We've been planning and re-planning for the past couple months but I think we finally have our plan. Dd (9th grade) English: With a tutor and at home- I have an AP English Lit course syllabus prepared but dd has so much she wants to study including Medieval literature to go with her history course so might focus more in the AP thing next year. Science: Spectrum Chemistry History: History of the Medieval World and Great Courses plus some Middle Ages art and literature study. AP Music Theory: PA Homeschoolers French: Breaking the Barrier Irish Gaelic: Not exactly sure- May not do as a high school credit but more in her spare time as an interest. Will be learning online with a friend in Ireland. Math: May skip this year or do an SAT/ACT review program. Not sure my music/humanities girl needs Pre-Calc but will decide next year.

:grouphug:

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately, not quite to the point of burnout but balancing on the edge. I hear you, lewelma, about the multi-tasking. There is just so much to do that I have to purposefully shut 3/4 of what I need to get done out of my brain. This isn't easy and I am not good at it…still working on it. I feel like my brain is overloaded. My work is crazy…so many children in need of therapy and waiting lists months long with constant pressure to take more on my caseload. I only work two days a week but, with frequent travel for my kids' music, I feel I am constantly working extra days when we are home to make up patients. I'm not an outgoing person and being a manager for the kids' music is sometimes exhausting...the contacting, scheduling, and planning. Then there is high school to plan. I feel like high school matters and I need to know everything to make sure dd is prepared for whatever she decides to do in college…only the kind of "prepared" I was prepared for is not at all the kind that fits my kid and I am changing plans to make things work for the kid I have. I know math and science…I am learning as I go with this music thing. I feel like I am constantly on the computer researching, contacting, organizing, planning, scheduling, rescheduling, etc… My paradox is that some of the things that make me feel overwhelmed are often those same things that help me recharge. I love to travel and see things and with the kids' music I get to do this a lot. Afterward, I feel recharged and ready to go again except there are patients to reschedule which takes time away from homeschooling when we've already done school on the road for a few days. Worrying about planning school is stressful but actually having a plan and spending time with dd talking about her goals or doing school with her or watching the amazing young woman she is growing is a gift. Feeling the need to get my garden planted is stressful when I feel I have no time to do it but actually doing the weeding and planting helps me recharge and I love to spend an hour or so at night tending to it. Parts of work are stressful like the constantly changing paperwork, the pressure to work more hours, the need to reschedule to fit family schedules (my patient's and mine), and the need to juggle work with school and travel but when I am with my patients and their families, I love what I do. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get to everything I want to do especially with everything I need to do. Sorry, I don't have any answers. Still trying to figure it out, myself. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone. :grouphug:

I am kind of in the opposite situation for you…I was a math/science girl and my dd is into arts/humanities. I was discussing with another board member recently that I was having to completely let go of my traditional notions of what high school should look like with her because she is on a different path and has certain goals in mind. I feel like I will do best by helping dd know what skills/prerequisites she needs to meet her own goals and being there to listen when she wants to talk but mostly to stay out of her way because I think she will find her own path in ways I could not even imagine. It might depend on the child's personality but I think it is important to discuss their goals and what it takes to meet them. I think you could work up to giving him ownership of his goals. Maybe start with something he wants to accomplish in the next week, month, or 6 months and have him practice thinking about how to plan steps to achieve something more long term. When they are young, their long term/life goals can change so many different times as they gain knowledge and develop. I think requiring a well-rounded grammar/middle school education as his parent is perfectly fine. I started giving dd ownership of her goals when she was very young. At first her goals were small…to learn a certain piece on violin, to play her best in a certain competition, or to write a chapter book…so we would discuss her goals and the steps needed to get there. Together we broke down the steps into easily accomplished, daily steps. Having that practice helped dd learn how to take those steps on her own which is really cool to watch now. High school starts next year and dd has larger goals...ideas on where she might want to go to college, what she might like to study, and what she wants to do with her life when she graduates. She still doesn't have one definite path in mind but we have looked into requirements for acceptance to some of the schools she is interested in and come up with a four year plan (in pencil) to keep her options open for each idea she has. I can help her research choices, help her chose high school curriculum, be aware of timelines, find her tutors for subjects I can't do bets, and make sure she meets the requirements for acceptance to college. As far as taking the actual steps…studying, doing well on tests, practicing and progressing with her music, etc… it is all on her.