Life is beautiful

It would be hard to feel more deep-seated peace than I feel at the end of every weekday. I go to pick Emma up from her school at 4:30 p.m. and we chatter, chatter, chatter away like we haven't seen each other in weeks about everything she's done since I dropped her off at 7:30 a.m. I'm always so excited to see her, to listen to her, to connect with her again; I don't at all mind driving twice a day to get her.

She is doing so well. She is thriving in every class.

• She has the highest grade in her Latin class.
• She got 100% on her geometry unit 1 test today on the first try (he would have let them retake it once, and would have counted the better grade of the two tries), she's gotten 100% on every daily geometry quiz (he lets them retake those three times, keeping the final try; she's gotten a few 80s or 90s or 95s on the first try that she was able to bring up to 100% on the second taking).
• Her English teacher is a pussycat and not a particularly scary grader, but she loves loves loves his class and is doing very well.
• Her art teacher is enthusiastic about everything she does, so encouraging and excited. I don't know if she's equally excited about everyone else, but I know Emma is thrilled.
• She hardly even mentions science, I have to ask about it. Why? "Because it's so easy, Mom. I understand it before he even explains it. It's, just, not a challenge at all."
• The thing that thrills me most: her Global Studies teacher gave her the only A in all of his classes for her five-paragraph essay. I did read it and gave her pointers—"This doesn't sound like a thesis statement to me" or "You need to clarify who 'they' is in this sentence" or "I had to read this sentence three times to really figure out what you meant, can you reword it to be clearer?"—but the things he gushed about were all her comprehension and ideas and the way she strung it together. The only A. Out of all the classes, all the grades he teaches. SQUEE.
• She's learning guitar, and totally picking up on it so quickly and well. She says it's her violin training that's helping her, though I play violin too and it hasn't helped me learn guitar at all.
• She is making friends, but still loves her family best. :) She's so happy to have a school-free weekend to spend with us. I think it's adorable.

Do any of you remember the opening sequence of The Mary Tyler Moore show? She's crossing the street and throws her hat and the lyric is, "You're going to make it after all!" That's how I feel. She's on grade level, she's ready for this work, she's bright, she's determined, she's capable. She's going to make it after all. *tosses hat*

Homeschool is going well, too. Kids are doing great, growing, learning. Christian and Libby are buzzing through math and their writing ability is skyrocketing. I'm just so UP. I feel happy. I feel satisfied. I feel like all I've done, all I've given or set aside all these years to raise and educate my children, is totally worth it. So glad. So proud.

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