I've been hovering.

I talked about how homeschooling is all done and I'm ready to move forward, but am I really, really, ready to move forward?  I honestly and truly want to help them navigate their way through college.

When I was in college, I wasn't exactly first generation in my family, but I was the first person to not go to the college down the road. I was the first person to strike out on my own, and the first person to live with roommates, and the first person to not get financial aid, and so I had to also work my way through college.

I amassed a lot of information during that time, and I made a lot of mistakes and miss steps.  I would love to be able to help my kids with this and to help them ask the right questions, so they can navigate better, and even then ask the right questions for their own kids in the future.

Hovering looks different where my two kids are concerned.

Let's start with the oldest.  He's all business.  He's serious.  He's hard
working.  College is a challenge.  He is on his 2nd college in 2 years, and his third major, but he is settling in and starting to gain momentum.  I spent many hours of the last week going over his transfer record, what he has taken to date, and what is required of his new (and hopefully final) major in order for him to graduate. Then I started asking questions... lots of questions, which he then forwarded to his advisor.  This helped to clarify, exactly how long it would take to graduate at his current rate (5 semesters), and what he needed to do to make sure that would happen.  We also got two requirements removed from his record that were place there for no other reason than the fact that he was homeschooled.  You see, public colleges in GA will demand you take an additional Science and an additional Social Studies just because you were homeschooled... and so we just sucked it up and said OK, but in all of the question asking, someone noticed that he transferred into the new college with 31 credits and that requirement gets waived with 30 transferred credits.  I am hoping that he will be trained to ask all of his own question by SR. year.  But until that happens, I am glad to help... now if we could only secure him and internship for the next 3 summers.

Then there's the youngest one.  She's all about fun. She's pushy, and she's barreling through life and drinking from every fire hydrant she encounters.  College is easy. Go figure. She's taking Art, is scheduled for horseback riding in the fall, and is kind spreading herself thin.  She's loaded up on classes in her major, but she hasn't really touched the core curriculum... the basics on which the major sits upon.  After much talking and looking at all she wants to accomplish in her college years, it has been decided that she will spend the summers immersed in books to CLEP out of as many core classes as possible, and also to not mess with her GPA which she has managed to keep high enough to be asked into the honors program, and to keep her scholarship.   As she is still my baby, and still not of legal age just yet, I find myself hovering in other ways. If I know she's going out, I want to know when she gets back. If she has an event or performance, I want to be there or at least get pictures... I want to be included in her life.   She does't always cooperate, but her Facebook page clues me in.

So that's my confession, good, bad, or indifferent.  That's pretty much what I am doing where my kids are concerned.

Hey.  It takes a while to come down off of homeschooling.