Almost Summer

First, a confession. How will I be able to guide our teen toward a disciplined approach to handling college applications and adhering to deadlines when I simply couldn't get a posting done yesterday? It's a lesson:practice what I preach.

Our teen is taking finals now, turning in textbooks, tossing notes that she believes will never again be useful. It's just about the end of freshman year. She has already received her summer assignments for AP US History and has promised herself she'll get them done with time to spare.

I am hoping she will take a few minutes in the next few months to jot down her life achievements to date -- Girl Scout Bronze Award, flute camps, reading buddy, surviving life with us, and so on -- as a preliminary step in thinking through how she will describe herself to admissions officers. I am hoping she reads some fine books, has good discussions with us and her friends about anything that occurs to her and manages to have fun this summer, despite the dreaded geometry preview course.

Here's to all that summer should be!