Selena finishes another year at ARCC

For Selena, Friday marked the end of another semester at Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC) and the last year with the PSEO program (Post Secondary Education Option). She has been taking classes for the last 2 years at ARCC and plans to finish her A.A. next year. After that, only she will know... She's had some interest in transferring to a college in Washington called Evergreen because they have an approach more suited to her unschooling background, but also because of the various programs in environmental studies. Please let me know if you are acquainted with other colleges or universities that are more "unschooly".

Some weeks ago I asked her if she was looking forward to the end of the semester and she replied that, "no, not really". This surprised me a LOT since my own experience as both student and teacher has shown the exact opposite. Most people are happy to get outta-there. Anyway, we've talked some about this and, in general, it's the stimulation of getting out and going to class that she likes and will miss during the summer. There are some things that she really enjoys about taking classes (listening to interesting lectures, reading some of the books and writing papers that she's interested in), and then there are other things that she won't miss (doing small group activities, reading textbooks, and doing book reports on online articles). These categories align with the kind of learner that she has always been; listen, read and write.

Well, school is out but learning continues. Selena has a summer reading list that includes "Don Quijote", "Love in the Time of Cholera (Garcia Marquez), and "House of the Spirits" (Isabel Allende). We'll also be starting Spanish on a daily basis, so maybe she'll be able to read these novels in Spanish someday. (When I was a student in Spain my initial goal was to be able to read "Cien Años de Soledad" in the language that it was written.) Also, she'll be studying for her driver's permit, which she can get without a blue card when she's 18, in August.

Well, that's my Selena! She doesn't always offer things that I can blog (brag!) about so I'm grateful that she allowed me to do so this morning and take her picture.

                                             Selena enjoys a good book with Skippy Lu.