Welcome to Cal’s Graduation Blog.

We are pleased and happy to announce that Cal has survived the Tuma non-traditional homeschool journey and being the first in our family to do so meant that he had to endure all of our “wild ideas”.  Thankfully, he put up with it all and did it well.  We are very proud of him!  Yes he did graduate first in his class ;-)

Years ago another homeschool family offered their children the opportunity to travel anywhere in the states for a week family vacation or to have one of the more traditional open houses. We thought that was a neat idea and offered the same to Cal.  As you can obviously guess, Cal chose the trip.

Our family decided it would be a fun idea to put together a blog on Cal's high school graduation trip to help send him off into the next chapter of his life.  This blog is an opportunity for you to interact with Cal on his trip and we hope you enjoy participating. You can sign up to get e-mail alerts when new posts are entered, just enter your email address in the box that says "Subscribe via email" over to the right. If you want to send him a note of congrats, this is a good place to post it.  You'll also find our itinerary and little update on Cal's future below.

Trip Itinerary:

Below are our tentative plans. Your advice on good places to eat, where to stay and routes to take or avoid are welcomed. Rather than make reservations ahead of time, we are going to risk a little and try using priceline.com each day to make reservations at the next hotel.  Hope it works; our van doesn’t sleep four very well.

Sunday, June 17 - we will depart Northfield after the church softball game sometime around 8:30 pm. We'll drive into the night staying someplace in Wisconsin to stage our trip through Chicago to miss the rush-hour the next day.

Monday, June 18 - travel day hoping to arrive in Cleveland in the evening for supper. We'll plan on eating lunch someplace east of Chicago. We hope to stay in downtown Cleveland close to the Rock 'n Roll Museum.

Tuesday, June 19 – visiting the Rock 'n Roll Museum starting when it opens at 10 AM and back on the road around 2 PM. We will travel I-86 staying someplace near Binghamton, NY.

Wednesday, June 20 - drive a couple hours to Cooperstown, NY to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Return in the evening to the same hotel we stayed in the night before.

Thursday, June 21 - leave early for Pittsburgh, PA to watch the Twins play the Pirates that evening.

Friday, June 22 - drive to Cincinnati and watch the Twins play the Reds that night.

Saturday, June 23 – Visit the Creation Museum just outside of Cincinnati in the morning and drive the afternoon towards Davenport, Iowa.

Sunday, June 24 -make it home hopefully sometime in the afternoon.

Congratulations to Our Wonderful Son

We are going to really miss having Cal around. We’ll miss opportunities to read and discuss the Bible together; hearing Cal and Molly read Redwall in their rooms while we relax with a book in the living room; listening to him play guitar in his room; talking about the latest political events or how the Twins played the night before; watching a good crime series on Netflix; most of all, conning him into playing Dutch Blitz (he hates that game, but plays it just for his mom). It is amazing how fast he has grown up. It seems like only yesterday we were cuddling up with him in the recliner reading Go Dog Go (we still don't like that party hat.)

We understand homeschooling is not for everybody, but it was an amazing blessing for us to be able to learn with Cal. To explore God's amazing world with him has been a fulfilling experience and he's been an excellent student. He has had a wonderful circle of friends and your contribution to his life is deeply appreciated.  Not surprising to us, Cal has done exceptionally well taking early college classes these last 2 years to finish his high school degree through programs here in Minnesota. One of his favorite college classes was “History of Rock ‘n Roll” -- hence the return trip to the Rock 'n Roll Museum in Cleveland with our own trained tour guide.

This fall Cal will attend Northwestern College in Roseville, Minnesota. He'll be seeking a communications major with a specialty in recording arts. The college offers a unique opportunity in this area and the professors he will be working with seem to be a good match for his learning style. We are confident he will succeed in this environment and look forward to seeing him spread his wings over the next few years.

Cal has been a very important part of our family life and our personal growth. Our prayer is that he will continue to grow in the peace and contentment offered by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the knowledge of that peace, we are confident his many talents will continue to bless his friends and others he comes in contact with over his college years. After being so close for so many years it's hard to let go, but we are confident he is ready.

John & Wendy