The Fogg "Seven from Heaven"

~~In lieu of a Holiday Card~~
I present & here they are, my life's work!  My piece de resistance...my Grande Opus...how's that for Italian and French in the same swatch; I am definitely a cultured lassie.  From left to right and in order of their ages (and that happened quite by accident because we are NOT an orderly type of folk!) you can see my homeschooled, homegrown geniuses:
Jade, 21, Zach, 19, Noah, 17 (next week), Nadia, 13, Eliza-Jane, 11 front row Summer, 9 & the littlest but oh what a spit-fire, Sarah Rose, coming in at 8 years old.

Jade is the oldest at 21, she works full-time at KOBA as the Assistant to the Compliance and Contracts Director as well as with the Director of Education to facilitate the implementation of the education of the enrolled youth. She spends a lot of time perusing tons of details and keeping the books/records straight to insure that the facilities have all their ducks in a row so as to be legal, she reviews the individual notebooks and cases of the kids, incident reports, etc and etc! I can't even write down all that she does and she will often have 12 and 15 hr days. She is in school full-time at Thomas Edison enrolled through a wonderful program called College Plus  which coaches students personally through their own program.  How does she do both?  And with aplomb.  Jade is an exercising fiend, she runs and lifts weights, is always trying to perfect herself and eats well, organically when she can, knows how many calories and fat and protein she consumes daily.  She is the proud owner of her fabulous, most amazing Thoroughbred, The Taggerung, or just Tagg, if he knows you.  Jade's been riding since she was 8 years old, and Tagg is her 2nd horse.  Jade is also a writer and is working on her first novel.  You can keep up with her musings at www.jadefogg.com  She's been teaching piano since she was 13, and currently has 5 or 6 students.  Jade is a hard-working firstborn who is much more than the sum of the parts her father and I put into her.  God has blessed.

Zach is 19, and lives in Tennessee where he is the Systems Administrator for The Bulk Herb Store.  He is the proof positive that home education really works, almost completely educating himself since he was 6 years old.  By the 11th grade, he had already accrued 32 credits with straight A's. Most students in Maryland graduate with 24 credits by 12th grade, so he had an extra 8 credits a year early. Zach excelled quite young with computers and was often seen teaching himself  CSharp at the age of 15. He has been fixing other people's computers for years now.  In Tennessee, Zach lives in his own 3 bedroom place in a small little town with the creek at the end of his drive. "God willing and the creek don't rise" was never more true when last June the floods in TN brought the creek almost to his front door, ruined his neighbor's house with the scum line at 6 feet, and washed out a portion of his road. He told me, "Mom, the power of water is amazing."  Zach also plays guitar and he and Noah can get on skype and play together.  I am amazed at how his skills have evolved. He is quite good, and I know I'm biased, but if he keeps up with this he will be choosing computers or his own band. Or both. 

Noah is the the quintessential outgoing extrovert.  The most important thing in his life is music theater, and 2010 saw him in 4 lead roles.  Talk about a conceited stage Mama!  That was me, I can not lie.  He was the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz with Catonsville Youth Theater with Director Chuck Dick, he played 

The Cat in the Hat doing his own choreography in a musical written by his voice teacher, Lisa Shaw at The Levine School of Music, he was Cinderella's Prince in Into The Woods through DC Theater Lab and he played the evil, suicidal cop, Javert, in Les Mis, with Act II at Levine under Director Kevin Kuchar.  2010 marked the year that proved to Noah that a career in the theater is not only viable, but that it may be his destiny.  He is also a skateboarder and spends a lot of time perfecting his tricks, jumping over banisters and leaving skin on the sidewalk. He and his father know every single solitary skatepark within 40 miles of our house.  Noah also taught himself guitar this year, he can be heard at times, through the vents, strumming at 2 am!  Which is why he can't often be seen awake at 9 am!  Editing and making videos is another passion, he's done quite a few, and he took a photography course from one of the best professional photographers around as well as one of the best homeschool co op teachers on the planet, Mrs Chris Schaeffer. She also teaches: Shakespeare each spring, world-renowned geography for all levels, political science & literature and the silver screen. Amazing.

Ok, I still have 4 more kids to review!  Yikes! 
I will be kind and spare you and save that for my next post, leaving you with the rest of that Impromptu Seven from Heaven photo op.  And mind you, Jade was on her way out the door, the babies were in their pjs, Zach was impatient, etc.  I hope I didn't bore you too much, though the grandparents are probably happy with me.  

ps  Forgive me but I just had to stick in a little knitted piece, stitched this up in a couple hours for the new baby, Penelope Jane of Zach's bosses.  Used gorgeously dyed wool, added a swinging pom-pom. Cute!