Pat Haley: ‘We smiled as we left Staunton, Virginia’

By Patrick Haley
Guest Post

Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to a young man’s dreams of glory and of fame, back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time – back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.”

We did, in a sense, go home again, at least for seven days. Staunton, Virginia, is not our hometown, but was home to Brenda and me for twelve of the happiest years of our lives. We spent the whole week in Staunton. We saw old friends and journeyed to the Gypsy Hill Park, Staunton Braves Stadium, and Wright’s Dairy-Rite where car hops still come out and take your order. Little has changed from the day it opened in 1952.

As we walked the winding hills in town, up past Trinity Church, and up the street to Mary Baldwin College, wonderful things began to happen. We remembered our motor scooter rides around town, and how Doc Haley, our poodle, used to sit under our large maple tree and listen to the Robert E. Lee High School band practice. The memory made us smile and nod.

Staunton’s Mary Baldwin College to change name to university

By Lynn R. Mitchell

There’s news to share with SWAC Daughter, Mary Baldwin College Class of 2012. Her college announced on Monday that they would be changing the name to Mary Baldwin University effective this August.

In a press release and on Facebook, the college shared the news:

May 11, 2015

Dear Mary Baldwin students, faculty, and staff:

I am delighted to share important news with you.

Sweet Briar College to close … Staunton’s Mary Baldwin College partners with students, faculty, staff

By Lynn R. Mitchell

The news burst out Tuesday afternoon that Virginia’s Sweet Briar College in Amherst is closing effective August 25,2 015. They are financially unable to continue running the 3500-acrew campus in rural Amherst County (see Sweet Briar to close).

Stepping in to fill the void is our daughter’s alma mater, Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, that notified their campus of the sad news, and announced they had partnered with Sweet Briar to reach out to students, faculty, and staff and bring them into the Mary Baldwin fold.

Back in the homeschool classroom: Where it all began … blazing new trails

By Lynn R. Mitchell

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote this morning, my mind drifted back to the sixteen years we educated our children at home. Talk about going where there is no path and leaving a trail!

A tip of my hat to those homeschool pioneers who were there years before I joined up in 1990. I read books about their battles with school and state officials in various locations across the country, and was grateful for the tenaciousness and willingness of those faithful parents to basically lay it all on the line, plowing that path for those of us who followed. In Virginia, Delegate Rob Bell’s parents were pioneers in that movement, and local homeschool friends whose kids are now grown had been involved in the South Carolina movement.

Back in the homeschool classroom: ’50 reasons homeschooled kids love being homeschooled’

By Lynn R. Mitchell

I loved this article, “50 reasons homeschooled kids love being homeschooled,” by Kris Bales who wrote, “I asked the folks on my Facebook page to ask their kids why they liked being homeschooled and let me know what they said. I asked mine, too, and compiled the answers for you.  Some answers were heard a lot. Some were pretty unique. Some got my added commentary, and some stand alone. So, if you’ve ever wondered why homeschooled kids like being homeschooled, here are the results, in no particular order after the first two, of my really unscientific poll.”

Reading the list brought back lots of memories of the 16 years I spent schooling with my children so, after reading the list and nodding and smiling about various ones, I emailed both my kids with the link. I pointed out that my daughter would very much identify with #15: “Being able to do school with pets. Have you seen the recent studies that show that reading to dogs helps improve the proficiency of struggling readers?” Her kitty, Palmer, was often curled up beside her as she studied or read.

Augusta County: Myers Corner development plans 2.5-mile bike-walk trail

By Lynn R. Mitchell

The news of a two-and-a-half mile biking-walking trail in Augusta County is welcomed in an area that is becoming increasingly developed around Augusta Health Hospital. The trail, as reported Tuesday by Staunton News Leader reporter Calvin Trice (see 2.5-mile trail planned for Fishersville area), would begin at Rt. 250 across from the entrance to the Wilson Complex and continue past the hospital and across I-64 to Expoland.