Little Miss Renaissance

Daughter Nina, 16, wears a lot of hats; musician, film production assistant, karate girl, cook, German language student, seamstress, animal lover, road-kill skinner...  She's a pragmatist (he's dead so why not use the fur?), a non-conformist (what shall I make?  Anything but a hat!), and a teen girl (EEww this is so gross!).  Her kindergarten teacher had said little Nina was unmanageable because she refused to follow directions as given.  When she concluded her harsh critique with "Don't blame me when she's 14 and out of control..." we decided then and there that Nina (and her older sister Dagny) would be a homeschooled. 

That suited them until their early teens, when both decided to return to school as freshman.  Now Nina's planning to do her junior year abroad as a German exchange student and Dagny (French, violin, writing, acting) will be trying out for the all-state orchestra this year and planning a similar year away before college.  As parents we tried to give them minimal direction and maximum moral support.  That seems to be working but it leaves no room for parental bragging; it's always been their lives, their decisions, their outcomes.