The Perfect College!

We visited Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) this past week.  E- has been wanting to go here since her 8th grade Logic teacher told her about it.  We figured we should visit sooner than later for various reasons.  Let me tell you that if I could design a college for my daughter THIS would be it!  TAC is definitely not for everyone, but it is most definitely for E-; and both her Dad and I knew it the minute we set foot on campus.  

In brief, TAC is a Catholic Great Books College.  Professors are called "Tutors", classes are all seminar style, there are no tests, there are only 400 kids at the college, close to 80% of them are on a work study program (meaning they are running/upkeeping the campus), there is a dress code and rules and respect.  There is a focus on reading the original works of Aristotle, Euclid, Thomas Aquinas etc...  E- loves this stuff!    

Can't get a smile much bigger than this!  E- got to stay in the dorms with 2 other freshman, sit in on classes (Theology was a favorite), and eat on campus (Hubby and I did as well and the food was... good:))

This is me after learning that my 'transcripts' and records of homeschooling were "superb" from the admissions guy!  Let me tell you that I have been stressing about this for oh about 4 years or so!  If you homeschool through high school, you are not only teacher, but guidance counselor and all - lots of pressure on me!  

TAC even has a campus dog - Rusty - for the kids!  He runs around begging the kids to throw the ball for him and hangs out during the day and chases the deer away at night.

And the library!  E-'s heaven!  I'll let her post about it so make sure you check out The Spilled Inkwell sometime in the next week or so as I am sure she will elaborate.

And now for the downside of the trip.... TAC was super generous to provide not only food for our family during our visit, but also housing for Hubby and I free of charge.  We were 'warned' that it was modest.  Modest was accurate - reminded us of park housing.  We were pretty sure we could survive free and modest accommodations, but we were NOT prepared for night time....  Snuggling in the less than full size bed and roasting in the CA heat would have been tolerable, but did you know the bugs come out at night???  Each night when the sun went down the trailer walls, windows, bathrooms, and even the bed crawled with pinch-ass bugs and other flying gnats!  Okay, not the technical name for silver-fish, but come on they have pinch asses so that's what we call them!  I swear hubby killed close to 100 the first night.  Needless to say, we didn't sleep much for 3 days.

The place is pretty beautiful!  

As if visiting TAC was not exciting enough, E- got to meet up with her friend from OYAN (who happens to live 5 minutes from campus and whose Dad is a professor at the college).  These two are 'peas in a pod' let me tell you!  Non-stop talking, laughing, and fun  - and she has a super sweet family as well.  

Friends!  

E- will head back to TAC next summer for their summer program.  Until then... she is dreaming of attending there and is not too happy that she still has 2 more years of high school!