Dreams and the Cost of Dreams: Making Grown-Ups

Learning to face and overcome what seem fierce and sometimes insurmountable odds can make young people stronger, less fearful, more confident.

Learning to face and overcome what seem fierce and sometimes insurmountable odds can make young people stronger. Mathias Jensen/Unsplash

For the last few months, six homeschooling girls ages 12-13 have written essays on topics I send them via email.

Four are my older granddaughters, and two are the children of good friends. These students learn grammar, spelling, and rules of composition from other curricula; I am simply an add-on to their studies, a guy who appears once a week with some tips on writing and a subject for that week’s composition: favorite foods, favorite books, best summer vacations, that sort of thing.