Weekly Wrap-up Jan 31

January is over?

Not sure how that happened. It went by so quickly! This is how we spent the last week of January…

Monday

We’ve been doing the outside work in the mornings now to accommodate afternoon shared classes with the homeschooling community. Today the students worked on various projects like installing a hay rack in the goat barn to reduce hay waste, working on the porch prep for the fodder system, placing a game camera at the chicken coop to hopefully catch our raider, and catching an injured duck for assessment, treatment, and isolation. We also spent a good bit of time visiting with the goats as part of the taming process.

Tuesday 

Tuesday started normally with outside work and farm chores which help students burn off a bit of energy. For many, starting the day working with their whole body, versus starting with their butts in a seat, helps them focus much better and learn more. We worked some more on the porch/fodder project which is nearly complete! After lunch, we jumped into the writing class. This week we are still focusing on dressing up sentences with adjectives and alliterations. Students learned about OSASh.com, an acronym to remember the appropriate order when multiple adjectives are used to describe a noun and are working on dressing up plain sentences.

For our Intro to Graphic Design course, we dove deeper into the complexities of Adobe Photoshop. Meanwhile, our students not participating in this class had free choice independent study time. One student chose to help with a new landscaping project for the farm/school.

Wednesday

We stopped for an errand and breakfast on the way back to school. While we ate, we sketched out some plans to contain and train Rufus, our new mule who will be coming in late February/early March. Once we arrived at school, I worked on technology issues while the students suprised me by working to collect all of the 16′ round pen panels and move them down to the barn to implement their plan. It seems that everyone is very excited about Rufus! The afternoon session today focused on science. We are prepping for an environmental science course that will demonstrate the intricate and unexpected ways the planet’s systems are connected. 

Thursday 

Thursday began with a shopping trip to Lidl where students learned to choose the groceries needed for our recipe for the afternoon culinary arts class. Once we arrived at the school, they jumped right into the farm chores and outside projects. We worked on clearing the area where Rufus’s paddock and training area will be set up. Some of us working on cleaning and prepping the run-in while a senior student worked to clear debris off the roof from a recent tree fall. We will work on roof repairs from that tree damage in the weeks to come. Our academics on Thursday afternoon included independent study time and the very fun cooking class. Students prepped fresh ingredients to make a Winter Citrus Salmon Wreath. Our Culinary class occurs most Thursday afternoons and is open to the community for $15/class.

—Terry Connell, Headmaster

Resources

Links to things and places referred to in this article:

• Adobe’s Creative suite includes Photoshop – the first software application we are covering in our graphic design class. This is available to students at a very low rate! 
• This week’s culinary arts recipe: Winter Citrus Salmon Wreath.
• We often shop at Lidl, a smaller, German grocery store which had better prices than the larger grocery stores.