kindy, day #3

The good news is that I won't blog to tell you about our school day every day.  Just the days that I have something to say.  Which could be a lot.

We got started later today thanks to another dang class connect for coaches (i.e. me).  Let's not do that anymore if we can help it.  He does much better in the mornings than afternoon.  I thought maybe we'd be done in about two hours today.  Nope, more like five.  I learned something very important today though...do phonics first.  We did it last and I was the one whining, "OMG this is going on forever.  When is it going to end?"  Holy hell.

We did "handwriting" work today.  The instruction is for "short" strokes used in letters but not actual letters.  Like stars.  Yeah, let's start with stars because there's nothing complicated about those sonsofbitches.  I realize they're just lines but for a child who has no interest whatsoever in the fine motor skills it was torture.

But we got it done.

And now he knows there are seven continents.  And that the Grand Canyon is in North America.  Lucky for us Nana brought us a book back from that very place titled, "Who Pooped in the Park?" so we read that to round out the lesson.

He also had to start his, "All About Me," book.  He had to draw a self-portrait and write his name.  Want to see?  Of course you do.

He held a mirror up and looked at himself before he'd draw anything.  The red eyes are because if you pull on your eyes you'll see blood vessels.  He really struggled with his nose and he has a hard time with a lower case e.  The intent is to see where he started and then at the end of the year we'll see how much he's improved!

Kindy - day #2

It's a new day.  And after staying up late last night reading things like the parent handbook I feel a little better prepared.

I can't tell yet, even though I guess I've been teaching G for like five years now, what his learning style is.  Once I figure it out I'll tailor our days to it but really I just can't decide which style he is!  If I had to choose one right now I'd say he's Logical.  He might be Social but he's never been in a group setting involving learning so I don't know how he'd handle working with others.  He very much likes to ask, "Why?"  But it's the complicated why.  Like circles have no corners.  "Why?"  Because they don't.  "Okay but who decided to call it a circle?"  Dang, dude.

I am a mix of Verbal and Solitary with a little bit of Aural mixed in there.

So we did the math lesson after my 45 minute coach conference call type thing this morning.  Then we took a break.  Well, G watched Unstoppable while I went through and did the remaining five online learning lessons.  As I did them more assignments/lessons started to be unlocked for G.  Ah ha.  Now we have math, language arts, handwriting, phonics, history, science, etc. and all I had to do was read all this material and click through it, etc.

So when I was done with that and we had lunch we got back to it.  We sorted out the foam shapes we have in the craft cabinet and then we worked on how the shapes are plane shapes.  Try explaining that to a five year old.  No, not like an airplane plane, a plane surface.  Huh?  So when E came home and G showed him his puppet I said, "Tell Daddy what kind of puppet it is."  "It's an airplane puppet."  I explained that it was done with plane shapes and E said, "Um, it's spelled P-L-A-I-N."  Gah.  NO.  Plane shapes are two dimensional, have width and height but no thickness.

G then was required to do an assessment about the plane shapes which he of course aced.  When I explained to him what we were doing he said, "Oh goody, a game!"  Well, no it's a test.  So of course he asked, "What's a test?"  I said, "It's your chance to show that remember what you've learned so far."  "But it's like a game because I know the answers and there's a winner at the end."  Well yeah, kinda like that then.  I hope he continues to think tests are fun like a game.  I know I loved tests in school.

Then we did some language arts and read Little Red Riding Hood.  I've never read that to him before.  Weird huh?  I finished reading it and we discussed new vocabulary words like cottage and character and setting, etc.  Then we talked about the parts of the story itself, etc. and then we talked about books themselves.  Cover, title, spine, table of contents, etc.  After a long day (for me, mostly) I was ready to be done and he said, "Let's do some more K12 mommy!"  I need to get my transcription work done though so I declared our day successfully done.

We ended on a much more positive vibe than yesterday.  Well except that he kept getting in trouble for leaving the classroom but it wasn't "trouble" so much as exasperation.  And asphyxiation.  He was a gas master today and his stinkiness was driving me crazy.  I'd opened both windows and it wasn't helping.  So he would get up, stick his butt out the doorway of the school room and let it fly.  Then return to his chair.  After probably the tenth time of doing that he sat down with a hefty sigh and said, "Sorry mommy but they won't stop coming out.  They just keep coming and I can't make them stop."

I couldn't not share that because it's just so...us.

Kindy, day #1!

After G went to bed last night I got busy in our school room.  All the "decor" you see is courtesy of the Dollar Tree.  Yeah baby!  I chose posters (2 in a pack) that were things of interest to him so they'd capture his attention.  To the right of this picture is the rest of our textbooks, etc. and then our reading chair (cheapo and not comfy) in front of the big window which I spent way too much time scrubbing (seriously, the water spots are baked into the glass, it's hopeless) to try and get the most natural light in the windows.  He picked out his new red desk chair because red is his favorite color.  That was news to us.  To the left of the closet is the craft supplies cabinet which now has chalkboard doors and a chalkboard side, perfect for the vertical nature of math equations.

G went to bed early so as to get as much rest as possible for our first day of school.  When he woke up this morning we greeted him with, "Good morning kindergartner "  He rubbed his sleepy eyes and smiled and said, "Do I get to learn today?"  You betcha son!  He had some yogurt for breakfast (after refusing my offer of pancakes or toast or waffles, etc.) and then when he finished eating it he came to me and said, "Okay my body is all fed, let's learn!"  

I showed him the school room, which he was just tickled with.  He wanted to get out every little thing he could reach but yeah, no.  Since we were waiting for the welcome assembly to start online we didn't want to get started with work and then have to stop for that.  So we had a little while.  

I wanted to make the day special and can't miss marking a milestone with my camera so I asked him if I could take his picture.  Then we were talking and I asked him if he was disappointed that he wasn't going to get to ride a bus. He said, "Kinda but kinda no." The other day he had picked out a dvd at the library on how school buses are manufactured and he wasn't really impressed. So I said, "Well we can pretend to walk to the bus stop like other kids do. Maybe someone will give you a ride to school!"

And good morning to you too, Mr. Sun!

He thought he was hilarious when posing like he was going to school like all his little friends.  

This is him telling you that he's excited about starting school!

Which then turned into hitchhiking a ride.  Oops.

Well no bus or person showed up so we went back to the house and got started. Since he's never been in a school environment he has no expectations of what a first day of school should be like so he wasn't disappointed.

Yes, this is how we are.  Sorry about my face.  It's, well, there's no excuse.  

I told him I was sad he was growing up.  He's waving his arms in excitement about growing up.

It is totally my intention to be that ^^ kind of teacher.  I'm kind of a natural hard ass.  

So.  Then we got started.  Because of the influx of new people (us included) the K12 blackboard was having technical difficulties.  I was stressing out because this was our first "thing" and I couldn't get it to work.  That didn't start our learning off right because I was frustrated.  Then when we received email that everyone was having the same problem we delved into the work at hand.  Online Learning Lesson #1.  A minute into it I realized that it was for me, not G.  Here I had a kid on my hands who was eager to LEARN and he had to sit there and listen while a program told ME how to do things like enter his attendance, log into this or that, schedule our day, etc.  G is not a sit and listen kind of kid and he got antsy.  I couldn't hear the lesson over him so I kept snapping at him to sit still and be quiet since I didn't know when his actual learning would start.

He was b.o.r.e.d..  BORED.  

And that's when he decided it was time to start being a five year old brat.  Because he is one.  Ha.  

We took plenty of breaks but for the first hour it was all stuff geared toward ME, not him.  If I'd known that I would have worked on it all the week before school started.  After finishing that first Lesson (of 7 for me) we got started on Math.  When I read the instruction I immediately thought, "Huh?  That's it?"  It had shapes on a page and he was supposed to color certain shapes certain colors.  He knows his shapes, he knows his colors.  He has for awhile now.  Well, okay, we're building a foundation, easy peasy, right?  Except that he's G...he's my child.  And he's stubborn.  He knew what he needed to do, he just didn't feel like doing it.  And he didn't feel like taking a break.  He wanted to color anywhere but inside the shapes.  He didn't want crayons, he wanted markers.  He didn't want that shape to be that color, etc.  Dude, just put the crayon on the paper and color the damn shapes.

Well, the idea for me was not to practice shape/color recognition because that's a waste of time.  The idea for me was that there is a set of instructions that need to be followed and focus to be used.  What should have taken ten minutes at most took 75 minutes.    

At one point during his game playing I said, "You do realize, son, that this stubbornness that you have came from me, right?  And I've been paddling that canoe for 35 years now to your five years.  So really who do you think is going to outlast who here?"

But I'm the one who felt like crying in frustration, not him so did I really win?  

After finally finishing the coloring (after receiving a swat on the butt for sticking his tongue out at me) I gave him the scissors.  He hasn't worked much with scissors but he had a good time cutting stuff out.  Until it got too hard and he wanted me to do it.  The textbook said to put the cut out shapes in a paper bag and then draw them out one by one and name them.  Well again, he knows the shapes and the names, etc. so we made it a little more fun.  We went "shopping" around the house with our paper bag and found things that fit the four plane shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, circle).  I kept trying to trick him by turning the shapes different ways so it wasn't so obvious but he got it.  

By the time 2 pm hit I was fed up with his fiddling around, general disrespect and the whole day.  I poured myself some rum and lemonade and went to work on that paying work I get to do too, telling E, "He's yours, I can't take anymore today."  

Later I stopped working and took G outside to run (literally, we had foot races) his extra energy off because E didn't feel like it.  We bounced some on the trampoline and then I had to go back to work.  

So now that my typing work is caught up.  G is in bed (thanks to E), E has gone to bed and I'm waiting for Under The Dome to start I feel like I can breathe and reevaluate.  Our first day of school was  not what I wanted it to be.  When G came out of the schoolroom E said to him, "So how was your first day of kindergarten bud?"  G said, "Not good, mommy yelled at me."  And he's right.  I kinda did.  I hate that that's what he remembers about today.  Not any of the successes or the "Ooh this is gonna be fun," looks we gave each other, not the high five's for getting a concept.  "Mommy yelled at me, it wasn't fun."  But of course since I declared school done for the day after getting mad enough at him to yell that's the last thing associated with our school day.  Great job mommy.  

This ^^ is what I want from homeschooling so I need to remember that this is new for him and for me.  We can do this because we kind of have to do it.  And I like a challenge so why, when my child challenges me (like children do) do I take it so personally?  Nope.

So, reset for tomorrow.  Deep breath, we can do this.

Dear G,
I'm sorry I got frustrated with you. We'll try again tomorrow. And the next day, and all the days after that until we figure this out. Because your brain is made up of some serious amazingness and I'm so grateful that I get to help you develop it this way. Tomorrow will be a better day.Love, Mrs. Mommy.

Since I'm feeling extra grateful for the beauty of the place in which I live I stopped on my way home from town and took a few pictures.  It happened to be that we were coming down the pass during "The Golden Hour," so why not?

Ah..................lovely.

I stress out in the late summer thanks to fire season and sometimes I wonder if it's worth living here to have to stress like that.  Then I immerse myself in what I love about this place and feel renewed by its beauty.

Freedom!

So for those of you following along at home.  The fire is still at only 40% contained and more than 10,500 acres.  G and I were able to go into town yesterday as the finally opened up the highway!  The speed limit is lowered for about 14 miles of road but that's because there are still plenty of hot spots on both sides of the highway and areas where they're still clearing fallen trees and other debris that spilled into the highway.  I saw two homes completely destroyed, having only their chimney's standing.  I saw a six horse trailer that is nothing but framework now and it's parked right in front of a barn that is fully intact.  There is plenty of evidence where firefighters must have worked their butts off protecting structures, with burnt ground right up to houses themselves.

There is one place in particular that stood out because it's got this massive and slightly intricate white iron fence.  In miles of post and barbed wire fences it is noticeable.  There has been a for sale sign on that fence since we moved up here.  The fence is standing and the sign was hanging on by one bolt and singed on one end.  The house itself is gone and there's a shell of a burned out car in the driveway.  I guess that solves that problem huh?  I wonder what kind of commission the Realtor gets now?

This is between the little town that's in danger and the big town we shop in.  The fire is concentrated back there in that ridge and moving north toward the freeway.  

*Not my picture.  

I could have gotten some awesome pictures of a blackhawk helicopter (painted with red flames, National Guard I'm thinking) and another helio with a bucket but they were landing/loading, etc. right off Highway 12 which has "NO STOPPING" signs all up and down it.  I could have taken some fantastic shots if it wouldn't have been illegal for me to do so.  Dangit.

This is where we saw the fire closest to the highway on Monday.  It was coming right down the hillside.  It pretty much decimated that area right across from someone we know.

I pulled into the driveway for his gravel pit thinking I could claim knowing him if anyone gave me grief but I was completely off the road and wanted to take a picture or two for E to see what the damage in that area was.  If you look in that ^^ picture right there you can see a vehicle to the lower left.  I knew immediately that it was law enforcement of some kind.  Friggin' great, that's my luck.  In the four years we've been here I've seen law enforcement of some kind on that stretch of highway less than ten times.  Yesterday I counted 27 county and state and forest service patrol vehicles.  I dropped my camera in the passenger seat and pulled back onto the highway before he could wonder what I was up to.  

I wonder what that slide is from?  Strange how the foliage looks like it's turned to fall just in that area huh?

The fire is still threatening but it is moving away from us.  The air quality in town was surprisingly good.  If one didn't know there was a big scary fire one wouldn't even know it was there.  The smoke has been blowing our way a little bit too the last few days but we also have a fire down the river from us so it's likely smoke from there too.

All in all the damage is what I expected if not a little bit less.  A lot of the grass alongside the road is burned but my guess is that that was done intentionally to take away any fuel that would enable the fire to jump the highway and take off some more.  The farmers pastures where the school house sits are nice and green...rimmed in black.  I thought for sure they'd be burned up but they weren't.  So the area will recover but it will be missing some of what we've grown accustomed to.  I love the spring following a forest fire because it presents a beautiful new fresh slate.

STOP! It's fire time

I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year.

I love the warmth of summer and how it cools off at night.
I hate having to apply sunscreen.  To myself or anyone else.

I love being outside all day.

I hate the smell, taste and feel of bug spray.

I love waking up to sunshine.
I hate how dry my sinuses get from the air conditioning running all the time.

I love being able to go pretty much anywhere we want and not have snow stop us!
I hate how sweaty my leg gets packing a gun around to protect us from animals enjoying the seasonal freedom too.

I love the serenity of picking huckleberries.
I hate how much time they take to clean and package up for the deep freeze.

I love a good summer thunderstorm.
But I hate that the lightening causes wildfires.

Which brings me to my post.  I'm stressed out again this August, just like last August.  The fires that threatened us last year were west of us.  The ones this year are east of us.  We had come home Sunday evening from down south and saw a small fire on the hillside behind Woodman school.  Hm, that poor cattle rancher, we thought.  The next morning we went back into town for a doctors appointment for me and noticed that the fire had grown considerably.  And there was another one on the other side of the highway.  We did our thing in town and when we started to head back to the highway home we could see that the little town at our turn off isn't all that far from the smoke.

Driving down the highway home we found that while we were in town the fires grew.  A lot.  There were large embers and ash on the highway as we drove over them.  Shortly after we got home we were notified that the highway was being closed by officials.  We just barely made it home before they closed the road.  E got called out thanks to hostile travelers who were stuck at the barricades and he spent most of the evening dealing with that.

We went without power for our longest stretch up here, 28-30 hours.  No big deal, right?  Then I noticed a problem with the water pressure.  The generator that runs the pump for the well also powers the ITD shop.  The fan had gone out and it overheated.  So we were really roughing it then.  No water, no electricity, no phones, etc.  Oh yes, the phone lines went out completely too and it was several days before they came back up.

I had to let my work know that all the jobs assigned to me would not be completed by deadline therefore giving away almost $300 in work.  And it was the kind that I like, long audios but good sound quality and easy dialogue.  It hurt to turn those back in.  I couldn't call them and it was after hours so I had to email and pray that they got it in time.  They did.

Since we had just gotten home from a trip I had mega laundry to catch up on.  The washer and dryer both were right in the middle of their cycles when the power went off.  I had to hook up the generator to the washer to finish the load and take the wet clothes from the washer and dryer over to the bunkhouse and put them in the dryer so they wouldn't start to smell.

We expected to be out of power for several days thanks to the location of this big fire but it came on much sooner.  There was a loud "Woohoo!" at our house when the lights flipped on.  And all that work I gave back, I probably could have had done in time (without any to spare but still).  It was nice to be able to focus on getting stuff done around here just in case and not have the need to work looming over my head.

I had, of course, already moved food from our indoor fridge to the fridge in the camp trailer as it's run by propane but also across the compound to the empty bunkhouse fridge, since for some stupid reason the bunkhouses are hooked to the ITD shop generator.  We used the generator that we have for the trailer to keep the fridge and deep freeze in the garage cooled but the fridge in the house melted in less than 18 hours even though we kept it shut.  So I moved all that food over to the bunkhouse and then the power came back on.  E moved all the food back to our house.  Then we lost power again.  Oh for pete's sake.  I got back to the laundry and wouldn't you know it, but we lost power again right in the middle of the cycle.  With a hefty sigh I hooked up the generator again and finished the wash cycle, then drug all the went laundry over to the bunkhouse to dry it.

I had used the generator (which is gas fueled) to fire up the satellite internet modem and wireless router and I was able to get online and communicate with the rest of the world.  That's how we've kept track of the fire too and found out that the power had been shut off at the request of fire officials, for safety reasons.  So when it shut off the second time we knew we'd be getting it back sooner than later.

All of this was nothing compared to the sense of dread I had every time the wind started to blow.  The fire went from 80 acres on Sunday to about 9,500 acres as of yesterday, all thanks to wind.  Every little breeze in a westward fashion made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  I feel like a horrible person for admitting this but I felt better when I heard that the fire was moving east, away from us.  So far five homes have been completely destroyed.  Those poor people :(  And I'm over here secretly happy that the fire is not as close to us.  It wouldn't take much to head our way.  The little town at the highway to our house was given a pre-preemptive warning that residents might need to evacuate.  I remember those warnings from last summer for us.  I was on edge all day every day.  I even dipped into my long forgotten stash of lorazepam so I would stop snapping angrily at my poor just being a little boy child.  

Even though this fire is about 25 miles away from us something about it worries me.  Maybe it's how aggressively it's grown?  Maybe because I drive that stretch of road that it's destroying and I know that there's only timber and fuel-rich areas left to burn between them and us.  I don't know enough about logging in the 80's and 90's to speak intelligently about the industry but forest management and ethical forestry/logging (or lack thereof) sure comes to mind when there's a forest fire.  It is pretty easy to see the political game that the Forest Service plays to get more funding in certain regions.  Hm, let's let this thing burn and scare some people before we actually make a concerted effort to contain it, that way more of next years budget will be sent our way for regeneration/regrowth, etc.  Don't pretend you don't see that too.

(not my photograph)

It took a few days but this fire has been deigned the #1 fire in the country as far as needing resources to protect structures, etc.  The big wigs of a Type 1 Incident Command Team showed up and took it over and magically, shit is getting done.  Hm.  The more suppressed it becomes, the less a danger it is I'm sure we'll lose that oh so special designation.  

(again not my photograph)

So now it's Friday.  E had a doctor's appointment this morning and while the highway is somewhat open, it's not open enough to make the trip to town.  They are letting people use Fish Creek Road which takes one all the way to I90...via a 28 mile long mountain road that is only maintained in the summertime.  It dumps us out about 85 miles outside of town after we do that slow 28 miles.  That's the only option now and they have closed that road most days too.  One side of the permanent retainer I have behind my two front teeth broke loose on Monday.  Of course.  And yesterday was the first day I could have called a dentist to fix it.  But E offered to attempt to fix it with super glue.  I think I'll take him up on that.

Yesterday we (E, me, our neighbor and his wife) took care of a big issue that was presented last year and never accomplished.  There is a fire/hose system around the complex here to be used as fire protection for the homes.  When they put in a road ten years ago they broke one of the underground pipes that leads to our side of the compound.  Not that it mattered because the pond that feeds the pump house for the suppression system has a giant "deadly" willow tree in the middle of it, choking out most of the water.  The tree has needed to be removed for awhile now but there's permits that have to be obtained, studies to be done on how it will affect other trees around the pond and the fish, etc. etc. blah blah blah.  So some brook trout and pine trees take priority over saving homes and possibly lives?  For F&G and FS the answer is easily yes.  Well the correct permit has been obtained for awhile now but another bureaucracy stepped in and said, "Oh wait, let us look at it first," and then they have never come to look.

Screw it, it's easier to say sorry later than ask for permission first, obviously.  So yesterday that damn tree got pulled and the pond was dug nice and deep so we'd have water in the pump house if we need it.  We spent hours cleaning up the debris in the water (after well over ten years of neglect that took some effort) and getting the water moving beautifully.  It's something little but somehow doing that work makes me feel better.  Knowing we can at least try to save our stuff takes away the daunting gnaw in my stomach.  The bonus is that should we develop much thicker skins (literal, not figurative) it will also make a lovely little swimming hole next summer!  

I'm quite proud of the four of us.

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” ~ Dale Carnegie

Now don't get me wrong, the danger isn't over, the fire is just under 10,000 acres and 40% contained at this time (we got some rain overnight). We haven't had mail delivery since Monday and of course no FedEx or UPS. School starts on Monday but since we're home schooling as long as we have electricity we should be fine to start. Since we'd just gone to town on Monday and picked up groceries we're okay for a little while that way and we can always go the three hours down river to get supplies if need be. Uh, that was a joke, there's a fire down there that keeps closing the highway too. 

We'll continue to take it day by day, we have our flashlights and the handily awesome oil lamps that my Aunt Linda left us. We're rationing the milk and bread (mmm...bread). We're remembering to be grateful for electricity (having air conditioning especially), our home and each other. E goes back to work tomorrow and I'm interested to see how bored he will be patrolling a stretch of highway that is closed on both ends.
I wonder how it's going to feel to drive that stretch of road. I know every twist and turn, every house along the way. It's going to feel foreign and sterile compared to how it looked just a week ago. And my favorite drive, the shortcut road from Highway 12 to I90, what will that be like? I appreciate nature and all the courses of nature but I will be sad to see so much of the green that I've come to know has turned to black and gray.