Saturday Fun at the Barn

Our son, Curt, called Saturday mid morning just as I was preparing to leave for the barn. He asked if he could drop by as he had something he wanted me to have. I'm so glad he caught me!

 Mother's Day flowers! Hand delivered by these cuties.

Since I was headed out to the barn already, I invited them to come with me. Pony Pal Mila reminded me that horses and unicorns were her favorite animals and showed me the unicorn she had with her in the car.

The herd was way out in the far corner of the field, and came thundering up when they heard me whistle.

 That made Lukie, Ian, and Mila feel a little scared and hesitant about handing out the carrots.

Even Mila, who is usually right up at the fence, hung back and needed me to help her feed Abby a carrot.

 Yes, I do kiss horses. 

We stayed and visited with the horses for a while, and then walked over to the new barn to look at Tim's collection of carriages, wagons, and vehicles that are housed in it.

 Ian and Mila were fascinated by the "reindeer" antlers and skulls that Tim has collected and hung on one of the rafters.

"The jail wagon! It's the jail wagon!" This one is always their favorite. They love looking inside at the jail cell.

It is a very unusual vehicle, probably the most unusual one in Tim's collection. (Although the mail delivery wagon is pretty different, too.)

Not only does Tim have a sleigh in his vehicle collection and "reindeer" antlers hanging overhead, Ian discovered some sleigh bells in a carriage. He is now convinced that Santa is storing his sleigh and bells at Tim's until next Christmas. (I didn't ask what he made of the skulls and antlers!)

 Pretending to drive the farm tractor.

Pony Pal Mila thought that the indoor arena was one large sandbox, and she enjoyed playing in it...

 ... while her brother kicked the horse ball around the arena and chased after it for quite some time. (How he could run for so long in that soft footing is beyond me!)

Lukie enjoyed going into the tackroom and getting to sit in Tim's pony saddle. He tried to rock in it like he does his wooden rocking horse!

Not only does Tim collect antique horse drawn vehicles, he buys antique tack, too. Ian tried out a vintage 1930s/1940s western saddle.

We finished up before lunch, and despite the earliness of the day, all three kids needed to be popped into a bathtub. But that's barn life for you, and an extra bath for the day was certainly worth it for the fun that we had.

Ups and Downs at SOAR

I just completed four of the five weeks I agreed to spend as the teacher at SOAR, TSC's school for middle schoolers who have been expelled from their regular classrooms. Things are improving with the kids; I think it has been almost two weeks since I heard the f-word or was called a b----.  That's progress, for sure!

I have worked really hard to connect with the kids - I could tell from the very beginning that my contribution to their lives would not be an academic one, it would be more on the level of helping them see that there are adults who like them, who care about their welfare, and are doing their best to help them achieve. (We have gotten some academics done, too.)

I started trying to make those connections immediately. Knowing that I had just taken on a difficult teaching assignment, Kathy Nimmer offered to come for a visit with the duo purpose of getting to know the middle school and high school programs. They are under her jurisdiction as she is TSC's mentor of new faculty, and she had never visited the program before.

I was not sure what to expect as it was only my second week in the classroom, but the morning class was riveted for an hour and a half! And afterward Alexia asked me for more information about guide dogs and their training!

Another way I made connections with the kids was to invite a girl to bring in her beloved guinea pigs.

 This is Salt who enjoyed hanging out on the kids' desks.

 Ginger was a cuddler and would lie on his back in your arms and go to sleep.

KR, a student who I had known (and bumped heads with) at Hershey has a very hot temper and is very mouthy. He surprised me by making me a picture of a seal to hang on the wall by my desk.

I don't think that these kids have gotten many compliments in their lives from teachers. It almost made me cry when I saw that JB had pinned a post-it note from me up on his work station.

Two kids have been expelled - MW (an 8th grader who has had three expulsions already and had been out for a few days and in a residential facility for attempted suicide ) was expelled for showing a sex video on her phone during class. That same day I also caught her cheating by looking up answer keys online. When I called her grandmother and asked her to come pick up MW, she came in with her belt drawn! She stalked into the room saying, "You're getting a whipping, either here or at home. I'm going to go to jail for it, but you're getting it! An extended yelling match between the two ensued. Needless to say, I cleared the class and with the help of two other adults in the building, finally got things settled down. I called Child Protection Services right away.

Then, JG, a sixth grader with a white hot temper (a characteristic of almost all these kids) became angry with me because I insisted he do his work instead of playing games on the computer. He followed the pattern of defiance, disrespect, and arguing that I had seen from him over the past week but this time it escalated well beyond those incidents. I finally told him that enough was enough and that he needed to stop the disrespect NOW. He did not stop, and so he was expelled.

I lost another student, but not to expulsion. NM was a 7th grader who had serious emotional issues and a lot of anger. One day he became so upset about having to do schoolwork that he made the comment that he was worthless and going to take his pink pen and kill himself. He ended up being admitted to a residential center for counseling and treatment.

Ten students of the original thirteen are still hanging in there and I am hopeful that all will make it through to the end and be able to return to their home schools next August. As for me, I have been asked to come out of retirement permanently and teach this class full time, but I have declined. The emotional drain on me has been tremendous, and I have lost sleep over these kids, worrying about them and how to reach them.

One more week to go. I hope that we ALL make it through!

A Breakthrough

Three weeks ago I took over the middle school classroom at my school corporation's alternative school. There are thirteen 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the class, all of whom have been expelled from their regular schools and are in a program designed to help them return to school next fall. That is, if they can make it through this program - they get three chances, and then they are out permanently and cannot re-enter school again. Two have already been unable to comply with the school's rules and been permanently expelled.

These are the toughest of the tough kids in the area, and it has been rough to say the least. I've had to deal with things that are unimaginable in a general education classroom. I've been called awful names, I've had to call Child Protection Services on behalf of a child, and I've seen the affects of drug abuse. It has been eye opening to say the least.

But in the end, they're still kids. And some of them have begun letting down their guards and are beginning to learn and be civil, to each other and to me.

One of the students designed a mascot for our class and gave me a copy of her drawing.

I won't make much of a difference in their lives in just five short weeks. But my hope has been that they will know that I care about them and am trying to help them. My efforts have not seemed to have had any effect. Until yesterday afternoon.

An 8th grade girl approached me as the dismissal bell rang. "You know," she said offhandedly, "I sort of like you. You're nice."

I have gone home in tears more than once the past three weeks. This time, the tears were tears of happiness. We had a breakthrough.

I Thought I'd Retired!

After twenty years of teaching, I retired last May. Aside from subbing in my daughter's class, I have been enjoying the slower pace of retired life as well as lots of time with my horse, Abby, and my collection.

Until I got a call Wednesday from a principal who had an emergency vacancy. There is an program called SOAR whose purpose is to provide an educational alternative for expelled middle school students with the purpose of continuing their education and increasing the likelihood that they will be able to reintegrate into the public and community. The current SOAR teacher has developed a serious health issue and cannot finish the school year.

Wow. Teach expelled kids? Me? It sounded like a tough assignment (and it will be.) But I told the principal that I would come visit the class Thursday morning and take a look at the program.

The SOAR class is housed in a building away from other schools and there are four middle schools which send their expelled students to it.  There is also a high school credit recovery program in the building, too, with another teacher and classroom. The rest of the building is offices for the heads of transportation, foods/cafeterias, grounds, and maintenance.

Currently enrolled in SOAR are six students who study Science, Math, Social Studies, and English for three hours in the morning and then go home. After an hour's break for the teacher, seven more students arrive for three hours of class in the afternoon.

If the expelled student remains in SOAR for the rest of the school year with no more issues, then he or she can return to their regular school the following year and have the expulsion removed from their record. I like that aspect a lot. Second chances for kids, in my opinion, is a good idea. Especially at this age when they are young and make foolish mistakes.

But, if they break the SOAR rules and get three write-ups for behavior, then they have to leave the program and the expulsion remains on their record. Apparently some make it while others don't.

I enjoyed my visit. It allayed some of my concerns and answered a lot of my questions. For example, I did not want to work with kids who might hit me. I was punched three times by a student very early in my career, and while it wasn't very painful, just the fact that a student was hitting me was an emotional shock. These kids are here for excessive truancy, disrespectful language and behavior, smoking, etc., not because they have been violent against a teacher.

I went home after my observation and discussed taking the emergency vacancy with Craig at length, deciding in the end to take the position. There are only five weeks left of school, and I figure that I can handle twenty-five school days, even if it is rough. (Besides, the unexpected money can be used for BreyerFest!)

 And, I will also get an aide. A former student of mine who is finishing her junior year in Elementary Education at Purdue has agreed to come do that (afternoons only.) I had her for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades and she has remained in touch since she left my classroom, so when they asked me if I knew anyone I'd like to hire for the aide position, I thought of Madeline and called her right away. She will do an excellent job, and this will look good on her resume after she graduates with her teaching degree in a year.

I'll admit that I am nervous, and I expect that the students will test me quite thoroughly tomorrow and in the coming weeks. No doubt I will come home in tears more than once. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I am hoping that this will provide me with a unique opportunity to make a difference in a child's life. Even if just one makes it to the end of the year, I will call that success.

My Stepping Stone Garden

I love my stepping stone garden! Originally intended to be a grandchildren handprint garden, it has grown into far more than that.

It has some "just because" stones that the grandchildren have made, too. See Braden's on the far right? And the one commemorating Hurricane Irma? 

Just because they have one that I made with their handprints (or footprints) doesn't mean that they don't want to make another.

Zeus' pawprints are there, and that "family stone" was Addie's idea - everyone who was present added a decoration.

 Oh the memories that flood back as I look at them all!

 Can you see JC's name done in white glass ornaments and his footprint right in the middle?

 Lukie's stone is our most recent. I still need to get Susie and I think I need Titan, too.

The back two here were made after others had been finished and we had leftover concrete to use up. That happens every now and then.

 Addie commemorated the date that we made some "just because" stones - they were here on September 11, 2017 as Hurricane Irma was roaring across Florida and they had come north to be safe with us.

It is getting harder and harder to find space for the stepping stones. And, there are an additional seven or eight that went home with the people who made them for their own gardens.

 Both Mila's and Cambria's are a little overshadowed by the tulips that are growing beside theirs.

 I've thought that it might be fin to make a pathway to a fountain or garden in the back yard using these stepping stones, but I've decided that I don't want anyone walking on them lest the stones crack and break.

After all, they really are treasures to me.

A Highly Unusual Gift

Yesterday my dear friend and colleague, Kathy Nimmer, sent me a gift. Out of the blue, no special reason, but "just because I treasure your friendship," as the note tucked in with it said. 

Inside was a carved stone necklace with a horse in the middle. It was carved by Sidney Bolam, a former student of Kathy's who now makes her living as a stone cutter and artist.

Kathy and I have been friends and colleagues for years, and she used to come and team teach or guest lecture in my classroom several times a year. 

Kathy is blind, but you soon forget that because you begin to see new insights and ideas as she shares her thoughts and knowledge.

She doesn't even shy away from using the board to illustrate the point she is making!

Nacho, Kathy's guide dog, helps her get to where she needs to go, and often we drive together to her speaking engagements across the state. (Nacho likes to reach over the seat and lick my cheek whenever he gets into my car.  Such a sweet boy!)

Good friends ARE a treasure, as Kathy said in her note with the pendant. 

I absolutely love my new stone pendant. But I also like it for a more unusual reason - it is tactile. Having Kathy as a friend has made me aware that there are experiences that she and I cannot totally share. I can describe the beautiful sunset or tell her that my horse is a varnish roan Appaloosa, but Kathy has to fill in the dots with her imagination. 

This necklace is three dimensional and she could feel the outline of the horse and its subtle defining marks before she gifted me with it. She KNOWS what this pendant looks like. That enables the two of us to fully share and enjoy the gift of the pendant together. 

That, for me, is the cherry on top of the gift.

General Conference - Sunay Afternoon Session

President Henry B. Eyring, Apostle, 2nd Counselor in First Presidency, conducting

Choir: Sweet is the Work, My God, My King

Elder Tyella B. Wakura, Seventy, opening prayer

Choir: Come Unto Jesus

President Dallin H. Oaks, Apostle, 1st Counselor in the First Presidency
Repentance an essential part of God's plan. Cannot be saved without it.

Elder Juan Pablo Villar, Seventy

Garrett W. Gong, Apostle

President Russell M. Nelson, Prophet, Apostle, President of the Church
God's objective should be our objective. Pioneer temples to undergo renewal and restoration. Work to preserve their uniqueness. St. George, Salt Lake,, Temple Square, and Plaza by the Church Office Builindg. Manti down the road. The temple is the most sacred building in the Church. American Somoa, Okinawa, Tonga, Tooelle, Washington, Honduras, Antofagasta Chile, Hungary.