Mostly notes and babble

The healing from the oral surgery is coming along nicely.  And now I have two days off starting tomorrow and that will be nice.

I'm still prepping a bit for Esme's school.  We looked up the details of a trip to a gem and mineral museum for the upcoming year.  I've copied out and put some 'worksheet' like activities into her 'to do' folder - some travel stickers etc..  I put our printed copy of the edited poems in that folder, too.  I've still got my eye on a couple of books to order, but may decide to keep a list of them and have them as 'end of first quarter' refresh supplies.   In all, I think we've spent about a hundred dollars on her school supplies to kickstart... that is with using last year's supplies as well.  I know other things will come up and want to not feel like 'whoa, but I already spent all this...'  I'm definitely not into 700 dollar curriculums and ongoing subscriptions etc...  We are definitely taking the 'eclectic' approach, picking things here and there that we think will work for our situation.

Maybe list so far: Reading comprehension workbook (language arts/spelling/interpreting content will be her hardest subject with her language development), Reading and math for gifted students (actually threw that in the cart because it had 6 good reviews and a deal on a used copy), TumbleHome Learning press dinosaur fossil kit and Galactic Academy of Science books (for later in the year maybe now), Little House on the Prairie used copy.  Geoworld excavation kit for fossil.

National Geographic copies: April 2013 Reviving Extinct Species, should we? (ordered, as it directly deals with her questions in science) , also want to look into January 2012 Twins copy because she has interest there, February 2012 is Dogs, maybe, June 1989 is also about extinction of dinosaurs with a pullout supplement.

I would like to get her reading a kid's news site several times a week. I found one at Scholastic that seems like a good match for her.

There are some graphic novels on a nearby library's website we can access and I think she'd like to read some of those....would have that time dedicated for her to explore their free library.
Maps, landmarks, monuments, highway systems, sewer systems, water and electricity systems... we touched on that the other day just in conversation ... might have her make a pretend 'city' and add these things to it one by one, like SimCity.....we had a copy of that, but it doesn't run on my computer anymore.   There were some good photo essays I saw out there about the Statue of Liberty and National Parks, for days when it is hard to get into much else.

Spelling is tough for her - as if it doesn't stick- but I think it would be good for her to know how to spell color names and major parts of the body (like eyes, teeth) by the time the school year ends.  So, there will have to be weekly spelling tests and activities that center around spelling common words.  I might use Grandma's Silly Situations game some for making sentences and stories.

For my own reading:
I'm enjoying The Martian.  I copied down the title of 'In the Unlikely Event' by Judy Blume as something I might want to read myself, but too old for Esme.  Also, interested slightly in the Harper Lee 'sequel' Go Set a Watchman, but I'll wait a while and finish the books I have before I get anything else.  I was most of the way through the Black Fawn by Kjelgaard before I switched over to The Martian.  I read a lot of Kjelgaard in middle school and found that as a free Kindle book online.  I also downloaded a highly reviewed ebook called The Green Ember by S.D.Smith

In other news:  I've repaired our quilt in several places.. doesn't mean much to anyone but me.  I like it...and want it to last longer.  We made it several years ago and Esme watched me baste the edging on it during one Christmas season.  I've also got an idea for a kid's book  - based on some things Esme was saying about her painting the other week... am making sketches for it and may make a few paintings for it.

Second Grade Curriculum (updating)

This is just the beginning of our collection... I will update this as needed until August, when we will begin again.

Our Core Values
Mixie Engineering Primary School
is about:
Asking questions:
---and learning HOW to find answers.
---Reading and Writing
---Math and Science
---Building and Engineering
---Art, music, history, learning new skills

Trying hard:
---not giving up
---and working together for goals.

Meeting People in our Community:
---learning from each other
---changing the world around us for the better

And - adding for second grade (we've discussed this) -
Discerning truth from evidence and experience.
This one is so hard - and also so very important.  It is at the very core of Critical Thinking.
I also have doubts as to whether this prepares or excludes her from public education...a lot of what she got in trouble for was questioning the rules, the processes etc... things we actually raised her to do.  She was called 'argumentative' and 'disrespectful'.... At this young age it does seem like that - unless you are purposefully trying to teach these skills and are willing to draw the lines clearly for the child.  Everything is open to question up to a certain point...and she knows that point with us.  Trying to find that point with a public school teacher didn't reach anything - except a seat in the principals office (which doesn't make the line clear..only move it into the principal's court).

Special Needs:   Expressive language development - moving into the writing stage.  Asynchronous - very good reader, science topics, one level ahead at least on math, one level behind with anything to do with writing original thoughts.

Curriculum:
Art :
More drawing and painting on the easel.  Introduce chalk pastels at some point.  I really like how many details she is putting in her art now, and the way she is working on background.


Social Studies and Geography (Tied together with History):
People Together: Adventures in Time and Place :: I got this at the library book sale.  It is social studies, history and geography with lots of big type and graphics. (comparison shopping, this was an expensive book and we got it extremely cheap)  // paired with Our Neighborhoods (1979) also library sale. 

Continue with maps an geography games.  She wants to do a program like Little Passports - we kind of have all of the stuff to do that on our own, debating whether to spend 15.00 for a month to try their service. Mark says I can tear maps out of our fifty-cent 1950s world Atlas...but it seems like a travesty to do that...even though the binding is already half-broken the prints are perfect inside...*debating*

Add the 'day in the life' and sightseeing info for her 'passport countries' from Time for Kids  : France

Picked up two dollar HISTORY overview type books - good for starting off points. (She is already reading the Ancient History one)

Using Minecraft to talk about economies, transportations, projects and goals - recognizing and accomplishing goals etc.  She said she can make some world flags in Minecraft.

Science:
Geology - Rocks and Minerals book, microscope, crystals, geology samples cards (tie with geography, too).  Planning a visit to Ben Clement Mineral Museum (tentative). The Pinson mounds  are close to us, and she has expressed great interest in the archaeological finds on display at the library - try to tie some of that together.  Reelfoot Lake would be a good 'not too far away' field trip this year.

Biology : She came up with an idea for Ocean 'Aquarium' of paper fish, drawn out from pictures in book and internet and learning specific facts about them to write down (what they need, where they live, any important facts, also how big they are).  Use geography, art skills and measurement.   I think that is a great project - we painted a background for the 'aquarium' today (July 13).

Astronomy -online night sky program, Zoo in the Sky book, maybe we could visit the planetarium at Land Between the Lakes as incentive to know what she is seeing.

Body chart (hand drawn using our book set The Human Body TorStar books and Mom's artist talent) - labels for major parts and also anatomical parts - add these to spelling lists

Looking for more Chemistry experiments etc..
She wants to make oobleck again,with 'variations' -sprinkles transfer their dye to the oobleck slowly...we mixed potato starch and salt with the recipe to see what the differences were.
She asked to investigate how real the DNA idea in Jurassic Park is - can it really be recreated from amber?
Amber is tree sap.  We discussed what tree sap is - 'resin', and how it captured the mosquitoes.
We discussed seeing tree sap in a tree in our forest in real life - and sealing some plants in acrylic resin from the hardware store as a project in 'pretending' the process from the movie.
I asked on our 'Eclectic Academic' support group and they gave me a TON of articles and website links to science and biology related things we can discuss. She is at that age of asking more biology type questions, too...figuring out how to approach the subject - we've discussed some things and want to be prepared as she continues to come up with the questions.
What are fossilized fuels - and how do we know about them?   This ties in with the population questions she has asked lately...the population of the Earth multiplying and resources etc.
Don't want to forget the Space book Aunt Dot sent us.

Language / English:
Thrid grade vocabulary words (we did second and some third last year)
Continue with the first grade and move to the second grade spelling words when appropriate.
Punctuation.
Continue dictionary use.
Reading - Stink series, Little House etc.  Try to advance to less picture books as possible - might try some short stories on her to see how she fares.  I'd like to find more Encyclopedia Brown - I loved those (although I was reading my brother's copy at her age).  Movie series : Emily of New Moon Farm, about a little girl who dreams about becoming an author and just 'has' to write - it is in her bones.  Poetry : I am copying and illustrating some important poems for her to go over with me.  We've mentioned her helping me illustrate some of them as part of her art projects.

Harcourt Language: probably grade 1... This is the subject she needs the most catch-up in, so having this to go over topics will be good.  Also a Scott Foresman Grammar and Writing book grade 1, for the same reason.  The library was selling them at less than a buck each :)

Writing:
Script - reading script writing, writing her signature.  I won't do official penmanship unless she shows some interest - but it can't be 'a foreign language' to her like she claimed this summer.
First Grade writing prompts - on to second grade after we finish the first grade ones.
Poetry - Will introduce her to some basic poems beyond the kids book she has.. some wider variety, have her take her hand to writing a few more two or three verse ones on her own.
Science explanation/exploration - She will need to write a sentence or two of what she studied, and/or discovered in her science.

Math:
Continue with Khan math where we left off, we were 70% of the way through the K-2 material.
Review addition and subtraction borrowing and carrying.
Review money counting and change making.
Review measurement- add more real world scenarios and tasks.
Continue with multiplication - use in real world scenarios.
Continue with geometry/coordinates - review graphing and data from where we left off.
Continue with parts-to-whole, percent etc.

Events:
There is a quilt show in September by Murray, KY.
She wants to go to the roller rink a few more times this school year.

Materials List:
I need to buy some more : Large painting paper, acrylic paints
Ideas for : themed travel stickers, foreign coins and stamps for our passport theme

 Link to other post:  More notes and babble as I plan

Last Day of Homeschool First Grade - Graduation Certificate!

9a    - discussion of last day of school, certificate presentation
9.30a    - bird book
10a    - town, shopping at garden center
10.30a    - discussion: why is fast food usually junk food?
11a    - co-op; finding and loading lime and posts, use plans
11.30a    - break

12p    - minecraft
12.30p    - gardening and chores
1.30p    -  done

We are very proud of her progress this year.  A friend at my work came all the way back to my department to say how grown-up and articulate she is now.  She remembered how she hid behind us and cowered at strangers following the public school attendance -- and she said it was beautiful to watch her blossom this year with confidence and see her inventions and drawings on our album page.  Right now she told me a silly daydream she had about squishing a pretend tomato in her hands if she went over a bump in the car.  This while she is putting together her allowance-bought LEGO toy.

We are planning on homeschooling for second grade, too.  We will go to fill out the paperwork on Monday.  She has planned to study Astronomy/Universe and Geology/Rocks for science topics.  I have some social studies books I will start her on.  But, from now until August - it will  be summer break.

The future:
Our idea is that she can decide what she wants to do for third grade.  She is such a good reader, and does math already at least at a beginning third grade level. Her expressive writing may always be behind - and we will have to work on it as hard as we did her speech therapy when she was younger.  By then, she can understand what she really wants more - know herself and not get anxious/depressed/discouraged by the school environment. And, if she decides to go back she will have to handle herself better in the tough situations.  I have confidence that by the end of this next year she will be ready in ways she just wasn't for first grade, emotionally, language-wise, and in a greater sense of the world around her.

P.S. // Mark mentioned Esme should talk to the homeschool coordinator herself about skipping into third grade now for next school start.  She's not sure.  I'm worried about the expressive writing,(making up sentences yourself that make sense and writing them out) which she despairs over every little bit.  That is linked up with the expressive language delay she has had.  From what I have read that has been a trial of similar children up until about middle school age.  I know she would do fine with everything else.

Saturday building stuff

We started out at Lowes early this morning to meet up with friends and build the project.

She did very well and did require some help - but did almost all of the work herself.

She was very helpful and mindful at the Lowes store to stay with us,clean up after herself and say hello and goodbye to people - several people commented on her good manners - which only goes to show the school just wasn't handling her right.  She didn't hide behind me at all while we were there!

We got a pumpkin for carving later, some groceries, some lunch, and came home.

Then Daddy set up the Atari system and she helped clean the parts, hook up things and learned how to use it in her DVD area to switch the video input back and forth.  We played PONG, Frog Pond and Combat together.  I cleaned some, napped (while she played Martha Speaks on PBS), did laundry, talked to Aunt Dot about our homeschooling week, and then it was time for dinner.  I cleaned up some, set up some more areas for homeschool (trays and sorter for nature stuff) and then we disassembled the K'nex rollercoaster from last Christmas and played with the K'nex to make a cube, 'birdcage', swing and practice with the rollercoaster pieces.  She was so happy several times today that she didn't give up and things worked out with a little extra effort.

Then Daddy and Esme watched an engineering video about racecars.. and it was time for bed.
We decided that was a day we would mark 'present' as school - because she really did a lot of hands-on building things and was doing a lot of thought while playing the Combat and PONG games about what to do and when, and why.  We discussed the 'ethics' of Combat.. she didn't want to shoot at my tank.. and then we decided to play it like tag and she laughed a lot about the way the tank spun when it was hit... so she got over the freeze-up at the idea of hurting the tank when it didn't disappear.  She hated Combat 2 though, so we went back to the regular Combat.

There was more rollerskating, and weight-lifting, and some running around outside after the rain stopped.  She even made an attempt at tying her shoes.  I didn't make her do a journal for today, though..   Tomorrow, we hope the weather will cooperate and we will invite our friends over for fishing!

transition :  We've talked more, but she still isn't entirely certain why we are homeschooling her.  She doesn't think there is anything too bad about it.. she wants to go places and do things and homeschool actually makes that MORE possible - since she is not gone from 6:30 am to 3:45 pm every weekday.  She really wanted to initiate the building school late tonight, even though it is a 'weekend'..   She has been mindful about expressing her thoughts on seeing friends, thinking about time (discussion of earlier and later, and what happened years ago vs. what will happen in a minute or a second from now).  She discussed, by her initiative, listening when we have to do things, that she had not thrown a fit leaving Lowes even though it was tough leaving friends, trying hard on things, and trying to give us time to do other things (like fold laundry, or write this post) and wait patiently.  All of it is very good progress!  I love to hear her express her reasonings out loud to us again - it shows she is really working things out and remembering what she has learned.

I noted that she had her Indian village playmobil set up inside her spaceship toy (the one she can fit inside and has been drawing chalk graffiti on all of the walls of for months, including the 'best day ever calendar' I saw a few weeks ago)... space Indians ;) We are missing a few pieces but I was impressed as she has not shown much interest in that toy set since last Christmas...pieces were scattered to the wind last I knew about.

Adventure day two and Engineering day

Adventure log drawings

 2014-10-9

8am - Greater / Less than worksheet
    - Bike parts worksheet
    - Starfall
    - Break

9am - Tongue Twisters
    - word search
    - PE (weights! 30x 5lb lift, 30x 5lb squats, .25mi run (quarter mile), 10 situp)

10am - Outside adventure nature observation walk
     - Writing report of observations

11am - recess

4pm  - Web searches with Rhe
     - Designing monkey bars

5pm  - Engineering: pipes, T and elbow joints.engineering vocabulary
5.30pm - Done
extracredit:      Spider egg case drawing for science , discussion

 journal page for engineering with vocabulary and counting up parts needed

Spider egg case drawing



eating watermelon from a coworker's garden with her egg and cheese sandwich for dinner


the light was almost completely gone and the camera had a hard time getting much quickly... got quiet contemplation and 'super excited'... She had her knee-high socks on and rollerskates on and had been skating for about an hour today on the concrete floor just before I got home...

List of things she wants to do 'soon':
Potato stamps art project
ink blots with paint

Engineering school:
Project requests:
Build a cottage out of wood - bit too much for us at the moment...but possible
Buld a set of monkey bars out of pipe and a ladder.. very possible, need used ladder

We discussed both options, looked it up some for material cost and discussed measuring and how to decide how big a project should be when it's done.  Went to a store site, looked up materials, talked about price sorting and how to check if an item is what you want.  Talked about counting pieces in a design so you don't have to go to the store more than once for materials, and why it would be hard to go back once you were building/working.   Then we practiced using our PVC bag of parts and pipes (from the flea market tent) to build a structure, make it stable, balance and mirror (opposite but the same - she said) parts so it comes together.. how to compare lengths of pieces and find four/eight etc. the same, how to substitute a part if you don't have what you need right at hand... She was very good at keeping-trying and then also about making her drawing, counting, and cleaning up.

//transition //
She asked if she had to go to school tomorrow (Friday) and I said not go 'to' school, she would have school here at home, like the past days since Monday. She said she didn't want to do school at home either (she wanted to skate and play and I had told her it was really time for bed).. but then I said she didn't want to trade her Saturday, did she? Oh no, don't want to do that... She still gets the weekend off like she would at 'regular' school and we had fun things planned for the weekend.. and she gets to plan some of the things she wants to do, unlike at the public school.  So, she planned some things and is ready for classwork tomorrow then a fun weekend with no 'required' stuff.  She then said 'I am kind of tired.'  I said I saw it in her eyes.  She said she saw I was tired in my eyes, too.. Yes, and I have work tomorrow.  She flip-flopped for a few minutes while taking forever brushing her teeth.. by the time I had her in bed and reading a few poems to her she was in a sweet mood.

Setting up the general plan

Esme is working up the plan with us... she had a few things she wanted to do and I had some limits or expansions on it.

School name : Mixie Engineering Primary School (tentative)
She suggested the name - wanted something that didn't sound silly.  She said it had to be serious.
I added the Mixie to make it unique so we could register it.

Esme's requests:  model building times (LEGO and other project based things), lots of physical exercise and nature stuff, books about outer space and science, finding friends on town trips, art stuff

kind of in between : 
---She likes the idea of more math... better math, have to find our way on that.  I'm starting a bit on Khan academy - she dislikes the hard and easy mixed together, but got her to do quite a bit.
---She wants to play with the billiards table more, making up her own games - I want her to learn a bit of physics and math about it while she does it.
---I hope she will get back into her Minecraft, she hasn't spent anywhere near the time she used to for at least a month.. she used to build whole 'worlds' and projects, the Test house, the school practice etc.
---Correcting language in place, especially 'slang' and 'idioms'...there are a lot of things I know other kids must have made fun of her with - or told her was 'ok' to say, jokes on her etc.. I'm hearing more of them, trying to kindly but firmly set them straight.

Social :
Reduce anxiety and 'fear of failure' that has increased sharply since August.
Work on better behaviors for sitting and waiting in line -
----'What are you thinking?  Can you think that without moving your foot/head/arm/body?'
((I got a hug today because I asked her that gently in her ear instead of being harsh or laughing).
Dealing with disappointment and frustration in constructive ways.(trouble at school, underchallenged)
Working on compromises and interjecting ideas in a constructive manner.(trouble at school, underchallenged)
Using proper tone of voice and attention to facial expressions, body posture.(had worsened at school)
Meeting real adults (with us), asking appropriate questions, finding out about their past or work in ways they want to share, being polite and waiting her turn in conversations etc.
Meeting children in environments like library, community center, park, home-ed meetups etc...

Mom's educational add-ons :

Math and science - STEM activities, following her interests and helping her learn to research.

Writing, spelling, new vocab : Using a journal to record what we have done.  She has always been a reluctant writer, but her fear of failure had made this worse the past few months.  Starting small with two to three sentences and notes where appropriate.

Continue with advanced reading, work on comprehension. Do some poetry, fables and myths beyond ordinary library books. Work on nature science and flora/fauna while looking at geography and history combined.  Find out about local events and plan on a calendar things we are going to do.

Dad's educational add-ons :

Building projects, technology lessons, forest and nature lessons
Use of audio and photographic equipment, technology.
Music and expanding her tolerance of some sounds through audio equipment, recording etc.
Speech 'playback' - so she can hear how shes sounds saying things, reading etc..
Thoughts to build more exercise equipment.
Build a larger and more specified desk area for her things and supplies.
Rerun through all of Electric Company and our 'History' cartoons as educational choices
She has access to a large compilation of 'antique' cartoons on her DVD player while riding bike.
Daily responsibilities, chickens, mail, cleaning up after herself, helping with tasks and projects in a constructive way (like when we set up the new printer today).

//Today// (left house at 9:45 am, returned at 2 pm)
We went to my workplace and asked several coworkers questions. We went to the library. She wrote in her journal a date and time of an event, and we wrote down lists of words based on something she had trouble spelling....She worked on a typing program through the first two modules, and saved her progress.  She had been 'eh' on picking any books for herself the last two times (a very bad sign) and today she picked three for herself.  She built with blocks, and put them away.  We discussed where to find a certain type of book with the librarian.  We went to the secondhand bookstore and she bought a how-to drawing book for a quarter.  She went to the thrift store with me and purchased a small toy for a quarter.

We planned lunch, and she played with two homeschool children for about an hour while I read.  Then I insisted we come home and we helped Dad set up the printer, drew a picture and then learned how to use the scanner.  We also did some math on Khan and she put together her new LEGO set I had not given her until today.  She walked to the mailbox and to the lake with us, brought up some sand in a bucket from the lake (which was heavy, but she was stubborn and relentless), dumped it at the base of a tree and played archaeologist for a while.  Now she is pedaling her bike and watching an old cartoon again before we discuss dinner and what book we will read.  I will have her write in her journal again before bed.

Homeschool decision (Mark's side)

Esme's dad has been keeping his own running narrative in his journal - and he has given me permission to post it here to show his side of the experience. 

Dad's view of the events leading up to deciding to homeschool. *he says it like it is*.

Esme started 1st grade on August 5th of 2014. She'd enjoyed
kindergarten the previous year, done quite well on her tests, had the
usual issues adapting to a more formal school environment etc, but got
over them. First grade was different.

Almost as soon as school started Esme showed disturbing changes in
attitude. The little girl who enjoyed doing math problems with her mom
vanished, replaced with "Girls can't do math - it makes my brain
hurt." The pride she took in writing her letters became "I should just
do one or two to show I tried."  We found this unacceptable, and
disturbing, and told Esme we didn't appreciate this behavior; she
became better at home, but not as enthused as she had been before
beginning school.

We tried to be supportive of the school and teacher without being
overbearing. Rhe sent several notes and examples of the work Esme had
been doing at home, to no real result. The second week of school began
with an "Open House" presentation where the teacher invited parents
into the classroom for a presentation explaining her day with the
kids. The presentation ended with the teacher saying, "Any
questions?", at which Esme raised her hand, the teacher rolled her
eyes and said "NOT YOU, Esme". Amusing, but not encouraging, and
apparently consistent with the classroom experience Esme was having.

Esme's daily behavior reports continued to be poor. We'd ask her how
she'd got into trouble that day, and usually hear about "The other
kids made me talk!" ... Which isn't a surprising answer from a 6 year
old, but we kept telling her to be quiet even when others were talking
to her. Rarely there were more details about an incident sent by the
teacher on these reports.

....
Aug 23, Rhe has a face to face meeting with teacher to make her aware
of some of the possible communication problems and also advanced
skills Esme has.  Rhe asks for more communication to work things
out like we did in Kindergarten.  Teacher does a lot of nodding,
puts the papers in a file.  Behavior reports continue to worsen. 
Teacher states Esme is 'disrespectful', several times.  Teacher
and Rhe text about the reasons for punishment a few of the 'red'
days.. nothing adds  up.  Esme begins to show more and more
anxiety about going to school.

Sep 19th, Esme's teacher called to ask me how her behavior problems
might be solved. It happened to be convenient to have a face to face
talk with her that day, so I did. She raised numerous examples of
Emse's misbehavior that she hadn't personally witnessed. The examples
she had personally witnessed were not severe and were often examples
of the teacher's prejudice; automatic assumption that Esme must be at
fault. She actually told a story of hearing a fuss, turning around and
yelling at Esme because she was one of three little girls involved.

At this point the teacher employed "perky cheerleader" body language
and thrust her chest out a bit with a pose; presumably this was a
"don't think about what I just said, look at tits and believe me!"
tactic that usually works for her. She was certainly stonkered when it
didn't work on me, lost her train of thought.

Several times at that meeting, I voiced my opinion that the behaviors
they were seeing and objecting to appeared to be the result of
boredom. If they couldn't give her more challenging assignments then
at least they could let her read books we've been sending to school
with her. Rhe had sent her a letter on Aug 15th saying much the same
thing, but in more detail and much more politely.  Teacher was urged
to contact us by whichever means at need so we could reinforce Esme's
behavior lessons.

Personally I found teacher non-responsive, reacting with blank faced
incomprehension, to suggestions that Esme's behavior indicated
boredom.

....

The next time we talked to (or even heard from) the teacher was the
Sep 30 Parent/Teacher conference. They had a school guidance
counselor attending as well. She helped moderate and mediate the
discussion, and had several good suggestions herself.

We're given a set of tests that are all 100 scored or "showed
improvement" on the reading speed; and then told that Esme's already
into "differentiated learning", which means she's getting to do next
week's material? It's still nothing she has any problems doing. They
assure us that there's no chance she's unchallenged by the academics
there, however, because she's not consistently the best in the class
at everything. She must therefore be "unengaged."

Teacher returns to us an toy Esme brought to school, a small wooden
coin that she was told was important and not to lose. Esme naturally
enough got into trouble playing with it in class, and reasonably
enough Teacher took it from her. Then it was displayed on the
Teacher's table for several days and Esme got in trouble again for
taking it back without permission. This is given to us after Esme's
test results are shown, as the leader into discussing Esme's ongoing
behavior troubles.

Teacher tells us how important following rules is, that it's a
classroom skill and a life skill which "will be important for her job,
later." Certainly there's a point there, but they present it as a
statement of faith, with more fervor than is commonly seen in fire
breathing revival tent preachers. Rhe and I are leery of such fervor
by instinct, and could argue the need to understand rules and question
them for at least as long as these people can argue the need to have
them.

Neither Rhe or I are impressed by reference to Esme's career prospects
in the context of her first grade education. At best it's irrelevant,
it is sad to think this is an effective line for them to bully the
parents of the other first grade children.

Again, Teacher's narration of Esme's behavior is mostly second-hand
stories, or those which cast doubt on her judgement (at least)
when they weren't. This time she told of Esme being gigged for lying
about being in trouble earlier in the day, outside the classroom,
which the Guidance followed up on by saying that the lunchroom things
are handled there, and then are done. Except for Esme, apparently.

Esme had expressed her frustration at one point by saying "I'm so
Angry!" and putting her head down; which is a very characteristic
thing to for our little girl. Teacher felt that was an example of the
general disrespect Esme has for her, and "Even my own kids don't speak
to me like that."

Teacher locked eyes with Rhe and burst into tears while stating she
felt she wasn't getting any support here. We found it disgustingly
blatant manipulative behavior, and she apparently didn't know what to
do when it didn't gain the immediate sympathy she was aiming
for. Where I hadn't reacted to her earlier goto manipulation for
males, Rhe was similarly targeted and failed to respond as she
expected to the female version.

Guidance had a good suggestion about making Esme tally the "redirects"
she got, every time she was called on to focus her eyes and attention
on the teacher. We've been supplying paper and pen to Esme, for her to
have at her desk, to be used when she's done with an assignment or
whenever she finds herself with unfilled time. We're told she can't
have that paper there, and thus the suggestion of working on a
specific problem in a constructive way is dead on arrival.

The day after the conference, Esme has got in trouble again, this time
she says it's because she raised her hand asking to go to the
bathroom. There's no further information from the teacher. The
following two days are both trouble free, but include notes from the
teacher like "Excellent class work.  More lunchroom trouble today,"
which may no longer be class trouble? We're mystified.  Notes are good
if they help us solve a problem.  We attempt to contact the school admin 
twice that week, by email and phone, receive no responses.  Make the
decision together that even if they will skip her a grade, or challenge her 
more in class, it will not solve many things, or fix worsening opinions.

...

We wanted her to go to public school so she'd have a chance to
interact with the other children, both her age and not; living in a
rural area and in today's climate of caged kids, sending her 3 miles
off to play with the nearest neighbor kids is difficult or
impossible. In kindergarten, she loved that there were other children
to play with, the things she didn't like about school were a
worthwhile cost for having friends.


Now, apparently they're much more regimented even in recess time. Esme
doesn't find it as appealing anymore. She doesn't want to or doesn't
get to play with the other kids because of timeouts, and isn't allowed
to do her own thing, which leaves her misbehaving again and probably
 getting double dip punishment for.

In order for her to go to school she's got to be on the bus at 6.30am,
and wait at school most of an hour before class begins. We're confused
by the reports of how kids are expected to act during this time, and
how much trouble Esme gets in there. She says they're not supposed to
talk, and "Got in trouble in lunchroom" is all but universal in the
few communications from her teacher.

When classes are done at 2.45pm; Esme has to wait again (classroom?
lunchroom? we're not sure, answers were non specific) for a bus ride
that gets her home at 3.40pm. She's spending 9 hours a day to fulfill
a 4hr attendence requirement, and so much of that 4hr is apparently
used for "quiet time" where she's expected to sit and do nothing
productive.

We have not been well pleased with the school administration, either;
despite protestations of "our door is always open if you need to
talk", emails to the Principal have gone unanswered, calls requesting
appointments with him have not been returned.

....

October 6th, we've decided to homeschool. We go to the appropriate
offcial at the school's district office, and there's zero hassle, zero
questions, no fuss or bother. The gentleman responsible for accepting
the forms has one to hand and even goes so far as to fill it out for
us, as well as calling the school to get their process started.

We get to the school and they're expecting us, have already cleaned
out Esme's desk and one of her classmates is on the way to the office
to deliver her personal property from the classroom. Guidance
counsellor who was at the parent/teacher conference wishes us luck and
says she understands. It is the single most pleasant and smoothest
interaction we've had with the school system to date.

....

I'm still being creatively crude about Teacher. She's a cokebottle
skank, with a wonderful leatherette tanning bed skin tone, who looks
the very prototype of the high school cheerleader 20 (very hard) years
later. Still clinging to the thoughtless appeal and assuming the
Natural Superiority of the Chosen Jock Clique, resenting the younger
prettier girls her career surrounds her with because they've still got
opportunities. Never seeing that she had those opportunities too but
chose to forgo them in favor of easy popularity, fitting in, and
blowing the entire football team.

Perhaps she's a good person with genuine problems, or even just
differing values and poor judgement; whichever reasons there might be
I cannot respect the results. With much effort I've kept from
expressing my feelings and judgements about Teacher in front of Esme,
whcih has led to surreal moments in the past couple of months where
I'm telling my little girl she has to do what Teacher wants because
Teacher wants it that way.

Now Esme's adventure in first grade is over, done with, and we can
begin repairing the damage. I've been writing this to rant; and explain
for others who might benefit from seeing it. Our family isn't the only
one impacted by this teacher or her spiritual sisters, we've profited
by the examples of others in gathering the courage to say "no more of
this" in regard to our child. If others can be helped by this, or even
amused, then it was worth writing.





--So there we are, both of us.  We're getting our plan together for how we know she has to be taught - trying to undo the damage and get her challenged and involved in her learning again.  Stay tuned for updates.

Homeschool Decision

smiling while riding her new "stationary bike" (see end)

This year of school has not been good for Esme.  We have tried to work with them, tried to show what we think the issues are.. and the school was very dismissive or non-receptive of our ideas.  In fact, I upset the teacher because I had a different point of view about the causes of Esme's defiant/disrespectful (as she put it) behavior.  They were also giving her 'differentiated' work - which claimed to be advanced and working ahead.  We asked if she could be moved to second grade twice.. because even the advanced work was far below her.  We were dismissed each time.  She can't be bored, she is 'unengaged' and 'distracted.'  We discussed that a lot of the clash was personality and group dynamic - having to wait for everyone to get seated she was already in trouble before things began for not remaining seated, not looking the teacher in the eye etc etc... They said she had to learn to follow the rules of sitting still and quiet when told because she would use them in her job 'someday.'

 Her home behavior and personal belief in her abilities were suffering wide mood swings that related directly to her behavior 'treatment' at school.  Some days I had to coax her out of bed in the morning with promises of math equations, and tests..   But often she said she just didn't want to go - she would be on red again, and she wanted to stay home rather than be in trouble.   One day she said her 'math was too big' for them... for the math they want her to do,which is 'small math.'  We tried to send her extra work, but they didn't have time for it.  There are days it felt like the extra stuff we sent her were used to get her in trouble for that day... she couldn't be doing that or bringing it to her desk if the teacher didn't explicitly say she could.  The teacher was (acc. to Esme) ignoring her hand because she raised it so much, even to the point she couldn't go to the bathroom.   She was so confused about how she got in trouble, as if it 'just wasn't under her control'..for different reasons, daily. Sometimes it was other kids, sometimes her own boredom, sometimes it was just a disconnect with what was going on or being a bother to the teacher.  The teacher refused requests to write reasons down, citing time issues.  Esme's 'guess' of why she was in trouble was different than what the teacher would say if called or asked at a meeting... then we were left with who to believe?  It was a constant source of stress.  She usually came home saying she 'loved school' but it felt like it was something she was 'supposed' to say.

Sometimes we had no idea why she would say some of the things 'I can only be a cleaning lady - that will be my job.', or 'I can't think about (math/spelling etc) it makes my brain hurt,' , 'girls can't do math', 'can't say something is stupid - that is a bad word', 'I only have to do five - we'll throw the rest away/leave blank etc..', 'I'm not a good singer' or 'I can't try that I'm too shy' or 'The words are too small, kids can't read that.' etc etc..  We thought a lot of it was just her being six and being around so many other different children.  But, more and more - we thought perhaps they also are criticisms or ideas being implanted from adults at the school.  Her language issue - trouble with abstract words and time concepts, gets in the way and causes communication issues.  Her language has improved tremendously - but she still lags behind a normal 6 year old child in being able to tell what she did today, in what order, and why/how.  Contrast this with her intense attention-to-detail on other things, photographic memory and advanced reading ability you end up in all sorts of strange conversations where the adult has to think outside-the-box to keep everything straight and avoid conflicts.  As her parents, we expect the conflicts - interpret and sidestep them as needed, and end up with a working relationship that respects both of our opinions and the needs at hand - from washing dishes to studying math to daily errands to discussing manufacturing, animal biology, volcanoes and more... The short part is.. we consider this to BE parenting, for us - and it is not something that they can do at the school.

Every situation she said she got in trouble for the teacher had some other description - sometimes 180 and sometimes not even related to what Esme thought the bad mark was for at all.  The teacher was resistant to giving us more communication to help us sort out the knots that came up daily, insisting she was disrespectful, she had no time for such things (her kindergarten teacher did, and Esme came to respect her and love her) because she had too many others to work with.  We tried to say she needs more context, discussion - a chance to tell them her view which is often very different than other children her age.  We listened to their descriptions of what happened and understood completely why she reacted the way she did - and they were oblivious and even after we told them the 'key factors' we understood, they blinked and stammered.  I said if they had just asked us - let us know they were having an issue with this,or that...we would have made it clear for them.  Apparently, she is different than almost every other child they have ever worked with.. our suggestions made no sense to them, and our description of motivations for certain behaviors were not accepted as having credit.  How were we supposed to know?  You could have asked.  They didn't have time - shouldn't she just buckle down, straighten out and follow the rules because they tell her so?

The other complaint they had was why does she have to question all of the rules when she is the child and they are the adults? 'Not even my own children talk to me like that.' Well... ours does, and we listen.  Respect earns respect, authoritarian responses and corporal punishment, with this child, earn distrust, disobedience and eventually, a full avoidance whenever possible.  They wanted us to get her to mask her feelings - she can't show anger or tell them that things are too easy or that she wants to do something else.  Why not?  She might NOT be able to do something else - but we do allow discussion in our house unless it is an immediate safety issue.  Then she sees that in our voice and expression and knows that we truly are protecting her and we will explain later.  We were seeing our creative high-energy complex child say 'I can't do this, you do this for me - I'll watch' in circumstances where she used to sit for hours and work on complicated models or computer building programs.  She was opening a book and saying it wasn't her age level, so she couldn't possibly read that.   There were also several situations that were just handled unjustly, in our opinion - even upon hearing the teacher's explanation.  She did not know why we would not see it from her point of view. 

And there are other reasons.
Esme wants to build models - Lego, dioramas, detailed maps and craft supply creations.  When we told her we might teach her at home that was her very first response.  And we can build models? (which they 'can't do' at school)  Yes.  And there can be books about outer space?  Yes,and all other kind of science .. and even use the index in the encyclopedias.  And she can learn math at her own pace instead of having to do thirty repetitive problems to get a gumball...she can LEARN.  We can go places, try things like music lessons, we can see real jobs, research topics she wants to learn about, and budget supplies to do cool things.  She doesn't have to look at the AGE on things she wants to do, she can look at what she wants to do.  And we understand her more of the time - and will buckle down where it is needed, like not bouncing around a project, using proper language to us that is constructive and not disrespectful (which is an entirely different thing to us), use multimedia on every project (computer, photography equipment, audio recording for her speech therapy, video and computer tablet if we get those set up), draw, paint, run, throw rocks outside...

So here we are.
We are getting the papers to homeschool this week.
Before she went  to bed last nigh she traced the calendar days on her wall - and said she didn't have to go to school tomorrow.. she had a soft but slightly giddy tone to it.. she said she could think about MAKING the beautiful toys in her head and the outer space books she can read, and I told her even if she was in the darkest place in the forest she would still have what is in her brain and her heart with her.. that is the most important thing. and she said even the crazy things, like boots dancing, and raccoons.. ha, yes, those too.. dream big dreams.


 Mark thought up this out of our scrap wood in the garage.  It holds Esme's bike stationary so she can watch TV or read a book and still be active.  She was trying to do both at the same time, anyway - so it gave him the idea.  She helped him make it and has been on it constantly ever since.


Back on the bike moments after finishing lunch and watching an old PopEye cartoon.
We also went fishing today, discussed science topics at the lake and played Frisbee outside.
Tomorrow is library and more regular educational things.. I have some leaves and was going to do some experiments with paint and sugar and the leaves with her tomorrow as well.

Mark has audio equipment and has been doing 'playback' with her for speech therapy, so she can see what she sounds like and try to correct things herself.  They did that at the special school with her years ago and it was a great help then.

Esmes comments on the tree vehicle trauma

Esme asked to go to the park first thing off the bus today.  I told her that would not be possible because a lot had happened while she was at school - a tree had fallen onto our truck and broken it (the windows) and someone had come to take it away to see if it could be fixed.  It happened just after we put her on the school bus this morning and I had not been able to drive to work because of it.  She wanted to see it - I told her she could see the tree and the glass in the driveway, and the tractor - which had a broken front tire now because Mark had used it to get the tree off of the truck.  She said 'oh no - two broken things?  Why is it the thing?'  She really wanted to see the truck and was worried that we had no car, and could not go do the things she wanted.  I told her I could not go to work, either, because of the situation - and that we hoped the man could fix our truck well enough that we could drive it soon, but we did not know what day it would be ready.  She was despairing in a very major way, about maybe to just have a frustration right there.  We were halfway down the driveway now.  I told her we were working on a solution to the problem, but she said that there was no solution, it was unsolveable, because there was no car to drive to go buy a new car and were just stuck, and all was lost.  I repeated again we were working on a solution - making some calls, we had gotten this far to get someone to come get it to be repaired... she was unconvinced.  I asked her if she thought Mom and Dad were smart enough to find a solution to this - didn't we usually work together and figure things out?  She disagreed - 'Nooooo! you cannot solve it -there is no truck to drive to get the things!'  The expression in her voice was priceless...

I said we were going to make dinner, give her a bath and get her ready for school tomorrow and when she was at school we would continue to work on it and maybe figure it out.  Then she began to run down towards the tractor, got there, and she said 'It is gone!'.. yes, the truck is gone.  I told you that.. but she meant the tree was gone from where it was supposed to be.  I pointed across the driveway to the fallen log that was the tree - and she stared at it for a millisecond, then marched right up to the hole she had been looking at - nearly walking over the glass - and prodded around - it is all gone, it is not right, the things are not in the usual places, and it is all not right.  I pointed to the tree again, and she finally looked at it.  For the record she asked to go to the park again after we got into the house and did her homework.  *facepalm* but was extremely good after that - took her bath, ate her dinner, asked for things politely... she was trying really hard to be good (and did say that at least once) to help with the situation by being good.  *impressed*.  She listened to the phone ring from the insurance company and said 'good maybe it is the car man with the fixed on the truck?' but was sad to hear it was not.  She wanted to play a game on Daddy's computer but we said he was doing 'his work' looking at cars we might be able to buy to replace the truck.  She accepted this gracefully.  I was knitting dishcloths during her bath and she said I was doing good work for the house making things we needed and she would be brave and do good work washing her hair.  She did... and that is usually a frustration for her, wanting to do it but not wanting to etc...

bits in pink and green

A day off today, and sweet sunlight is spilling in and the world has warmed up a little for the first time in a few weeks.  I'm working up the yarn Esme had chosen yesterday for her pillow, and have a stack of old 25 cent magazines from the library sale to snip pictures out of and arrange into my journal/scrapbook of ideas.  I've cleaned out quite a bit off my desk again and it is nearly all workspace and very little clutter.  Tomorrow it's back to work for a full week and it is the busy season.  Esme is watching old Justice League and Super Friends cartoons so our brains will be fairly dizzy (as the adults in the room) but Mark will counter that with his thick meat spaghetti sauce that is filling the house with it's tomato and basil smell.  I find it nice that when I snip something out of the magazine lately it is pretty plants, branch patterns, fabric designs, hexagons and zigzags... might get into some paint later today and play with color combinations in the little octopus book I made the other day.

I dreamed of a candy from my childhood the other day - although they are not excellent - my grandparents always had them and I felt a bit of nostalgia to find out what they were as only the color and shape and an idea they had peanuts was left in the snippet of memory..

These are French Burnt Peanuts, a small burnt orange globular candy with small nubbles all over it as a sugar coating around each peanut..  Mark found some for me at a store after I finally tracked it down.  The key thing about them is not exactly the taste, but patience, which my grandparents had quite a bit of, (they taught me to sew), and was probably the reason they were always 'around'... a few beside a cup of coffee will last an hour, as crunching into them is not good for teeth! Heh.

Esme came and asked me what I was doing as I was copying an entry in my journal from a damaged page to a new page.  I told her 'copying', and she said no, copying is like I am drawing a pony and you are drawing a pony and that is copying me.  I said no, close, but not.  Copying can be drawing a picture from a picture you did before, or writing something you did before, not just 'copying' what a person is doing etc...  As I explained that she peered into the water in the bathub that was waiting for her to start her bath and said Oh, the water is copying the window.  Close! *ha*  So we talked about reflection (which she does know) and the reflection copies the light, so she was almost right about that sentence.  And then she said - Oh, words.  Yes, I said, there are a lot of words. 

Milestones

We've hit a few milestones for Esme in the past few days.  The one that I would not have believed a few years ago was we had to tell her to stop asking questions about the movie (are the boy and girl going to get married? where is his head picture on the flag if he is a pirate?, do the hanging pirates die because they have no food and water and can't get down?, what is carribean?) to Pirates of the Carribean, and please just eat her dinner and no more talking until she was finished.  Wow.  It really has improved that much since she began going to school. 

She also got a radio/cd player for her room.  Many children have this before this age now... but I did not get my first 'owned' one until I was nine years old.. and it was a tape recording boombox then.  I can remember playing with the one my sister had a few years earlier than that, taping 'radio shows' with my cousins.  Esme can get the cds (burned backup because she doesn't know how to be careful yet) out of her own folder and put them in the machine and operate the buttons.  I tried to show her how to operate the radio and 'search' for stations back and forth in the static.  I loved this as a child - finding the faintest stations on AM and listening to see if it was something I wanted, continuing to the next station.  I drove my sister nuts when I discovered classical music stations, talk radio and an occasional foreign language speaker.  Those were good times. 

Esme spent several hours 'dancing' and 'having parties' in her room last night drawing pictures and words on her easel while the cds played.  She found a country music radio station.  *eep*... and said she liked that one without the talking.  She came upstairs and drew stick figures at her desk of Daddy and Johnny Test and herself dancing to the music, then added Mom and Loula puppy for good measure.  She found her 'best pajamas' (a set from Christmas) and put them on and said it was a slumber party.  I think she even stayed up a little late, as she is still in bed much longer than usual for her.

This is a 'spaceship' house that she has been working on in Minecraft.  I remember maknig the base circle for her out of the blue material more than a month ago... and she has done a lot to it since.  She told Mark the colored things were antennas on top of her spaceship house.

The other thing I want to remember is she is asking for 'rock star clothes', with stars and spots.  And she is going to show me how she can be a rock star, learn all the songs on her guitar and xylophone and 'rock you star' to make everyone dance. 

Garden Pictures

 A lovely bee in our garden enjoying the petunias and lantana

 The flowers are starting to bloom and spread... this is the 'pretty' part of the garden.

 Some smaller pollinator lifeforms enjoying the cucumber flowers.   We might even get some cucumbers in a week or so.. saw one or two just beginning.

Today's haul from the garden - this is the second haul of this type, sweet peas, beans, tiny zucchini squash.  It was a nice combination before cooked up.. going to cook it later.

In other news:  Mark and Esme and the dogs found a turtle up at the top of the road and Mark brought it in and put it in a box for the night to save it from the dogs and from his mowing this morning.  He took it back out this morning after we painted 'L2013' on the top of its shell in small letters in enamel paint.  I remember my mom said she did that when she was young and found the same turtle years later, still living there.  An hour or so after Mark had taken it out and released it back into the wild (where he wasn't going to mow) Esme came running through the front door with a purple clover plant saying 'I have a gift for the turtle!'.. but the box was gone.  She was so flattened.. stalked dumbfounded back to the door, out to the porch and sat holding the clover and looking at it like 'I didn't get to say goodbye'... what she told me when she came back in was 'It was a gift... it was a gift.'  So sad, and sweet.

Spud puppy is up for leash training.  It isn't working very well.. but we're trying.  He went to town yesterday and got everyone to feel sorry for him at the flea market.

I made Esme another pair of pants, and need to kick my butt into gear on the pink dress fabric.  She washed her feet in the bathtub all by herself yesterday (self sufficiency) .. which is progress.  She asked me this morning what 'passengers' meant.  After I told her it was anyone in a car, truck, train, plane etc that wasn't the driver she thought.. then came back with some story about all the passengers would crash and fall out, and die and the girls would be witches and the boys would be vampires and mummies, who were not mothers, but dead boys wrapped up in string - that is what mummies are... and we would all have to run away from the passengers.  ??  At least they are words, lots of words!  She is asking for a lot more definitions now and using them, which is excellent for her.  She also got into her Minecraft after I reinstalled the computer and is trying to rebuild things.  She asked me in her 'long rambling HUH' type fashion to rebuild the things I had before on my world 'The thing that is really tall and open and they fall and they are at the bottom and go WHEE they are hills and we go down and up them and you can build that one more three more times, ok?'  Hmm... well, I'll build something ;)  I think that means she wants my minecart system back...but that is what we are up against sometimes, still.

notes as I climb back out of my sinus cold into normal functioning...

The other day on the way to town we were looking at the beautiful sunrise and Esme said she saw a cheetah running fast in the clouds.  It really did look like it - she has the eye, and she communicated it beautifully as well.  She looked at some leftover food on the stove and told me I needed to 'clean this grill' - which was true... she then asked me what that was called - the grill - was that the word?  I told her it was a cooktop (I couldn't think of the word burner) and that grill was a very good word to use.  She called 'coolmath' 'cool mammoth' the other day - which was funny, but she described the game as being the ball with the tongue that sticks and goes whee... which is the iq ball game on coolmath ;)  She saw me looking at some clothing designs on a children's clothing website (to copy), which showed lots of pictures of the same little girl in clothing and asked me where was the 'Esmegirlworld' website - and if we could find it and go there.  She then paid very close attention to the URL and asked me what that spelled.

She keeps telling me 'there's just one more thing..' or 'the one more thing is..' which is different to hear from her.  We walked down to the lake and she looked at all the daisies and told me not to step on the flowers - they were all in blooming, pretty white ones.  I know she must have used the word 'blooming' before, but it was music to my ears.  She asked if the tiny fish that ran away in the water lived there in its home.  I said yes.  She asked why it ran away, and I tried to say it didn't want to be where she squished the mud.  Because she would step on it?  I said no, because the mud is all over where it was now - and it ran away to get away from the mud cloud.  Because it cannot see?, she asked.  Yes, exactly.  I told her the ground was mushy and was squishy.  She asked which one, mushy or squishy or both.  So I described mushy as sinking beneath your feet and squishy as sinking and stuff squirting out as you sink - so it was both.  She then asked me where the part of the shore was where the octopus lived - was it the orange rocks there?  No octopi live in our lake.. I am sure ;)  She was disappointed.

She wanted to sit up on a branch in a tree so badly earlier today but I couldn't find one that didn't have poison ivy on it or sharp bits or too weak etc etc... I told her we would go to the park tomorrow and had a lot of arguing about wanting to go today....She went to bed early (9 pm) on the promise that I didn't have to go to work tomorrow and we can play more, go to town and go to the park.  I made up the pair of pants I had cut out weeks ago at the library, adding a pair of contrasting cuffs to the bottom.  I have to get on the ball and start sewing more bit by bit.. and I have to organize my table - all of our paint stuff has dominated it and I am not sure where else to put it.

I found some of what I believe is this pencilflower growing out on the roadside... it looks so pretty, tiny little orange yellow flowers.  I took a tiny piece of it into our garden and we'll see if it survives.  It is in the bean family ... that fits with me I guess. ;)

bits of speech

Esme last night: 'You got the cold weather so it is cold in here, and we will not be hot like this?" Hmm... yes, we do have the air conditioning on ;)  And she had a story about how she was out in the forest (the trees by the garage) and the puppies made her a trail where she found a leaf and the puppies were sweet puppies because they made the trail that brought her to her home.  She has described a lot of things she was doing in Minecraft quite well - what is a real village, what is not, how to use the dynamite that says TNT.  etc.  She told Daddy she was playing in her world, then in 'dog' world and sure enough she had made a new world and named it dog.  Outside in the garden she was talking about what sound a bee made and it was not a truck but it sounded like a truck.  She was talking about our echoes and how many echoes and how to make echoes properly etc..  She is really improving, and trying things out...  I take this as a 'next step' type of week... seeing lots of things that are one more step above the usual chatter for her.

tonight after work Mark and I both heard her use the word 'distracted' when talking about the puppies - 'I can't be them distracted'..   I also remembered that I have heard her playing with rhymes the past week - 'The gecko with an echo', and using and understanding more synonyms.  'It can't be animals, only a little girl, a HUMAN, like that' responding to Daddy telling her she was a 'strange creature'.   The other thing that caught my ear was 'You did it on the three times'.. 'You mean the third time?'  'Yes, the third time - not the four.'  That is some progress, as well.

Cherokee White Eagle flint corn - it looks more like a dent corn to me, and huge kernels.  Planted it already in between the sweet corn rows.  Quarter and also some of my last year's experiment (blue aleurone, red striped pericarp) that is planted in the back of the garden mixed with Mandan Bride.

 

This is Esme's 'dog world' she made new in Minecraft.  Mark said she made and named the world herself - and when we saw this (I took a 'peek' after work to see what Mark said she had been working on today) we both knew she was trying to recreate the iron golem farm pattern from the tutorial she watched with us the other day.  It had four 'cups' with water around a central square and required putting several villagers in each cup to have a population of 16, and she liked them because they looked like pools for the people to jump up and down in - very much her style ;).  She had been playing with the TNT in creative mode, as well - and had been blowing holes down to bedrock.  Mark said he watched her trying to place 'beds' on the 'bedrock' icon over and over again - and crying because the water and lava from deep underground would come out of the blasted holes and swallow up her bed in her 'new house'.