05.01.21 – 1322 – Log – Maci
Kate has put together lesson plans and has posted syllabus for them. She has a lot of natural science, math, geometry and physics, some interesting music choices, a few for group dance, there are even art classes. Everybody works with the children on letters and reading. We are meeting to discuss after a community dinner.
It turns out that Jack claimed a house for Audra a while back. He didn’t even ask her. It came up at yesterdays meeting, someone noticed that it wasn’t available. She didn’t even know about it. She looked at it today and fell in love with it.
05.01.21 – 1421 – Log – Jackson
Kate posted a list of classes that she has plans for. We reviewed them after the community meal yesterday and the children took over the meeting. Their first request was the boomwhacker music class after seeing a short video of what it was. Anybody that can take direction is allowed to participate, so even the littles signed up for it. The next one they picked was natural science based. They will be studying stuff found in tide pools. I think this was picked just so that they can go to the beach. The class is modified for skill level. They could pick the class again next year and Kate would approach it from a slightly deeper level. They picked color theory for an art class which really surprised me. It looks fun though. A little messy. The parents took over after that and requested a basic math class. They all get instruction for letters, reading, and writing regularly. Everybody helps with that. Everybody in the math class can count to a hundred. Kate will make it fun for them. They will start out with addition and subtraction.
05.01.28 – 2000 – Log – Ashley
Kate has scheduled her classes. She has them scheduled three days on two days off for the school work type stuff. The day starts out with the science class, moves to math, then to color theory. After that the littles come and the boomwhackers come out. The boomwhacker classes are everyday that there isn’t a field trip. It’s expected to be a short term class. It will finish when they all learn three songs and have the recital.
05.02.08 – 1820 – Log – Dakota
The classes are going well. Marley loves school. Cam is concerned that she won’t learn as much as she could at home with no distraction. They have two days of classroom and close to home learning, then Kate takes them on a field trip. I chaperoned the first trip to see tide pools and was pleasantly surprised. Everyone knew what was what, and they all managed to be focused long enough to prove what they knew. I think maybe Kate was surprised that they all learned it so fast. She is considering whether to raise the skill level, add tide pool locations in different climates or just graduate them. We can discuss it at the community meeting. They had forty items to learn, some of them are still quite young, she planned four trips.
05.02.08 – 1912 – Log – Camden
Kate’s tide pool class blew through the material. Dakota was pleasantly surprised by how much they knew on the field trip. Everybody easily passed the oral and practical exam. Kate asked for advice at the community meeting. We told her to graduate them and start them on an age based physics study. It looks like more fun than work, and most of it is hands on. What she currently has should keep them busy for about a month, though I suspect she may add to the plan, just in case. The natives were about to riot about the lost beach visits, they bargained for community trips. They did earn them, and we have never needed a reason to pack a picnic and chill out together, it should be fun.
05.02.23 – 2211 – Log – Jackson
Kate has built a marble run with the children in the wet sandy area near the delta. They are planning a marble race and have invited the ‘adults’ to come and watch. The group is planning to make a beach day of it. It should be fun.
05.04.05 – 1500 – Log – Elisabeth
Kate is building a home in her workshop for Julianna and Joel. The set up is amazing. She apparently built all of the homes of the newer colonists and a good number of the first ones. She has quite the stash of materials, but the rest of the group pitched in too. They have gone on several outings to collect materials.
05.08.20 – 2100 – Log – Becca
Our numbers are slowly but steadily growing. We have a diverse set of skills and knowledge base. People are adding to the course lists for both children and adults. Zane and Alana teach woodworking, Tyler is teaching practical skills for hiking and camping, Neil teaches a course on poultry management, Marta teaches old style photography and alpaca care and management. Everyone is being encouraged to add to the courses available.
The Great Experiment 