08.05.11 – 0512 – Log – Jackson
One of Kate’s sky scanners spotted a small prairie fire about twenty miles from the rec center. We decided we will scrape a fire break and do some controlled burns to see if we can contain it. We head out at sunrise.
08.05.11 – 0902 – Log – Dakota
Kate has set young Jack up in her tractor, I am ‘supervising’ in the cab with him, per Maci. My job is basically to hit the ring button if the fire gets too close. We are scraping up the dried grass a good ways away from the work crew. He is doing an excellent job. He handles this machine as well as the men, and better than some. Kate showed him how it worked a while ago and lets him practice from time to time. They are doing controlled burns between us and the fire. The plan is to starve the fire of fuel before it gets to the activity center. From the looks of it, they will have it surrounded well before then. Provided there is no wind.
08.05.11 – 1502 – Log – Elbert
Some of the group stopped a prairie fire today. Young Jack helped. He was so happy to be part of the work group. He scraped a good sized band and then changed out the scraper for a brush hog and used that until he got up to the work crew. Kate came back covered in soot and sweat. Maci dropped off a nice plate of food for her.
08.05.22 – 1607 – Log – Dakota
Kate put a practical geometry class on her teach list. Cam is skeptical so he is working up a standard instruction for Marley just in case.
08.05.23 – 1110 – Log – Camden
Marley came home from class and said that they were building a crop circle and ‘why don’t we have aliens?’ Apparently Zane mentioned that it was believed that they were made by aliens on Thearn. The class seems to have drawn the attention of some of the ‘adults.’
08.05.23 – 1201 – Log – Ashley
So I heard from Edie, who heard from Levi, who heard from Jackson who heard from Cam that Charley is helping to make a crop circle in Kate’s geometry class. Gossip travels faster than my child. The men are planning to install the stadium seat RV’s both so they can go and watch and so the children can see it themselves instead of just with the drone. Not sure how Kate will feel about it.
08.05.23 – 1311 – Log – Jackson
So Kate’s geometry class is making ‘crop circles and pictures.’ They are doing it with different methods. They did a rectangular maze type. They are working something up now that has concentric circles. They have two more planned after this one is done, getting more and more complex. It looks like a lot of fun. The guys are a little hurt that we weren’t invited to help. Tyler and Zane are considering making one.
08.05.23 – 1601 – Log – Kate
Tyler and Zane have lost their minds. I’m working with the children on a geometry segment and they are negotiating a curriculum change and to be ‘teachers aids.’ They have proposed two new pictures to make.
08.05.24 – 2111 – Log – Dakota
It’s astounding how controversial Kate’s classes have become. We had a special community meeting to iron out some conflicts. Apparently she has had so many fun classes that some of the guys decided that they wanted to be involved. She has a practical physics class that they suspect involves building both a trebuchet and catapult. They also speculate that there is a class where there will be a soapbox derby. She has other stuff that they will like but haven’t found yet. She currently has a special project that has ‘engineering elements’ that she has opened up to older students and adults that want to pick up some work. I know for a fact that it is a terracing and irrigation project. (She found a new type of rice.) It involves dirt work and is right up young Jack’s alley. It involves designing, building and operating through one harvest season. The harvest or the solid unit equivalent will be split evenly between participants. Both Marley and Jack have put theirs names in for it. Cam is thinking about it.
08.05.24 – 2121 – Log – Zane
I knew it! Kate has a home building class, ‘building techniques.’ She is so sneaky how she names things. ‘Practical physics.’ Its a trebuchet building class.
08.05.24 – 2133 – Log – Kate
Some of the guys have petitioned for classroom involvement, but they only want to do the fun parts. I told them that they had to commit to the entire class and had to sign up before enrollment. I need time to work them into the instruction. The community backed me up. Cam wasn’t especially happy that Zane told Marley about aliens. I did damage control. People look at them in different ways, most here consider them inter-dimensional or demons. Unless we import them we don’t have to worry about that here.
The Great Experiment 