Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

At last, the week we've all been waiting for... It's a foggy Monday morning, both outside and in my noggin. What a week last week was, which, to be honest, went along a lot better than I'd predicted. And graduation was good, too. So, now I'm left with two kids in class for the next few days. Today, they will present their projects. Then what?  I'm going to show a film. Okay, one that is adapted from a series of books that I happen to think is insanely fun, Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine books. They are technically young adult fiction, but I love them all the same. So, since it's creative writing class, why not?  That said, I am hopeful that I'll finally get the garden finished up. Well, as finished as I can. I ordered another raised bed box (of course I did), this time to plant a whole new strawberry bed. We have a kind of rocky/gravelly area that, at the moment, is hosting a pile of nothing important. But the space is potentially perfect for a new raised ...

Raining. And we had a helluva boomah last night-- lots of rain, wind, lightning, and so on. I hope anyone who was having a grad party had an indoor option. And I'm awfully glad Lisbon's graduation is indoors, too. It hasn't been outdoors since the early '90s-- bugs, rain, and the whole uncertainty of it all forced the decision to make graduations indoors. It makes more sense.  And this week is the last week of school for undergrads. I won't say "classes" because it's just marking time, at least after tomorrow. We have actual gradable things to do tomorrow, but then the Chromebooks are collected on Tuesday, and then we have to figure out what to do with the kids who are left... and I will have exactly two of them, and in my first block class. I'll get my end-of-year stuff done (it's mostly done anyhow), and we'll do who knows what. Maybe I'll cave and we'll watch a movie.  Field day on Thursday is a misnomer for the older kids; it...

It's a grey and damp start to the day, and most of what I want to do today requires being outside. I may have to pivot a lot.  We need to get Holly signed up for swimming lessons, so we'll be off to Lisbon around 10ish. I promised her a lunch date and playing at the playground. Lunch can/will happen, but the playground idea, not so much. I wish there was a child-friendly movie playing at Jax, but there is not. We'll work on it. I just hope she is not too upset if it rains. And it sure looks like rain.  I want to get my garden plants in the dirt, but that is not as likely. Maybe tomorrow after graduation. I sure hope so. This growing season is getting off to a slowish start, partly because I have not been home, and partly weather conditions.  All I really want to do, if I am to be honest, is to sit in my pjs and drink coffee. I'm tired. It's been a very busy week, and I've been out every evening. Today was/is to be a less-busy day, but we'll see about that. T...

It's been a super hot week in our neck of the woods-- capping 85 degrees or more each day. Now, it looks to be a cloudy/rainy/cooler weekend-- figures. Maybe I'll get the rest of my garden in. I hope to. It's all for the best I didn't get plants in the ground-- last weekend, frost. This week, they would have cooked.  I'm feeling a little "cooked" too-- we'll get through the week, the graduation, and next week with some sort of grace and grit.  Wish us luck.  In the meantime, I am having a hard time thinking about the fact that the feds want to somehow tie college programs to potential earnings and apportion or restrict educational loans to those quasi-metrics. If one is going to be an artist, a writer, a social worker-- yeah, pretty much all of the helping professions and the arts-- then funding might not be there. This will really shut down any real progress in the humanities, education, etc. This comes on the heels of the stupid decision to declassif...

Well, another marker passed. Both ball teams lost, so the season is over. (Red Sox won last night, though.) Tonight is National Honor Society induction, and as a faculty sponsor of a delightful young lady, I get to attend and pin her. That will be nice; it's the first time EVER any of my students have asked me to do so, and I'm honored.  And they are feeding us, so that's good, too.  I found my own pin from (cough, cough, 1982 I believe) in my jewelry box. It was a big deal. I hope today's kids think it's a big deal, too. What I recall best, though, from the ceremony I was at is Mrs. Bernadette Chouinard's punch recipe. It was amazing. I asked her for it shortly after, and she very graciously wrote it out for me. (Way to advocate for myself, eh?) Other than that social/work engagement, today should be a lighter day. Seniors have their last academic day today, and we'll be having a round table chat about the things they chose to write about in their final exa...

Wednesday-- Seniors have one more day after today, then it's grad practice and done on Sunday. Amen. The emotions are running high; no fights, but kids are a little wound up. I get it. And today, both softball and baseball have the first round of playoffs. There's a lot going on.  That all said, the best decision I have made in a while (educationally) is to have my AP Lit seniors hand-write their final exam essay. I bought blue books (big ones), pencils, and told them they could bring notes/materials, but NO computers. And they are writing it all in class in front of me. They should also share their draft with one peer for input on content, another for editing suggestions, and show it to me for a conference before it's done. (All three reviewers must sign the blue book, too.) They have been given approximately three class periods to get the essay done-- 5-7 pages (not too much), and they could choose either one work of fiction or 3-5 poems we have studied and write a convin...