Friday, October 27, 2017

GLEANING


When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall no wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.  And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger:  I am the LORD your God. ~Leviticus 19:9-10

We had the opportunity to go apple gleaning with one of our co-ops not too long ago.  It was wet and buggy, but it was for a good cause.  This organization collects the fallen fruit that is still edible and hands it out to those who are hungry--mostly in inner cities and such in the area.  They have even started programs to teach people how to cook fresh foods.  Most food pantries ask for donations of non-perishable goods so this kind of offering is really needed.  I forget off the top of my head the name of the organization, but a local farm participates in the program.






There was NO picking off the trees at all.  
Only off the ground and there were guidelines on what kind of apples were good ones.


We did not have a huge group, but we collected a boat-load of apples!!
Later in the week, the person in charge sent us an email with the details of how many pounds we picked and how many people that would feed...and to think that these would otherwise go to waste!


Thursday, October 26, 2017

CO-OP




One co-op morning.

We leave on Thursdays around 8am and on Fridays around 8:20am.
These are two very full days, both for the kids and for myself. 
On Thursdays, they are taking come classes such as Science Sleuths, Kitchen Explorers, Literature Pockets, Colonial Lapbook, Gym, Little House, Earth Science and so much more. I am teaching 3 out of 4 hours and am a helper for the other hour.  I had signed up the two littles for their own classes, but it turns out that they aren't quite ready yet..so I have tagalongs.  I am an aide in one of their classes and I teach another for PreK4-1st grade--so they are fine there.  However, I also teach two upper elementary classes and they have taken to hanging out in my room.

Fridays, I am teaching two out of six hours and am the "home mom" for the other four.  Here the kids take classes such as piano, violin, general art, pottery, dance, choir, basic drawing, science explorers, tinkerlab and acting--again, among others.

So far, it is working.  I am praying we (I) don't experience any burnout before the year is through.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

FIRE PREVENTION 17


We had a decent sized crew for a co-op fire prevention field trip.
As always it was a nice time and the kids always look forward to using the fire hose and go through the trucks.  It is nice that they get to be a bit more hands-on than a typical elementary school assembly.





We had a beautiful day for it!


A highlight is always pretending to be a firefighter and having to follow the rope with no sight to the exit.  Firefighter Nick was also geared up and was calling out for anyone in trouble, so the kids would get used to hearing what it sounds like with a mask on.


(p.s. sorry for the blurriness--I had just gotten my phone switched over and it was probably dirty)







Special thanks to those firefighters who came out and helped us with the presentation.