Good-bye for the Summer

Last week of co-op.  So sad.  I have six seniors graduating, so I will probably never see them again.  This has been a rich, full year.  My students have blessed me in so many ways.  They are cheerful and fun and we have laughed hard and often.  What characters they are!  What unique and special gifts each one has.  They are serious and inquisitive, and I hope I have taught them well.  I've seen these kids mature and grow through the year, and hopefully, our little school will be bursting with new and returning students this fall.  Since last September our lives have revolved around the co-op.  We survived a brutal winter and and welcomed spring like never before.  Liana made a new good friend, and I met some great families.  A boy liked Arielle (and she liked him back).  We have all grown and changed this year. 

Our year in review:  Freshman biology.  I lugged microscopes and dead animals and various jars of this and that to class most every week.  We hunted fungi in the forest and did a little geocaching on the side.  We grew bacteria.  One boy swabbed his foot, and as we looked at his culture under the microscope we realized it wasn't bacteria, but another fungus!  That was a running joke the rest of the year.  We dissected frogs and fish, flowers and crayfish.  We extracted DNA from peas and made pH indicator from red cabbage to demonstrate why leaves are different colors.  We collect protists and watched them swim on our slides.  The kids made posters and gave reports--our favorite from a reserved boy telling us about the courtship rituals of snails.  As the rest of the class roared with laughter, he was surprised to find he was such a comic.

Anatomy and Physiology.  We also did a lot of microscope work--tissue slides of lung and stomach and nerves and muscles and liver.  The students memorized vast amounts of information and I can only hope some will remain in their brains.  Two seniors were preparing for future work in the medical field.  We did a lot of coloring--if you have never seen a college-level coloring book, you would be surprised.  The pictures are very complex, but the book is a very good way to learn and remember.  We dissected sheep hearts, cows' eyes, and fetal pigs.  Everyone got over their squeamishness.  One guy was absent during the heart dissection, so I gave the heart to him the next week to take home.  He forgot it.  It ended up in the lost and found for weeks. I think it might still be there.  The kids also were brave enough to stick themselves with lancets, collect their own blood and determine their blood types.  I think that might have been the favorite lab.

My girls also participated in the county science fair.  Arielle's project was on autoimmunity and Liana's was photography.  They spent many hours preparing their reports and display boards and learned a lot in the process.   We had sewing classes and made huge messes. The kids planned baking days and shared their goodies with the whole school.  They all spent a lot of time outdoors, singing and playing music with their guitars.  So much to look back on.

Every Tuesday the day ended with dance class.  The kids learned polkas, square dances, waltzes, swing dances, and line dances.  Boys would be given cards with girls' names on them, so partners were random.  There was some trading around if a someone really, really wanted to dance with a certain girl.

I always have trouble with transitions.  School will come to a sudden end tonight after the big talent show.  Then I'll be lost.  But it is time to focus on Fred and his new office and finish up teaching my own girls at home.  (Will geometry ever end?)  Arielle has a prom this month to look forward to and we have a family overnight trip to Lancaster.  Then a wedding in July!   Summer will fly by.  Then we'll be right back into our crazy routine.