In Search of Rain and Good Curriculum

If you've been in similar circumstances, you may recall the uneasy suspense of waiting for what is likely to be a severe storm.  We've been told that it will likely arrive here between 10:00 PM and 1:00 AM--not a convenient time for being weather aware.  I sincerely hope that no dash to the cave cellar will be necessary.  We can't get there without going outside, and, in the middle of wind, rain, and possible hail and/or tornadoes, that's not a trip to look forward to.

The rain should perhaps not have been included in the list of unpleasantries above.  That we are eagerly anticipating.  Our grass is turning brown, and the hay field that borders our property needs a drink.  I'm not sure how much a rain will benefit the wheat.  It's getting close to ripe, and that's when it's nice if the rain stops long enough to permit sunny harvest days.

We've missed out on a lot of the rain that has fallen elsewhere in the state, and even in our county and community.  We did have a total of an inch over a number of days about two weeks ago.  In Hutchinson, one morning's rain amounted to 2.25 inches, and some rain fell on other days also.  A few days ago, several inches of rain fell in the McPherson and Salina areas, but none here.  On Sunday night, Hutchinson got about a half inch and we got one-tenth.

The great thing about these storms having missed us is that hail and high winds also arrived with the rain elsewhere part of the time, and we were spared those violent events.

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Today, while I was looking through the CLE curriculum catalog, I spied our very own Jordan N. pretending to do a math lightunit in one of the pictures.  Farther along in the catalog I saw Anthony M. and his brother Michael.  Nearer the back of the catalog, I found a Keupfer boy--DIL Dorcas' brother.  I don't know how those pictures ended up there, but they looked good.

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I've never before spent as much time in school-related meetings in late May and early June as I have this year.  A week ago I attended the homeschool conference in Wichita and spent the day perusing offerings in the Exhibit Hall at Century II.  The size of the ACSI curriculum display pales by comparison.

Earlier that week and today again I spent most of the day in curriculum review committee meetings.  A high school staff meeting also took place earlier this week.  It's a good thing curriculum fascinates me.  Otherwise I would regret having to leave my home and garden for these events.

In many ways I'm retracing the paths I first took in the mid-to-late 80s, when foundations of education first sank deeply into the recesses of my soul and mind.  I had, of course, by then had nearly a decade of preparation either as a teacher or as a teacher-education student, but none of that impacted me as did the need for providing a good education for our own children.  I'm loving the chance to reflect, and participate in the process of going forward under a mandate to identify priorities and seek out the options that align most closely with those priorities.  Factoring in all that matters, however, before making a decision is a significant challenge.  Working with other capable and knowledgeable people is part of the pleasure of the process.

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It's morning again, and we got an inch of rain with no wind or hail damage.  We're very grateful.  For some reason, however, our power was out during the night, and came back on this morning around 7:00.