Soggy September

by Ashley

I'm holding myself to the goal of writing the regular monthly post. So I'm sharing how our September went this year. As the title indicates, it was excessively rainy. Usually, August and September are in fact our wettest months, but we received over a foot of rain across those two months. It felt like it rained every day. The river swelled so high that we weren't able to take our usual shore walks, because there was no shore. And unfortunately, the weather seemed to symbolize the mood here in the village. Towards the end of summer, and the beginning of the school year, there were a few unexpected deaths that hit close to home for some of our staff and students. Not that death is taken lightly anywhere, but out here, it just seems to permeate...to hover. Grief hits hard and despair runs high. They say life is hard out here, and although in some ways that's true, the hardest part for most is not succumbing to loneliness or unchecked vices. And in working with our students, the top two battles we face are fighting against apathy and learned helplessness. It's a tedious endeavor, to teach resilience. Worthy, but tedious.

We had a lot of bear activity around town this year as well, the highest since we've moved here. I think in all, 5 or 6 bears were shot, that had gotten too close for comfort. Most think the rain and high river levels were what drove them more inland to us, but it was a bit unnerving every time we let the dog out at night, or when the older girls walked to their house from ours. We didn't see any bears ourselves, but we've had plenty of other woodland friends visit us: porcupines, foxes, weasels, eagles, and the usual ravens and songbirds. In fact, the porcupine was rather funny, because it just lounged around our backyard, munching on weeds and basking in the sun, without a care in the world.

School-wise, September was a choppy month. We always have a lot of days off, that are spread out, for Subsistence and Teacher Inservice. Moose hunting season opens the first week of the month, and runs to the last week, so many of our students are either out hunting with their families, or helping process meat. We also had a really bad wave of sickness run through the village. It hit a lot of our students and staff pretty hard, so absences were at an all time high. I had students out for almost a week or two at a time, as well as our classroom aides. Our pre-k aide has been in the hospital fighting pneumonia, my classroom aide has been out sick, so I've been running our pre-k class, our lone first grader, and my actual class of 3rd-6th, simultaneously. Along that line, I am so grateful for our daughter, Emily. She applied to be a substitute for our campus, and almost as soon as she was hired, she stepped in to teach our pre-k students. Fortunately, she used to babysit them last year, so there was already familiarity between them all.

But because of our spread this year, I feel so scattered. I write lesson plans for pre-k, our first grader, and then differentiated plans for 3rd-6th. If others are working with any of my students, I have to create plans that are within their skillset. There is a district idea that I can just hand off the curriculum to our paras, and they will help fill the gaps that I can't. But I'm sorry, it's too complicated, and in my opinion, they don't get paid enough for that. So I've ended up drilling down and simplifying the teaching portions, and rewriting the curriculum into more of a Montessori-based approach for the younger groups. To say I've been a bit stressed this year is a given. I knew it would be more taxing, increasing the developmental spread, and thankfully, I'm getting into a systematic groove. Philip has also stepped in, offering help in whatever capacity I request and helping out during my math block. I have eight students on 4 or 5 different levels, doing 3 or 4 different tasks at any given time. Many times, we end up being personal tutors, with rare times where we can actually teach whole group. But despite the challenges...we still seem to be trending in a good direction, and are still seeing gains both academically and socially.

Our family has been busy, busy, busy since the school year started. Philip and I are still doing all the things at the school, and he's still completing the internship portion of his principal certification, but the kids have taken on more this year. Jadyn is in her junior year with UAS, still taking her classes online, and working as our Special Events coordinator and classroom assistant. Emily has started her freshman year with UAA, taking classes towards her BSN. She's also working as a substitute and potentially will be training to work as a health aide at the clinic here as well. She's hoping to get some clinical experience to supplement her coursework, and the help is desperately needed. Josh is in his junior year at our school and is also doing a geology dual credit class. Avery started her freshman year with us, and is taking a Medical Terminology dual credit class. Both Avery and Josh are also participating in Ed Rising, a program where they have to complete a project of their design, with the potential of qualifying for a state competition in Anchorage, and a national level after that. They have both decided to design books for younger children.

We also all work, in some capacity, in our school-run Wildcat Cafe. Ave and Jadyn do most of it, with Ave making baked goods, soaps, earrings, etc. for purchase, as well as making specialty drinks. Jadyn runs the counter, taking orders and helping with cotton candy, ice cream, and any other featured concession item we offer. I run the popcorn machine, and Josh helps take care of our chickens, checking on food and water and collecting eggs over the weekends when our student worker is off. We also host Bingo nights for the community as a part of the cafe, hoping to encourage more community social events. Attendance has been sporadic, but emerging. We expect even more when it gets darker and winter really sets in. And once a month, we feature a dinner, which always brings in a lot of people. It's all good work in which to engage, but we do relish our laid-back weekend time. Immensely.

And meanwhile, Philip is still writing more books. I won't say much about them, since he reveals what he wants in his own good time, but I admire how he always has a project going. I am more Hobbitish in nature...content with a very small, simple life that isn't busy. Philip gets restless and thrives on working through challenges. Our powers combined keep a decent balance.

I'll end with notes on our favorite fall tradition: Hobbit Day. We celebrated it this year in the usual style: watching all the movies and feasting on Middle Earth recipes. I can always count on Josh to find recipes to try, and this year, Instagram gave him plenty of inspiration. Our new dishes this year included Gimli's Mashed Potatoes, Beorn's Honey Cake, and Tom Bombadil's Braided Bread with Brie and Jam. All recipes came from a website called Rhubarb and Lavender. There are SO MANY to try. The golden trees outside our window, and the crisp breeze that made them shimmer, really set the scene for us, and stirred up excitement for the oncoming winter. Fall remains my favorite season, and I'm grateful for the fact that we actually have one here, after years of extended summers in Texas.

Now...we are impatiently waiting for the snow. We had our first teaser snowfall last week, but it melted away by the end of the day. But it won't be long now... :)