Winterim & MSI

 Just a quick post to share some pictures from Winterim and MSI.  During the first three weeks after Christmas break, the school days are shortened and nobody takes their regular classes.  Instead, high school students choose a what they want to study from the list of offered courses, and middle schoolers participate in Middle School Intensives, where they learn very different things and have a lot of fun too.

Cat was able to join the agriculture Winterim at the last minute, and she was so excited!  She learned about the business and science of farming and spent a few days on a whirlwind field trip to SoCal.  She toured a few farms, learned about different practices, picked produce, siphoned water, and took super cute pictures.  Some of the tours they'd arranged were cancelled because of Omicron, so they added in a side trip to see art at Salton Sea, and stumbled upon a very welcoming cult-like commune.  The trip was still shortened by a day because of the cancellations, but she had an absolute blast.  In the last picture Cat is showing the poster she made to go with her final project, putting together a business plan for a farm in the Midwest.

This is what she wrote when I asked her to tell me about Winterim (the trip and the class):

- visited the wall. it's super big. and super surreal how you can reach thru and high five someone walking on the sidewalk in Mexico

- went to an old timey prison in AZ that was one of the first to house women i think

- we stole water from Mexico after we technically gave them water ?? are we in the wrong ?? don't mess with nature y'all

- calexico is the winter vegetable capital of the US and some parts of the world

- it's a lot more complicated to try to get food to poor places and make that food last than people think

- environmental science is the most important science of the future imo if we're to survive the growth curve we've enjoyed for so long 

Jack really enjoyed MSI (Middle School Intensives).  He didn't love all of the classes, which included things like a geography bee and college/career prep and lots of hands-on activities such as bookbinding, crochet, and sewing.  But he appreciated having a break from regular classes, homework, and tests.  His favorite part was the field trips.  They went to a movie, to Thanksgiving Point, and to Classic Skating.

I just have a few pictures of Jack in the sewing class, because I volunteered to help with that one.  In 4 2.5-hour sessions the kids went from not knowing anything about sewing to making 2 fleece hats (one to keep and one to donate to a charity each group voted on) and making a rag quilt.  They also did some hand sewing, learning to repair tears in clothes and replace buttons and make some decorative stitches.  It was really impressive.