The Three Amigos Take 2

More new life on the farm.  One of my Easter Egger hens that kept going broody last year went broody again this year.  She lost both hatches last year so I deemed her an unfit mother (I suspected her to be the cause of death of her chicks).  She was on the cull list but never got culled.  She was adamantly going broody again this year so I decided to give her another go.  I let her sit on 3 eggs.  She hatched them and is being a great momma.  I am so happy I gave her another chance.  There is just no telling what happened last year.  Maybe she is just older and wiser now.  At any rate, she is doing a great job.  One of the eggs even got cracked (by me!) about a week before hatch day and it hatched just fine.

Lesson to learn.  Do not give up.  Grace rules and second chances are not overrated.  I am excited that we had a 100% hatch rate on this batch.  We have had too many chick losses this year so I hope this last batch continues well.  The first 4 chicks are doing well.  They are growing and feathering in.  I think we have 3 cockerels and 1 pullet, but hoping we have at least 2 and 2.

3 of the 4 first hatch babies (2 are enjoying the sun!)

A heat wave just hit us so keeping everyone cool is going to be challenging.  I'm grateful for some insulated coolers that I have to help keep the water cooler longer.  I need to get a few more and definitely need to get my water misters installed around the runs.  Hope you are enjoying your summer.  Many blessings!

Puddle Ducks

The ducks are growing! They are still only about 9 weeks old!  We have had a LOT of rain again lately and there is a LOT of mud!  Rosie, the female Pekin evidently had a blast playing in the mud.  She patiently waited (or maybe not so patiently) for me to bring her some clean water to bathe in.  Their water was mucked up pretty bad.  I change it about 2-3 times a day to try to keep it fresh for them.

They currently have a big bucket and a shallow dish to play in. Yes, it makes things muddier, but they enjoy it so much.  I love watching them play in and bathe in the water.  They are quite entertaining.

Dabbling Ducks need water to wash their food down.  They also need water to clean out their nares (nostrils) and wash their eyes out.  If they can submerge their head past their eyes, they are good.  I really don't need the shallow dish for them, the bucket is all they need to stay clean and healthy, but I enjoy watching them be so happy in the water.

Rosie is so noisy and lets me know how unhappy she is in the morning when I take to long to let her and Rowdy out.  Oh yeah, forgot that update!  Allie is now Rowdy.  I'm still pretty sure he's a boy.  Although he is still not molting out any male feathers yet.  Hmmm.  I'll give it a few weeks and see.  

Jump In Composition REVIEW

What do you do when you have a reluctant writer?  You jump for joy when you find a program that can help snap them out of it.  I was so happy to give Jump In, 2nd Edition from Writing with Sharon Watson a try.  It is written and intended for Middle School but can be adjusted down or up depending on your student.  I received physical, softcover copies of the Student Workbook and Teacher's Guide. The Student Workbook consists of 285 pages and is pretty much self-guided. Your student can work independently with the instructions given.  The Teacher's Guide consists of 115 pages and includes schedules, random facts, assignments, teacher tools, sample evaluations (for grading), 10-minute plunges, answer keys, and grading grids (rubrics).

Teacher's Guide

Random Facts of what is covered

There are listed schedules for One, Two, and Three Year plans.  It is written to be completed in two years but can be adjusted to be done in one or slowed down to stretch to three years.  It can be used in homeschool, classroom, and co-op settings.  This curriculum is written for all levels of writers including reluctant, eager, beginning, and experienced.  We went with the two-year plan so we could cover everything.  The one-year plan does not have everything in the book scheduled.  There are 98 daily lessons (skills) with an additional 19 skills through other assignments.  The lessons take from about 5-20 minutes to complete (not counting writing the papers).  The Random Facts page gives you a full synopsis of what to expect but a few important ones I would like to mention that your student will learn are:

• writing paragraphs and different types of paragraphs
• topic sentences
• main ideas (thesis statements)
• writing 9 types of essays (opinion, persuasion, cause and effect, newspaper article, how to, biography, compare and contrast, book report, and book response)
• one research report (including in-text citations and citing their sources)
• how to proofread
• Five different types of poems (there are no grading grids for these)

Brainstorming skill

Opinions skill

Reasons skill

She mentions that you need a separate grammar course and then gives links to some resources.  Everything is broken down into bite-sized pieces for your student(s). Each lesson teaches them a new skill they will use.  When they get to writing the papers there are schedules and checklists for them to go over to help them make sure they are not missing anything and that they cover all they need to.  The grading grids in the Teacher's Guide helps you to easily grade the assignments.

Sample grading grid

I also really like the 10-Minute Writing Plunges Program in the Teacher's Guide.  There are many ways you can use it and they are suggested to you in the guide.  I like to cover skills on Monday through Thursday and then take a break and do a 10-Minute Writing Plunge on Fridays if it works out with the schedule.  There are 98 lessons but keep in mind that the writing assignments will take more time, thus the two-year schedule.

Teacher's Guide TOC (partial)

I love the content in the Teacher's Guide.  Especially the Teacher's Backpack section.  There is even a section for suggestions for reluctant writers (did she write that just for me? LOL).  It also includes templates that can be copied for your student(s) to use in their assignments (i.e. creating your own paragraph). The Backpack is full of suggestions and explanations to help you and your student succeed.  Do not fret if writing is not your strong point, Sharon helps you get it done with as little pain as possible.  The grading grids (rubrics) help you assign grades with ease.

Sample checklist teaching a skill

Keep in mind that my 9th grader is a struggling learner, slightly dyslexic, and extremely dysgraphic.  Writing is pure torture for him, but we must get it done.  With many challenges, we are getting through this curriculum one day at a time and I think he is kind of liking it.  He won't admit it now, but I see him getting into some of the assignments.  The fact that they are focused and so short make them completely doable and he is not getting frustrated like he usually does.  I am excited as we progress and I have high hopes for what this can do for him.

I cannot say enough about Jump In, 2nd Edition from Writing with Sharon Watson.  If you are needing a good, solid writing program I HIGHLY recommend it!  I will definitely be checking out some of her other programs.  There is evidently a follow up to Jump In for the high school level that I'm sure we will be using in the future.  You can connect with Sharon Watson on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST.

Please be sure to also check out the other reviews from my fellow Crew members by clicking on the graphic link below.