First Days of Volunteering

I’ve been excited to start my volunteering for a while. Yesterday and the day before, I started at both places I am volunteering at. Wednesday I was at the farm and I loved it so much I’ve decided to do it 2 times a week. The farmers had me doing several chores; I was cleaning out the chicken coop, putting another layer of wood chips in the chicken coop and patching up the chicken wire because several of the chickens were getting out. They also had me clean out the rabbit cage and sweep the barn. My favorite part however was moving around hay bails. Believe it or not it’s an insane workout and I was moving them around on top of 10-20 other layers of hay bails. I thoroughly loved working at the farm.

Yesterday, I started at Challenge Unlimited, which is a therapeutic riding stable in Andover. The program is made to help disabled kids a different way to do their physical therapy. Being on a horse distracts them from the fact that they are using muscles to stabilize themselves. Yesterday I was working with younger kids, all three of them were under 2 years old. I don’t personally help with the kids but I lead the horse around a small or big ring.

third week

I've been homeschooling for about three weeks. So far I'm loving it. I've been really getting into math with my dad, and we are working great together. Tomorrow I go to the orientation for volunteering at Ironstone Therapeutic Riding Stables. I will most likely start my volunteering Friday and I am anxious to see how it is. I love being around horses so I'm not worried about it too much. My mom gets home from Atlanta soon and we will be doing something more on Temple Grandin. A few days ago I watched a documentary on her life. I was thoroughly engaged in the movie, enough so to answer questions after and possibly move on to a paper.

Week Three (I think)

Finding Codman Farm

Today I visited my friends out in Lincoln because they lived right near a farm I wanted to check out and possibly write about. When I got there, a kind man stepped out of the main office and my mother asked about volunteering. The man offered us a tour. We walked around the farm checking out all the animals and talking about the different chores that need to be done, and we also talked about time commitments. The whole idea looks very reasonable and I am more than excited to start volunteering there and helping out with the farm animals, which I love.

My time commitment would be 3-4 hours a week, done on Wednesdays. As I grow into it more I would love to commit even more time, maybe 5-6 hours every week, because I love helping out and I love spending time with these kinds of animals. These times would be properly balanced with academic skills but during this time at the farm I will be building the skills to accept chores more as they come. The people at the farm seem very kind and I’m very excited to begin and learn all about how to work with the animals.

Caleb Mesh

http://www.codmanfarm.org/

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First week of home schooling

Today i was able to sleep an hour later than usual and I have never felt better on a school day. It is my third day of home schooling and so far, i love it. I haven't had to sit at a desk listening to someone tell me how to learn, instead I've been sitting on my couch or in my bed reading articles and watching documentaries on or about topics i want to learn about. I've been thinking of ideas of how to make fun out of my learning and I've come up with ideas like building models of Ancient Incan cities, and cooking Ancient Incan dinners. I've also been reading a Rick Riordan book for about 1-2 hours a day. I have enjoyed the experience so far, my stress level so low i can almost say i have no stress, and most importantly, I'm not complaining about having to learn. I will post again sometime in the next 48 hours. Thanks for reading.

Caleb Mesh