Midland story 1

This here is the story I worked on while up in Midland, MI, visiting Tim. Big ups to the brain trust there in the photography department at the Midland Daily News (Ryan, Kevin and Brett) for all the feedback and guidance.

I'm posting the whole thing across two posts, fyi.

---

Kaitlyn Mercy, 8, lives in rural Sanford, MI, and is a second-generation homeshooled child in a state where that's a difficult task. Kaitlyn's mother, Susan, teaches all of the subjects, and Kaitlyn in turn teaches her brother Kristopher, 3. She's treated like an adult in the house, and her maturity is matched only by her childish enthusiasm.


Kaitlyn gets ready for her day by brushing her hair. Too short to see herself in the mirror, she stands on the toilet.



Kaitlyn frequently goes over her day's work in her mother's lap after her day's work is done, making corrections when mistakes are found.



Prayer is part of the daily routine, and Kaitlyn both guides and supports her little brother, Kristopher, 3.



The rules posted in Kaitlyn's bedroom mix both her maturity and her innocence.



The workspace for Kaitlyn and Susan is often cluttered, both frenetic and energetic, and allows for what they term "active learning".

Midland story 2

With guidance from her grandmother, her artistic ability has flourished, whether a striking painting of Jesus (with holy aura, not flames) or a nature painting.



Mondays are for getting out of the house for swimming class, church youth group and flute lessons with Pam Rowe, a longtime family friend.



Weekly swimming lessons are not only an opportunity to exercise, but also to socialize and make new friends.



As Kaitlyn goes over her workbooks every day, Kristopher is never far, and frequently listens to her lessons. Homeschooling is a constant, daily learning process.



Kaitlyn's bedroom is a mix of princesses, ponys, pink ribbons and other girly toys.



Kaitlyn frequently helps Susan with cooking, whether preparing a separate meal for Kristopher or simply chopping olives for the family's chili, as shown here.

Recent and random stuff

Well, it's been a month or so since I last updated, which is way too long without an update. Like about 28 days too long, give or take.

As an aside: Jeremy, shoot me an email at r3 (at) accessnode (dot) net. I can't find an address for you online, so lemme know what you're up to these days.

Here's some pictures from a table tennis tournament, and some from a local teen band called Hayvyn. As another aside, you should watch this short film about a very bad table tennis team.


Biba Golic, "the Anna Kournikova of table tennis" doing lickyface after losing a point. She's called that because she's easy on the eyes, not because she can't play her chosen sport. She made the quarters at this tournament, losing to the eventual champion.


There's lots of time between matches if you don't want to play practice matches...


...as these kids are doing. This is during the medal rounds, and they're just off in a room by themselves playing and having fun.


Semi-final rounds. The white guy beat the African guy (not a racial slam on my part, the guy was from Togo), then lost to another white guy. Which was strange for what is largely an Asian and African sport, for two white Americans to be in the final.

HAYVYN!!! Pronounced like 'haven', but with more Y's! Local band of high school kids playin' the metal!