School Begins: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by Dick Buckingham
Administrator

Summer is almost over and school’s beginning is just around the corner.  It is this time of year that students begin to look forward to school beginning.  More and more students that I speak to these days can’t wait to get going at school with their friends, teachers and learning.  It is not so much that they are tired of their summer vacation, but they have had ample time to recharge their batteries and they are eager to continue on the quest for knowledge.  This is an exciting time of year when everyone, including parents, is gearing up for a new school year.  But a successful school year start does not just happen.  The best starts to the school year are ones where we carefully plan and prepare our children.  Let me share a few ideas.

Correct summer habits.  During the summer time, children often stay up late, sleep in and generally keep whatever schedule they want.  A wise parent is one who begins to bring back a schedule for his or her children a week or two prior to the beginning of the school year.  Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, but aren’t able to correct several months of a lack of schedule overnight.  I know it is difficult to communicate to children that it is time to start going to bed at a reasonable hour and getting up earlier to get ready to arrive at school timely, but you will save yourself and your child much difficulty in the first few weeks of school if you prepare them before hand.  Make it fun!  Plan some early morning activities that they can look forward to!

Out with the old.  While we are talking about less than helpful habits, let’s not overlook the tendency our children have to sit in front of the television or video game for long periods of time during the summer.  This is not something that can continue if they are to be successful in school this year.  Help them begin to trim back on their TV and game time and choose to do other things that will help them to stimulate their minds.

Activate their bodies. While children are generally busy and active during the summer, it is helpful to get them moving a little more, getting their bodies awake and ready for a more active routine.  Try to schedule some exercise each day.  In fact, you could combine this one with the first suggestion and plan to go a couple of mornings a week to a neighborhood park when they can play and exercise to get their brains going and fresh.  It will be much cooler then as well.

Feed their brains.  Let’s face it; we all let nutrition go out the window a little during the summer time.  Who doesn’t enjoy the dish of ice cream before bed or the bag of popcorn while watching a movie on TV?  But we also know that what we feed our bodies is what fuels our bodies and our minds.  Start getting your child back in the habit of making good food choices and tone up their eating habits.  The side benefit is that you can get back on the wagon again yourself!

Stimulate their thinking.  I know we really are not supposed to take a break from thinking about things over the summer, but let’s all admit that we do kind of let our thinking and intellectual habits slide as well.  If your child hasn’t been reading all summer, make sure they read a book or two prior to the school year beginning.  Get a book yourself and sit down and read at the same time.  Replace some of the TV and game time with this good and helpful practice.  Nothing can stimulate the mind like a good book.

Get their number.  Try to find ways to get them to brush up on their math skills.  For the younger ones, have them count forwards and backwards, add and subtract.  For those a little older, review the multiplication tables.  You can make this fun by doing it with things you are already doing.  Have them add fractions as you are using a recipe to put dinner together.  Have them count the number of steps it takes to make one lap around the playground and figure out how many steps they ran in 8 laps. For the older students, ask them to differentiate the coefficient of the tangent as x approaches 0.  Well, ok, that may be a bit much, but you get the idea.

Structure, move, eat right, and stimulate their brains.  Little things that you can do in the next couple of weeks to get your child’s school year off to the best start ever!  Even I am getting a little excited about the beginning of school just thinking about it!

It's Time to Slow Down

by Jennie Smith
Secondary Principal

What's your dream vacation?  Mine involves a beach house, six to seven good books, a daily nap, and spending quality time with my boys.  I got pretty close to that this year...it was a cabin in the forest, two and a half good books, an occasional nap, and great quality time with my boys.  It was relaxing and as close to beautiful as I could get.  But before the beauty came the battle.

We arrived Friday evening and had a great day Saturday - exploring a variety of activities at the resort.  And then came Sunday...The sleeping accommodations were not satisfactory.  The playground was too small.  The pool has too many rules.  Do we have to have sandwiches again?! My personal favorite was:  The pool fogs up my goggles!   And, of course, when you are out of other things to complain about....I'm bored!

I wanted to slow our lives down for seven days.  For seven days I wanted to take a break from the hustle and bustle, from the vegetating in front of video games that occurs too often, and look each other in the face and talk.  Doesn't that sound nice?  For this up and coming generation, this is difficult.  Their lives are full of activity and slowing down feels like pure torture and no where near what some of us would define as a "vacation."

But I've decided that it is absolutely necessary - and very much worth the battle - to teach my children to be still.  If they are too busy to have a face to face conversation with their parents, how will they ever make the time to have a conversation with the Lord?  So while it may be a battle to teach them to slow down for a time, it is a skill they need to learn.  Much like we teach them to clean up after themselves and be polite to others, we need to teach them to quiet down their lives, even if it is for a short time.

If you decide to embark on this type of journey with your kids, here are some suggestions that come as a result of what I now call..."The Sunday of Complaints:"

Prepare them
While I thought I had given them the basic overview of what our week would be like, I think I made it sound too exciting.  In attempting to make them look forward to going on this trip, I painted a picture of all kinds of activities we could do.  I should have also said, "I'm really looking forward to some quiet time too.  I can't wait to play Uno as a family and challenge you to a game of chess.  But I also plan to read a book and spend some time being quiet with Jesus."  I think we could have avoided a little of the drama by talking about the quiet times as well as the fun times.

Be honest
As I was talking with the boys that Sunday afternoon, I got really honest with them.  I told them that I had planned this vacation for us, picked the resort, planned the meals, packed us all, and dreamed about the kind of time this would be for us as a family.  And I said, "With every complaint you make, it hurts my feelings."  I wasn't doing this to manipulate, but I felt they needed to know what their words were doing.  Don't be afraid to bare your heart to your kids.  I think this is one of the main reasons they worked hard to appreciate what the vacation had to offer - they desired to please their mom and not hurt her feelings.

Provide a Complaint Notebook (kudos to my mom for this idea!)
That Sunday I put out a notebook and pen and said that any further complaints could be written down, but not verbalized.  I figured this would be a good outlet for them to register their disappointments and for me to have some peace.  Surprisingly, I heard no more complaints, but the notebook was empty too. 

The vacation ended up a complete success.  We had an incredible time as family.  We talked a lot, laughed a lot, played a lot, and were completely blessed as a result.  Hear the thoughts from the guys themselves:

Levi (12 years old):  "It was fun.  We spent a lot of time with Dad" (who works second shift)  "There were some times where there wasn't really anything to do, but it was fun.  The go-karts were fun and fast.  It was worthwhile to slow down."

Caleb (9 years old) "It was fun and really good.  It felt good to get out of the house and heat.  Our family time was really good and we slowed it down a lot.  It went really, really slow, but at the end of the week it felt like it went fast.  I would do a slow down vacation sometime."

Drew (4 years old):  "It was cool and I wuv it.  I like playing Uno...and Chess...and Skipbo...and the park...and go around the bridge...."




 

Vacation!

by Jennie Smith
Secondary Assistant Principal

My classroom is quiet today - most of our high school students are off on a week-long educational field trip.  One of my favorite tasks is planning the Spring Trip - this year's trip has barely begun and I already have next year's planned in my head.  I love digging up information on an area and planning out educational opportunities for students to learn outside of the classroom.  These experiences are not just limited to school hours and field trips.  If you would like to add some learning opportunities to your summer vacation, here are some tips for doing so:

1.  Trip Advisor
I always start trip planning with tripadvisor.com.  Put in your destination and you can discover a lot of information about the place to which you are travelling.  One of my favorite links is "Things to Do."  This lists, in order of popularity, different attractions in the area - museums, national parks, hiking trails, and other activities.  Travelers have rated the attractions and have left reviews of the site.  From the reviews, you can get a good understanding if this is an appropriate stop for your family.

2.  The Website
After picking out a few attractions for your family to visit, explore the attraction's website.  Most of the websites will have an "Education" tab - those are not just for teachers!  This will be the place you will find out if there are daily tours, ranger programs, or movies.  Other helpful tabs may be "Plan Your Visit" or "Programs."

3.  Printables
On the website, you may find a "Teacher Resources" section.  Many attractions prepare lessons for teachers to use before coming on site for a field trip.  Explore those - you don't have to show a teacher I.D. to click on the link.  You may find some fun  printables - coloring pages, mazes, word searches - that you can take along with you for some in-car fun.

4.  Late Night Fun
On the Spring Trip, I like to keep the kids busy until late at night.  There are many educational opportunities that can happen after dark.  Is there an IMAX theater with a cool documentary about something local?  Is there a symphony performance or Broadway style show everyone can get dressed up for?  Is there an observatory in the area?  Many times they host public night viewings.  Your kids will be so excited about staying up past bedtime, they won't realize they are learning something too.

5.  Before You Go
Many times Christian parents have to fight against evolutionary ideas when visiting national parks and museums.  Arm yourself with good movies, books, and information before you leave.  Answers in Genesis is a reputable and excellent company that puts out stellar information on many of the amazing sites in our world.  Buy a movie or two for the car ride and help give your children the truth before you arrive at your destination.  Some of the movies can be rented from Amazon.com if you have computer access on your trip.

6.  Themed Vacation
If you aren't committed to a particular place for your vacation, consider making a themed vacation.  For example, the students of FCS are currently on a geology themed experience.  They are visiting amazing rock formations, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and even taking a float trip down the Colorado River - they are experiencing God's glorious hand and learning something at the same time.  Other ideas:  Wild West, Arts and Culture, Biology, US History, Government.  My dream vacation would be a literature tour of Boston, Massachusetts.  What are some themed vacations you can think of?

One of the greatest goals I have for the students attending the Spring Trip at Faith Christian School is that they would understand that learning can happen ANYWHERE!  Learning can be fun!  Learning isn't confined to the inside of the classroom!  God has given us a great big world to explore and He reveals Himself to us in many ways and there is so much joy in discovering these wonderful treats He has given us.  I challenge you to make your next summer vacation an enjoyable, learning experience for your child.  Give it a try -  may you too experience the joy of lifelong learning!