09.07.07
September already?
Wow! Here we are, back at the weekend of the big season-opening cross-country meet. (One of the few conference-wide athletic events that our school can actually host.) Anyway, last year at this time we were still overwhelmed with moving, getting into the swing of work, making friends . . . a lot has changed in the last 12 months.
School is going very well lately. Mike has been busy with his new job. The annual audit was the last week of August, and we still haven’t heard officially if we passed or not. However, we do know that it went much better than last year - so that is good news.  I have been getting used to a new school year, new classes, and new students. Lots of familiar faces, but new combinations and dynamics. I am very excited about my Spanish 2 class - they have retained a lot of information over the summer, seem eager to learn, and have great attitudes. My Spanish 1 class is about half the size of last year’s class, and also seems ready to dive right in. Pre-calculus is going well. Their first test is today, but I’m pretty confident they’ll do fine.  Most of my students from last year’s Algebra II class continued on for Pre-calc, so it is nice to have a little more time with them, since we got off to a late start last year.
Two of my classes have been a little challenging. The new Algebra II class has a much wider range of abilities than last year’s. Some of the students are extremely bright and catching on very quickly, others are really struggling even just in chapters 1 and 2. Because of the amount of information required to prepare the kids for pre-calc next year, this is a fast-moving course designed for students with solid backgrounds in Algebra I and Geometry, and several of the kids are really struggling with basic Algebra I concepts. It is hard, because I really can’t slow down that much, but if they don’t get a handle on the basics the whole year will be a struggle. Pray that God gives me wisdom in balancing covering the material, challenging the advanced students, and helping those who are struggling.
I’m also teaching a middle-school class - “from scratch” - that covers topics from Bible, relationships, study-skills, health, and a variety of other areas. We meet once a week - a challenge in itself. Pray that God will give me wisdom in knowing what things to cover, in what order, and the best way to communicate it. My desire for this class is that the girls would learn to seek God first - and that all the confusion of peer pressure, relationships, beauty, academics, boys, self-image, and all the other “stuff” that life throws at teen-age girls and young women only clears up and makes sense when looked at in His light.  That they truly are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and don’t need to buy in to society’s definitions of “perfection.” If they can grasp that message now, as 12 and 13 year olds, it may spare them some of the emotional agony and drama that scars so many young women in our culture.
Anyway, please be remembering us . . .
- Mandie