The weeks are flying by

Keeping up with a "blog"is more difficult than I expected! It seems like my days are filled with teaching, grading, teaching, grading...and then crashing at night after taking care of my family. We just completed studying the phrase and will take a break from grammar for a short time. We'll spend concentrated time on Alas Babylon. Of course, chapters 7-8 are due (read and notes) by tomorrow. We also used the rolling Mac Lab today to write a short paragraph as we only had 30 minutes in class because of "College Day". We had a great representation of colleges from all over the country. Good job, Mrs. Mosely! We will soon move to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Look for more to come!

Thanks for coming by!

I enjoyed meeting some great folks tonight at "Back to School night" with PTO. I always enjoy meeting the parents responsible for such fine students. Let me restate how important it is to me that we communicate! I am available to you and your student through email, telephone, or just a drop in visit! There were several items of "business" that I didn't get to...please watch for future updates! We are about to hit the ground running with Alas Babylon. Stay tuned for more to come...

Syntax and other stuff

We've spent the day talking about Syntax...the way words relate to each other. Certainly we can all agree that writing is the foundation for a good education. Future employers, college admission counselors, and others concur that the ability of a person to be able to formulate their ideas on paper, or a jump drive as the case may be, and communicate their thoughts is a critical skill in the 21st century. I told my students today that good sentences are the skeleton for any good essay. So, we focused today on the first 5 of 10 sentence patterns. We will work diligently at writing interesting sentences...I sure hope to gain some good ideas!!! Check back to see if that's been accomplished!

Also, Mala Kelley's dad, Mahlon Paulk, passed away Friday, August 15th. Please pray for Mrs. Sue and the girls.

All settling in

Today, Thursday, we spent the day going over my course description and curriculum summary. The first required your signature, and the second was given for information about the direction the course will take. I distributed textbooks and a vocabulary workbook and asked students to have both books covered by Monday.

Please pray for the family of my next door neighbor at school, Mrs. Mala Kelley, as her father is very sick with cancer.

New notebooks

I know that this seems a little strange, but I love the beginning of school! There is something about new notebooks, pens, and clean paper to get a person charged. It seems like it signals the start of something new...a chance to start over and accomplish more..."get after it" as I heard someone say today. Maybe there are regrets from the past...goals that remain unmet...words I wish I never uttered. A new school year signifies my chance. In backyard football it's called a "do-over". God gives each of us the opportunity to try it again. May this time I be ready for the challenge.

Isaiah 43:18-19""Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

3 days and counting!

The countdown is on! Yes, in just a few short days we will find ourselves together everyday for at least 50 minutes...are you ready? Even though it seems like summer has just begun we are launching back into the thing we've grown to find so familiar...the hallowed halls of TPS...get ready...get set...let's GO!!!