Forbes Forum

The annual Michigan Association of Christian Schools teacher's convention was held yesterday and today. It was a great time of encouragement, training, challenge and renewing. I think it was one of the better conferences of recent years. Afterwards, we went as a staff to a steak house for lunch. Pictured are Mike & Jeanie Reece, our good friends and school administrators, with Pastor and Mrs. Dan Dickerson(with her back to the camera), enjoying some fellowship.
The other shot is of Cheryl and I enjoying our lunch yesterday. They ran out of lunches on-site, so we rushed out to find some food. We had only a half hour before the next session, so when we saw this small local convenience store, we stopped an got some bread, ham, cheese and cookies. Across the street from there was a cemetery--the perfect place for a quiet, uninterrupted picnic in the shade! We have always liked exploring cemeteries--but had no time for that then.

CATSUP!

There was a family of tomatoes crossing a field, but one of the smaller ones kept falling behind. Finally, the big leader went to the straggler and just stomped on him and said "now, catch up!"

It has been weeks since we posted so now it is time to "catch up"! School has started and that is always hectic, even though we spent a fair amount of time trying to prepare for the year ahead of time. Cheryl has 23 Second graders, a fairly large class, but there does not seem to be any academic or discipline problems among them--and that is a big blessing! Dan has over 50 students with 21 in his largest class, and 10 in his smallest. He also has a "readings in history class" that never meets together, as it is an independent study class requiring reading and reports.

One of our bigger changes has been our computers. We now have a newer version of windows, so it takes a bit more time to do things (especially Powerpoint for Dan). We are also on a school-wide grade, attendance,etc. program, so doing grades, keeping records, etc. is different and not like the way we used to do things. Elementary teachers have been especially stretched. We all agree, however, that when it is time to do grades, it will be MUCH nicer!

A new "perq" for teachers is free access to RosettaStone for learning a language. Dan decided to try Mandarin Chinese, and he has completed a couple of units. Part of it teaches him how to pronounce the new alphabetical system words--which was the reason he took it, but part is also trying to teach him simplified Chinese Characters, and he is having real trouble with that!

A week after starting his Chinese study, he got an email from a man at Baptist Mid-Missions whom he had written to a couple of years ago about teaching in China (short term). Over the last two days, Dan has received an invitation to go to China this summer for a month to teach History. What do you think--should he start making plans to go? Let us know.