Dear Friends!

"I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your children are acting like siblings…the bad news is that your children are acting like siblings!" If you have been at HCA long you have probably heard me say these words before in January or February. They are true every year. The school year has a very predictable pattern.

Term 1:   We all start off excited, a little intimidated, and polite. It’s a time of huge adjustments: new people, new backpacks,  greater expectations, different sleep patterns, more sitting….etc. We review last year’s work and the staff assesses everyone. (They really can tell who did their summer reading!)  Then just as everyone settles down into new work and expectations teachers are making real progress… term two happens!

Term 2: usually starts very well but is extremely disjointed overall. It’s not just the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks but more so it’s the preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas that get us off kilter. We eat too much…sleep too  little…perhaps struggle with a bug or cold, and some may get a little stressed :-). We get disconnected from regular life and then, BOOM, we are all back at school in January… but it’s not in the same spirit of September.

In January the glow of new friendships and teachers has dimmed and everyone looks and acts more like their authentic selves- good, bad and ugly. We are no longer intimidated and excited. Rather, we are light-deprived, tired, often sick, and a little depressed. By the time we get home from school it is almost dark and frigid weather doesn’t help. This is the time of year when I am called on with greater frequency to settle student squabbles and parent and staff concerns. We are a little off internally and are looking for someone to blame. That irritating kid next to me, or our husbands, or a sibling, or the driver in front of us, all look like a good candidates to blame… and we’re off!

So what do we do? Being sinners and all in the same boat, here are some of my personal strategies that have worked, at times, for me, my family, and the teachers. I pass them on to you:

• Develop a “we are in it together” atmosphere
• Explain the dynamics I described above to your family and agree to work on it together
• Take personal responsibility (out loud) for your own bad attitude and ask for help/prayer
• Praise others for taking personal responsibility as well
• Avoid over-spiritualizing cranky attitudes.
• Lighten up! Laugh at yourself.
• Watch and read funny things. Play funny games.
• Ask and report about what’s going right.
• Get more sleep! Our bodies do require more in the winter.
• Get some exercise- kids usually love to beat the clock. Time them running around your house, running through an obstacle course that they created, counting jumps with a jump rope in 30 seconds etc.
• Give yourself permission to rest. Not easy! We are working as a staff on this right now.
• Rest- God commands it; obey!
• Put some things on the calendar to look forward to (besides spring!)
•      o   We have Special Fridays, the Read-a-thon, Medieval Feast Day during this period on purpose
• Bring some novelty into your home, classroom, and school
•      o   I buy new games and activities for indoor recess
•      o   We used to have “no manners night” at home once in a great while with our four kids!
•      o   Go owl hunting at night with a flashlight and adult!
•      o   Make a treasure map for your kids with a treat at the end. Let them make a map for you to follow.
• o   Let your kids make an ethnic restaurant (décor,  music,  menu, lighting, etc.) at your house and participate in food prep.  Then surprise the last family member to return home. Welcome them to the restaurant!

The good news is that January and February have improved dramatically over the years as we learned to give and receive large doses of grace. Term three is actually the best, most productive, time for learning and at the end of it we have SPRING. God is faithful.

In Him who IS able,
Susan Hayward, Principal

There are two more weeks to this term's karate class.  Mr. Proctor will continue to offer martial arts to HCA students in Grades 1-8 for Term 3 of this school year.  New students will be accepted as space allows. Register by Jan 20, 2017; Term 3 classes are scheduled to begin Tues, Jan 24th. If your student is currently in this program, please email jbleau@holdenchristianacademy.org stating if they will or will not continue in Term 3, so that we will know how many spaces are available.

New Students: Please fill in the following information and email jbleau@holdenchristianacademy.org  before January 20. By sending this email, you are registering your child for Martial Arts at HCA for Term 3, beginning January 24, 2017.

• Student Name, Grade, Parent Name

How much? Class Fee: The cost of the program breaks down to $10 per class, with a 50% discount for siblings. Payments are due in total for the term on the first day of class. The total for Term 3 for one student will be $90.00, payable to Ryan Proctor. The cost for siblings for this term will be $45.00. (Students will also need to procure a uniform and there are fees associated with the privately scheduled belt tests. Email with questions.)

Who: Ryan Proctor, father of HCA students  Erik (Grade 4) and David (Grade 2), has more than twenty years’ experience in the Martial Arts. He studied American Kenpo Karate since the age of eight, Wing Chun Kung Fu as well as other forms of Martial Arts. Ryan became a junior leader at a young age, and later, an instructor at MJA Martial Arts. At age eighteen he earned a Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate. Ryan teaches Marital Arts from a born-again Christian perspective. He has attended Calvary Worship Center for his whole life under Pastor Joe Ford.