Half Way Through the School Year

Carissa has received outstanding marks on her progress report from her tutor. She continues to impress her tutor by being prepared and doing all her work. Carissa works hard and her father helps her to stay on task. Her father can be a task master, but I can see how this has helped Carissa grow as a student. This year's school work has been monstrous in some subjects.  The work load is extremely heavy. On December 7th, Carissa had her Lincoln Douglas Debate. There was an outside judge on hand. The judge was really impressed with Carissa's speech. He gave great marks and said she had the strongest case. The resolution was, the economic health of a nation is more important than the social programs for its citizens. The tutors came to me and gave Carissa many complements. I told her she should think about joining a speech and debate club.

Carissa came to us a few months ago and wants to do something different her senior year. She has worked so hard these last four years and is looking for something different now. We are looking into a college model preparatory academy for her. She would be going to school three days a week. She will need to take an entrance test and go through some interviews before being admitted. I think this could be a great opportunity for her. This is what she wants to do, so we will go with it. We need to start the application process soon. 

Nathan is doing well with his studies. He is preparing for a science research paper that will be due this semester. He is planning to continue with Classical Conversations for his sophomore year. He is enjoying mostly all his subjects and is continually improving on completing his work. He is not like Carissa, but he does his best and is learning. He has his strengths. His tutor has said that he has the most interesting remarks during discussions. He sure likes to discuss things. He is enjoying music theory. It is amazing how different each of your children learns.

Shane is excelling in many areas. He completed pre-algebra with an overall grade of 90% and is now in algebra 1. I will tell you that I did seek some counseling about him going on to algebra 1. He is in 6th grade and I was just needing some assurance. I had him do a placement test, which he only missed one out of ten problems. I have taught him about math and the language of math. There are math terms and formulas he has learned. There is order in math and his mind already thinks this way. Perhaps, this is why he is doing extremely well with piano lessons. He started lessons for the first time in August. His teacher says he is doing very well with music theory and learning to play. He is already playing music just by hearing it played without seeing a sheet of music. He will be presenting a history report on Caesar Augustus in March, so he will be gathering up some resources soon.

Jarrett is doing well with his 3rd grade studies. He is very competitive and will not give up. I really love his determination. He is doing very well in math. I think math is his favorite subject besides recess. He is the child that always sneaks outside, when he should be doing school work. He enjoys the outdoors and being with his cat. He has asked if he can learn to play the guitar. I think that we will be looking into his request. I can't believe he will be turning nine soon.