April 17, 2008

This week, one staff member shared Proverbs 16:24 with our staff, “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”

Apologetics 

Next year’s rotating Bible classes by Natalie Reebel for Juniors and Seniors is a well appreciated, extremely needful class.  This Christian apologetics instruction is of immense value for the student getting ready to depart for college or other aspects of “the real” world.  National statistics for protestant youth staying with the faith of their parents is alarmingly NOT good when they hit the college campuses.  Our students are blessed with some solid Christian apologetics before they leave for college, and from time to time, we receive reports back of how this class has greatly assisted our college students.

What is Now Working at New Hope, and to Re-establish

Our secondary math had been in the midst of real struggles for approximately 10 years.  This year has seen good progress, with good satisfactions being expressed in place of  frustrations expressed in the past.  What was the major change?  We changed curriculum for most of the levels, but even better yet, we assigned most of the math to two periods of the day.  This made it possible for students in a traditional class setting not to be locked into studies in their own grade level.  Our next year’s math plans are to continue building on that progress with all math taught during two periods.

In addition, for a very few who do not fit into the traditional math program, our SOT math with paces will be replaced with Switched On Schoolhouse, a much more modern computerized instruction system.  During the past several years, several students took such instruction.

Getting back to greater use of DECC: This is a dual program of earning both high school credits and college credits for the same classes, but this past year we did not push this and had no students in this very successful program.  One year we had 6 seniors taking these classes, and another year, my daughter Susanna, gained 20 hours of college credits in her senior year while attending New Hope Christian Schools.  Lisa Ward has been a real advocate for next year’s seniors to again branch out by taking some distance education college classes while attending high school at NH.  Our plans are to really encourage those who have finished Algebra II to take a college level course(s) through use of our school computers.

Spring Pictures – please return ASAP!

Congratulations to senior Bethany Matthews and sophomore Ronni Leavitt who had artwork selected for the Best of the Best art show. Best of the Best is sponsored by SOU. Artists from Josephine, Jackson, and Klamath counties submit art which is juried by professional artists. Bethany had a pen and ink and an acrylic painting selected. Ronni had a ceramic sculpture of a hand selected. The show is at Grants Pass Museum of Art on “G” Street this year and runs until April 25.

Cell Phone Use May Teach Lessons About the Bible (some good thoughts forwarded by one of the NH staff this week)

• I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
• What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
• What if we flipped through it several time a day?
• What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
• What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
• What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
• What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
• What if we used it when we traveled?
  What if we used it in case of emergency?
• This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?
• Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.
• Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities?
• And no dropped calls!

Congratulations to the New Hope Track Teams

The middle school has recorded fantastic wins this year, completely dominating the races.  Especially pleasing are the wins for the girls’ middle school team – a first for them.  New Hope, even as one of the smallest schools in the league, has one of the largest teams.

The high school boys’ team is by far the largest team in our league, and most probably the largest 1A boys’ team in the state.  Their great marks also match the number of athlete who are faithfully working out.  Again, in the races, they completely dominate the league as they have done the past four years.  NH has the top marks in 8 of the 10 races, and almost ½ of the top 10 marks for our league of 12 schools.

At 8 members, our girls’ team is larger than the average 1A team but it is still short of numbers needed to make a run for the district championships.  They are improving, and as more girls join next year, may become dominant in our league like the boy’s team as been.