Twenty seconds can feel like a long time to wash your hands! Many of you are using that time to sing songs or recite Scripture verses and prayers. Here are some of your favorites:
The Lord’s Prayer
“He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”
Doxology (“Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”)
“Jesus Loves Me”
Psalm 23
The Prayer of St. Patrick
We hope you had an opportunity to speak with Mrs. Poortenga, Mrs. Benedict, or Mrs. Beach before Spring Break. They were making phone calls to check in with families and to how you have adjusted to these school days at home. Classroom teachers have also been scheduling student and family video meetings. We will continue to find ways to keep connected with each other during this time of separation. Our prayer team continues to pray for you and your concerns!
We can be grateful for the technology that has kept us connected since the school closed, but many of you may be feeling “screen fatigue”. We hope the break gives you the opportunity to unplug and enjoy activities that don’t require Wi-Fi!
As we return to online classes after Spring Break, we will continue to encourage families to practice good digital citizenship and be aware of online dangers. More children are online more hours now. We encourage you to take a few minutes (around 3 minutes each) to watch the following PYE videos with your child(ren). Mr. McKenna spoke with our 5th-8th graders when he was at Trinitas in December; the material from both videos is a good review of content from his talk with them. The K-4 video’s message is primarily about being safe online, and the 5-8 video is about making good online choices.
Grades K-4 Refresher Video
Grades 5-8 Refresher Video
Opt-in to receive the Protect Young Eyes bi-weekly parent tech newsletter by clicking this link, or by texting the word “protect” (no quotes) to 66866 and following the prompts.
“Like” the PYE Facebook page by clicking here and you’ll get a constant stream of updates. It’s like a mini-blog. Have you heard of “Zoombombing”? It’s a thing now, sadly, and PYE will tell you what you need to do to avoid it. (See March 26 post.)
By executive order, all Michigan K-12 schools are closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 year. While this news had been expected for days, the governor’s announcement yesterday was still hard to hear. All previously scheduled events have been removed from our school calendars, though planned holiday breaks will still be observed.
While we rightfully grieve the loss of the many good things we hoped to see and do this spring at school, we look forward to continuing our online classes and finding creative ways to learn together and even play together. Keep watching for newsletters and updates.
While we do not leave the virtue of compassion behind, our virtue focus for the month of April is PERSEVERANCE. We could not have anticipated how much we would need this virtue right now. Click here for the home poster with suggested readings and “Try This” ideas. We hope you’ll talk and pray together as a family about how to persevere with God’s help during these challenging times.
Recommended readings* to read and discuss together:
Grades K-4:
The Little Steam Engine (530)
The Tortoise and the Hare (529)
The Crow and the Pitcher (532)
You Mustn’t Quit (536)
Grades 5-8:
Intro to Perseverance (527)
Carry On! (541)
We Shall Fight in the Fields…(569)
I Have a Dream (572)
*Readings can be found in The Book of Virtues, ed. William J. Bennett. Copies can be found on Amazon Smile.
“Try This” ideas for families:
One: God’s word helps us to persevere. As a family, memorize the verses on the front of this sheet or other Scripture throughout the month.
Two: Set some goals to begin working on this month. Write out the steps needed to meet them and hang them somewhere where you will see them regularly.
Three: Talk together as a family. Was there a time when you wanted to quit something but didn’t give up. What was the result? Has someone taught you how to persevere? What things do you find especially hard to persevere in? What advice would you give someone who is struggling to persevere?
Four: Explore the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition of 1914-1916 in the ship Endurance. Shackleton was said to have placed this ad in a London Newspaper: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” There are many kid-friendly websites and videos families can access together to learn about this amazing journey of perseverance.
With the governor’s executive order to stay at home taking effect at midnight, we are cancelling the materials pick-up that had been planned for Tuesday and Wednesday. Instead, materials were mailed home today (Monday, March 23). Please be looking for those packets this week.
The school office is now closed until the restrictions are lifted and we may safely return to daily operations. Classroom questions may be directed to teachers. You may continue to email the office with administrative concerns or technical support issues. We will be checking email and voicemail from 8:00 to noon, Monday through Friday. Please note that we might not be able to respond immediately to your call or email.
It has been remarkable to see how we’ve moved to online classrooms in just a matter of days! We are all still learning, so please check in with the your classroom teacher(s) if you have questions. Thank you for your continued partnership – and your patience – during this challenging time.
We are grateful for the technology that allows us to continue our Christian classical education, and it has been encouraging to see the students’ excitement (even amidst occasional frustration) at the opportunity to chat and video conference with their friends and teachers.
All Michigan K-12 schools are closed until April 5. Regardless of what officials decide about closures after that time, we will still be observing Spring Break the week of April 6-10 and the afternoon of Friday, April 3.
The Morning Prayer readings (Psalms and New Testament/Epistles) are now available. We encourage you to follow along and build a time of prayer into your daily routine at home.
As we continue to focus on COMPASSION this month, let’s look for ways to show care for others in our own home and for those at a distance. Make a prayer list, send a toy or book to a young child, or send a letter to an elderly member of your congregation. Consider calling a nursing home or retirement village to see if they would like pen-pals (email-pals?) for their residents who are unable to receive visitors now.
Our God is a God of compassion. May we faithfully follow Him!
