Top Ten Ways to Have a Good School Year

Don’t stress kids out by over scheduling.

Positive stress can create resilience in our kids and prepare them for adulthood. It is essential to a healthy childhood. Things like new siblings, new pets, or a move happen in everyday life and kids need to be taught to handle these kinds of disruptions.

Tolerable stress is typically short lived, and again, can be preparation for the challenges of adulthood. Illness, a parent's absence due to vacation or work, death or illness of a loved one, or a natural weather disaster are all tolerable stresses.

Toxic stress is stress that is ongoing and has a long duration. This can have long term affects on a child. These would be things like abuse, neglect, severe problems in the home like addiction or mental illness. According to the Mental Health Association of America, over scheduling a child may lead to toxic stress levels in your child if you are not careful.

Feed your child’s imagination

“To invent you need an imagination and good pile of junk.”

Thomas Edison

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set her free.”

Michelangelo

Are you giving your child time for free play or are you monitoring every

moment? Are you providing him with a good pile of junk?

Be on time to school in the morning and the afternoon. Time in the morning is important as many students like to get their ducks in a row. Rushing in can make a student feel unsettled. When you are tardy in the afternoon your student can feel embarrassed and worries about where you are. The best way to build discipline and good habits into a child is by modeling the behavior yourself.

Join students in their learning. If they are studying the American Revolution, read a biography on John Adams. If Picasso is imitated in art class then visit a museum. You will not only grow closer to your child, but you will grow as a person.

Please don’t interrogate children as soon as I get in the car.

Hi sweetie, how was your day?

Wait and wait some more.

Put conversations in perspective.

Take care with the questions you ask. Do not have them center on behavior or academics.

Trust the adults you have put around them.

“in loco parentis”

We won’t believe everything they say about you, if you don’t believe everything they say about us.

Don’t underestimate the importance of a good routine!

Offers safety and security

Avoids power struggles

Helps a child control his environment

Develops good habits for healthy living

Embrace my struggles.

The Real Work

by Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

Good communication can solve a lot of problems

Don’t let things fester

Seek the truth

Be a good listener

Peace and Unity

READ, READ, READ

Books to for Parents to Read:

How to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Mindset by Carol Dweck

UPDATED CARPOOL INSTRUCTIONS AND MAP

Greetings,

Thank you again for your patience as we work through the arduous task of getting over 400 cars and more than 600 students through the afternoon car line. We have worked together with multiple agencies, and have been given approval to utilize our entire campus to develop a system that we hope alleviates some of the stress and confusion. Please know that the car line will still take time, but we believe that the new routing system is much more efficient. We need your assistance in order to make this work.

We are attaching a new traffic flow map; please look at it.

• K-4 (NO 5-8 SIBLINGS): car line will now loop around the back of the property.
• 5-8 (WITH K-4 SIBLINGS): car line will continue to use the route we have used the first two days.

One important and noticeable change will be that you will enter the property IN ONE LINE. You will be directed to split into the K-4 (NO 5-8 SIBLINGS) line OR the 5-8 (WITH K-4 SIBLINGS) line.

Staff will direct you as you follow your car line route.

Car line times will begin at the same time. Please make sure that the 5-8 (WITH K-4 SIBLINGS) car line begins no earlier than 3:30.

Again, thank you for kind words of encouragement as we work to make FCA Frisco the best school for our community.

Sincerely,

Jeremy O’Quinn