STEM UNIT STUDIES & MATH/SCIENCE LAB

At 10 AM our 3rd-5th graders will be working through 3 one month units.  Each student will be assigned to a group that will rotate through all three units.  Parents should enroll the student in STEM to participate in the Mystery Science, Lego Motion, and Silly Uses for Simple Machine units.  We will have new lessons in all units next semester.

Our 1st-2nd & 3rd-5th Math Lab & Science Lab will continue to rotate students through every other week as they always have.  All enrolled students participate in both Math and Science.

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Great Options for fall

A little back story on this class...

In January of 2015, the sweetest Iranian mom came in with her son, who happened to have Down syndrome. The public school had completely failed him, and she was looking for options in homeschooling.

Unfortunately, opportunities were sparse. She was a tenacious advocate for her 15-year-old and she kept knocking on doors until one opened to her. I'm so proud that was our door, but the impact she had on me was far greater than anything I could do for her. I still have a picture her son drew for me on the bulletin board in my dining room.

They moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2016, and I have not seen them since. But a few weeks ago, I got a text from her wishing my 23-year-old son a Happy Birthday. Her son will turn 23 this summer as well.

When they were at NHA, she organized a little rally on the occasion of a traditional celebration in her culture. She did a presentation on that day introducing all of us to her Persian heritage. She brought food and other items to share.

When you think of Iran, what comes to mind? For me, it was an oppressive government and the Iranian hostage crisis of the late 70s when I delivered newspapers. At the top of the paper each day was the bold count of how many days the hostages had been held.

She and her husband left Iran in the 80s to raise their family here. Obviously, she understood the value of the freedoms we enjoy. But she also loved the rich Persian heritage of her homeland that predated the modern political climate.

After Mozh shared with us, I thought about how awesome it would be to have a class that featured a presentation like hers every week with a different culture presented by someone with first-hand knowledge.

I've wanted to offer this class for 7 years, but I was slow to commit to the organization it is going to take. This year I am going for it. I have very high hopes for this class, and I wish I hadn't waited so long that none of my own children will be able to take it.

We are offering two sessions for 3rd-5th at 9 AM and 1:30 PM, and two sessions for 6th-12th at 11 AM and 12:30 PM.

I already have a list of volunteers from several different countries, but we will have openings for more.

Logical fallacies are errors in reasoning that often lead us to accept the wrong conclusions. They are extremely common in advertising, politics, and the media. Anywhere someone is trying to manipulate you for your money, your vote, or your point of view, you will probably find some fallacious arguments. Learning to identify them is the best way to prevent being deceived by them.

This class ranks at #1 in my view of the classes we offer. I wish every student could take this class. We offer it every few years, and typically, we offer two sessions of it to meet demand. This year we are only offering one session of it so I'm not going to be promoting it to the extent I usually do.

If you have a middle school student who is not likely to continue with us through high school, I highly recommend this class. If you have a high school student who has not taken it, you may want to seriously consider it. I would expect it to be back on our schedule in 2024. I think the longer you wait, the better, but don't miss it.

This is always one of the most popular classes on our schedule, but this year we have had some questions so I just want to clarify. 

We are offering two identical sessions of this class to accommodate demand which is always very high. 

Rather than have 40 students in the classroom like last year, we are hoping for two slightly smaller sessions.  Students can enroll for either the 9 AM or 10 AM class. 

We have a wonderful new instructor who is currently in his senior year as a BioChemistry major at Sac State.  His science knowledge is up to the minute and he will be introducing our middle school students to his favorite hands-on chemistry and physics lessons this year.