Hello Friends,
We hope everyone had a restorative Thanksgiving break. It was a joy to receive a few emails and texts from families who shared pictures of homemade menus or centerpieces designed by their children. I know I say it all the time, but this community is amazing!
This week, in almost perfect timing, the weather has moved past Thanksgiving and definitely turned toward wintery temperatures. Be sure your child dresses appropriately and that you label everything! We could open a small second-hand store with all the lost and found items we will accumulate over the next few months. 🙂 Please help us get your hats, coats, socks, and gloves back to you by labeling them.
I have the joyful privilege of walking through each level (3-6), (6-9), (9-12) at TNSM, witnessing the full spectrum of development from preprimary to upper elementary. In one morning, I can watch the early absorbent mind of the 3-year-old tracing sandpaper letters with her finger and then step upstairs to watch a 6-year-old student building on these same skills as he strings letters into words and words into sentences. Then when I walk over to the Ginkgo House, I witness 11-year-olds stretching sentences into stories of fiction, or 6th graders taking notes from a year’s worth of research and paring it down into the best, most captivating way to share history, science, architecture, and culture, through their writing. Sharing it. Presenting it in front of others with butterflies in the belly and confidence in the heart.
Many of these students I have seen pass through each of these stages. I’ve watched them mature into independent, knowledge-seekers with the tools needed to form healthy friendships, resolve conflicts, share a minority opinion, and search for the answers to questions. The types of questions that will hopefully keep chasing them into a variety of professions that will deepen their life experience in a way that fosters compassion and betters the world.
If you are a parent in the (3-6) or (6-9) and want to see what the end of our 9-year cycle looks like, do not hesitate to reach out to me. It is an amazing journey, and I am grateful to be a part of it.
Best,
Jef Groh