Friday Focus

This Sunday, October 16, is our Walk-a-thon! The weather should be great for walking, so grab your walking shoes and join us near Harding Park at Lake Merced. Registration begins at 8:00 am; the walking begins at 9:00 am.

Sunday Is Walk-A-Thon!

This is a great time to connect with friends old and new, plus enjoy lots of papusas, haystacks, and lots of fun as we work together to make a difference in the lives of the kids at our school.

Funds raised from this year's Walk-a-Thon will benefit two school-wide projects:

• Multipurpose Room--We are transitioning our worship center into a multipurpose room. A portion of the funds raised will be used to replace the wooden pews with stacking, soft-cushioned chairs that will be much more comfortable to sit on! In addition, this will allow us to reconfigure the room for many different uses--chapels and assemblies; PE on rainy days; small groups; room for kids to work on cooperative projects; and lots more.
• Enhance Integration of Technology--A portion of the funds received will be used to upgrade computers in our lab and help acquire a digital video camera and video projector to enhance integration of technology.

A strong support of our Walk-a-thon is essential for maintaining San Francisco Adventist School's tradition of excellence. Our goal this year is $10,000.

I'm confident that as we all work together we can reach our goal and continue to make our school a great place for kids to grow.

Last year's Walk-a-thon...

Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Student-Teacher conferences are scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon, October 19, and all day Thursday, October 20.

Report cards from the first quarter will be given out on that day. Students in grades 1–8 are expected to attend their conference--this is considered a school day for them.

There is no school on Thursday, October 20. Extended care will be available from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM on that day.

Schedules for the Parent-Student-Conferences will be sent home on Monday. The schedule can also be found on our website (see link below).

Please contact your child’s teacher directly if you need to reschedule your conference.

View/print schedule online...

"I Hate Math!"

Your fifth-grader says he hates math. His grades are still fine, but you can sense trouble up ahead. He rushes through his homework. He makes careless mistakes. The thought of working with flashcards makes him roll his eyes and he refuses. Sound familiar? What can you do?

Fifth grade is an important year. If your son doesn't master basic math facts and skills now, he'll fall farther and farther behind. So it is important that you help your son see why math is important, and also realize that he can do it.

Help your son see how math relates to the things he enjoys. Does he like sports? Suggest that he keep statistics on his favorite player. Does he like to be the first one to figure things out? Get him a book of logic puzzles.

Also help him see how you use math in daily life. Put him in charge of figuring out how many miles your car drives on a gallon of gas. Let him do some research on something he wants the family to buy--how much would you save if you bought it on sale?

Use a deck of cards to make math review a game. Draw three or four cards and lay them on the table. Using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, see who can come up with the greatest number of different answers in five minutes.

Help your fifth-grader see that math is both useful and fun! Then watch as his interest and his math grades begin to soar.

CSI: San Francisco Takes Over Wednesday Mornings

God gave Moses a straightforward and reasonably terrifying job: go to Pharaoh and tell him to let My people go.

Once again our CSI: San Francisco group took over our Wednesday chapel and small groups that follow. Each week our junior high group (CSI: San Francisco) presents a skit for chapel and then they lead a small group of kids to further apply the concept presented in chapel. Currently we have ten small groups that meet every week on campus. The CSI group is doing an outstanding job!

Next week's skit, "Oh, Brother!" will help kids learn that God sends the helpers we need. We live that out by working with God's people.

CSI: San Francisco will soon be visiting the Voice of Hope Church. Watch for more information soon!

View photos from October 12...

Loving Your Child Means You Should Establish Limits

You'd never let a toddler play with matches. You'd never let your child jump off a bridge. But when it comes to setting other kinds of limits, some parents just give in.

Sometimes they are trying to protect their children from failure. And sometimes they're just tired out and want to avoid an argument.

But setting limits is one of your most important jobs. Observing limits will help your child develop the self-discipline needed to follow directions and concentrate in school. As a result she'll be more likely to do well and be a successful student.

Here are some tips:

• Start with a behavior that matters to you. Limits are no good if they aren't enforced. If seeing clothes on the floor really drives you crazy, then that's a place to start.
• Talk with your child about the limits. Tell your child why it's important to you. Start by asking for help rather than giving the impression that you're laying down the law.
• Work with your child to set up consequences. "If you don't pick up your clothes, then I won't wash them when I do the laundry."
• Stick to the rules. Once you've set limits, you have to enforce them every time. Otherwise your child will learn that you don't mean what you say.

Why I'm Quitting

God, there's just not enough room for both of us to be in charge of my life. It's not that I haven't taken the job seriously, mind you! I have fretted, laid awake nights, and worked out the most detailed and wonderful schemes. The problem is not with the planning and scheming. It's with the "control" thing. Or, perhaps I should have said, the lack-of-control thing. I don't really have any.

Oh, I know. You have repeatedly told me that you are competent to be in charge and that putting You in charge would relieve me of worry. But I seem to enjoy it. The fact that I'm worried about tomorrow seems to tell my sick soul that I somehow have a semblance of control over it. But I don't. I just don't.

Then there's the mess I make of things. The worried-over plan begins to be put in motion, one of those things or people I can't control comes into play, and the bus runs into the ditch! I try to press on. I try to force outcomes. The ditch gets deeper, and the pain begins to come.

Even so, You show up and offer to take control. You ask me--without ever forcing things--to turn loose of the wheel and trust You to steer. Sometimes I want to. I really do. Then something wells up inside that makes me push you away. Tell You I can do it all by myself. Truth be told, I'm often thinking that just as soon as I get this thing out of the ditch I'm going to ask You to drive. I never do.

Then there are the people on the bus with me. They are always the people I love most and for whose welfare I care most passionately. When I drive, then wreck, then push You away, I sense their disappointment. Even that, however, hasn't been enough to this point. It kills me to know I'm hurting them, but I still want to steer. I want to be at the controls. I want to be in charge.

The time has come to try another approach. Oh, it's not that I want to be heard saying that Your way is the way of last resort for me. Or maybe it is. But I'm just so tired. And bunged up. And You and I both know things aren't getting better with me in charge. So that's why I've made up my mind.

God, I'm quitting. No more Mr. Know-It-All. No more having to be in charge. No more playing like I know more about myself than You do. You're in control from this point forward. Heart and mind and body. Family and personal. Career and social. Thursday as well as Sunday. It's all Yours now. I resign as co-regent!

And even if you were (understandably) reluctant to take over after the mess I've made to date, I'm warning you: From now on you're God--and I'm not!

--Rubel Shelly