Spring has finally sprung and at the Brandsma farm we are more than happy to say good-bye to what felt like a very long winter. Winter was rough this year. We had numerous windstorms that wreaked havoc on our farm. There were power outages and downed trees. The tin was torn off the front [...]
BY KAREN VAN EGMOND, ACS PARENT I’m currently working on my Masters in Education. People ask me why, and I’m at the point where I’m asking myself that same question. Let me tell you, if it was easy, everyone would do it. In addition to the coursework, I have to come up with a project [...]
BY CARRIE LOCKWOOD, GRADE 7 TEACHER As if bragging, my Dad claimed that he got the strap 27 times in grade 7. I do wonder what he was doing that was so bad as to warrant such punishment. Fast forward 75 years. I have been supporting Mrs. Barthel in band class. This one particular class [...]
BY LAURA VAN MAREN, ACS PARENT It was the first day of school in a brand new place. We all had a wonderful relaxing summer, while trying to prepare the kids for a new school. We talked about the new school, met a family from the school, and toured the school. The older kids had [...]
Along with the rest of my siblings, I took piano lessons growing up. My mom is an accomplished musician and she wanted to be sure that her children carried on this gene. I was the only one of my four siblings who actually crossed the plateau from despising these lessons to actually (secretly) enjoying learning [...]
My daughter came to me last November and said, “Dad, a co-worker in the ER wants me to join CrossFit; do you want to take the three week Foundations Class with me?” “Does it involve strenuous exercise and pain?” I asked. “No, thanks.” She finished three weeks of training and couldn’t stop talking about the [...]
BY TRACY RAHN, ACS PARENT I didn’t expect to start my Saturday morning off by being jolted out of bed at 7:30 am to dive headfirst into a discussion about defusing bombs. But here we are. To be clear, the subject matter at hand was actually how to defuse a situation with our words, but [...]
NOTE: Roy wrote this blog prior to the decision to postpone student-led conferences. “Student-led Conferences are on Valentine’s Day!” I knew the objections would come. I hoped with enough notice, people would adjust and accept it. It’s just that it really is the best timing. I actually didn’t see it as such a big deal [...]
As the only female in my male dominated household, I’ve become accustomed to some of the idiosyncrasies of my situation. Things I used to wonder and shake my head at no longer faze me and I ponder whether they’ve rubbed off on me a little too much. Flinging cloths and tossing trivets There’s the constant [...]
BY NICOLA HEIDEBRECHT, SECONDARY FRENCH TEACHER I am known to most students as “Madame H.” I’ve been the French teacher at ACS Secondary since September 2017. It’s somewhat ironic that this past fall, I was asked to submit a story for the January blog. At the time, I had no idea life would take a [...]
