Recently I underwent day surgery and spent a week recovering at home. Given the nature of my recovery I knew I had to be very intentional about taking time away from work so that I could physically recover and be ready to go the following week. I prepped the staff, set up an email autoreply, [...]
These past few weeks we watched one of the final pieces of the construction project – the canopy over the front entrance – being put in place. This is like a giant erector set with a concrete cylinder base, a steel cylinder, six angled support arms, and beautiful wooden trusses, all supporting an angled wood [...]
For those of us who’ve been in our ACS community a while, the name “Sandra Elgersma” makes us think about singing, xylophones, recorders, concerts, and musicals. Many ACS alumni, honorary members, and staff fondly remember our former music teacher, Miss Sandra Elgersma, who taught children music at Abbotsford Christian School from 1988-2012. If you had [...]
I like the school’s theme song for the 2021-22 school year. It’s called “Let it be Love” by Canadian band, The Color (although, I expected them to call themselves “The Colour.”) The song is catchy and fun—toe-tapping, even, and I’m not really a toe-tapper. It sticks and I catch myself humming the chorus as I [...]
One morning I was heading into separate setting with a group of students to write a math test…what a way to start the day. As the test went on, I realized I was getting the undeserved cold shoulder from one student who usually was personable and receptive to support. He barely made eye contact, didn’t [...]
“Hi Summer! Oh…and hi Mr. van der Leek.” She is often greeted first and I do not take offense. Summer has connected with so many middle school students during the past several weeks and has happily done her work making friends with these mid-sized humans. In fact, when we walk to school each day, Summer [...]
Home makes me think of my family and friends back in England. Memories of mince pies and mulled wine. Thoughts of cups of tea and eating lamb on Good Friday. My dad doing the daily crossword puzzle. My mum baking homemade pies. My brother winding me up to no end…ahh beautiful memories! For me, home [...]
Today I spent a day at home with my youngest. The other boys were off to school as usual, but Levi and I were part of the functional closure and found ourselves at home. Levi being the organized chap that he is, had us up on time, breakfast wolfed down as if we had somewhere [...]
This has been a difficult start to the school year (I know…what a great first blog post, Mike…but I was told vulnerability is okay). For many of us the last 18 months have been hard. There have been times when I’ve wondered if I’m the right person ACS needs during this challenging pandemic. Last year [...]
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” Those famous opening lines of Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The novel begins with, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was [...]
