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A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. –Luke 6:40

It is important that children have outstanding teachers, especially in light of this passage from Luke. As children learn and grow, they imitate those around them, especially those they look up to. That is why Oak Hill teachers are selected not only based on education and experience, but on their character.

Although each of our teachers is educated and has experience working with students, the thing that really defines them as great educators is that they desire to continue to be students themselves. Whether it is learning in seminars and conferences from other institutions or attending discussions and workshops during the school year or reading and taking classes on their own time, our teachers love to learn.

Summer Training

Each summer we ask our staff to attend at least one session of training offered by an outside institution, but many of them choose to attend mul

“The business of teachers is to open as many doors as possible.” –Charlotte Mason

Each year as we work on the school calendar, it fills up quickly. Sometimes our staff questions the number of activities that we have planned. As teachers prepare lessons, they look to times in which they will invite parents into the classroom to help with hands-on learning activities and seasonal parties. As our administration looks to planning concerts, recitations and fellowships, the calendar begins to pile up. As house teachers and captains look to add community fundraising events, we all begin to get a bit overwhelmed. We ask questions. Do we really have time? What’s the purpose of all of these events? We’re opening doors.

Through school events and classroom activities, 1) we enrich our students’ learning, 2) we make school an extension of the family and 3) we prepare students to be leaders in their community.

Regular Events Enrich Education

The activities we have for our students each month

Towards the end of each school year many parents ask what their children should work on over the summer break. More specifically some ask for a suggested reading list. Below you will find some helpful ideas by grade level. But first, what are the benefits of summer reading, and how should it be done?

Reasons Students Should Read Over the Summer Four specific benefits of reading are 1) improving comprehension, 2) building communication skills, 3) improving grammar and 4) building character. If someone struggles with a skill, the best way to improve the skill is to practice it. Thus if your student struggles with comprehension or communication, reading will help with both of these. At the same time, reading improves grammar. As one reads, the sentences repeatedly expose him to the syntax of the English language. Finally the characters in books and the situations encountered in stories will help build a reader's own character. Or weaken his morals.

Books are teachers. Look carefully

“When are we ever going to use this?” Those words have come from the mouths of many students through the years. And while more often the student is seeking an excuse not to work rather than an actual answer, it is an important question. We shouldn’t spend years studying a subject without point. And no subject gets as bad a rap for being useless nowadays as math. Constantly you’ll hear the same things: “When will I ever calculate the tax on 700 bananas in the state of Utah?” or, “Don’t we have calculators for that?” And it’s not even just students. Many adults will often relate to one another on the ground of not understanding math. I don’t blame them, as I said, we should not spend years studying a subject which has no use; however, there is an extremely great value to learning math. In fact, there are two: the beauty of math, and the utility of math.

“Math is beautiful” you've probably been told that before. But, no matter how many grueling equations, fancy graphs, and wacky diagrams

Our School Greenhouse Is Now Filled with Living Things!

If you’ve glanced out back recently, you may have noticed a new addition to our campus—a greenhouse! We’re excited to announce that it is officially up and running, and already teeming with life. Inside you’ll find a variety of plants, including parsley, jalapeños, Carolina Reaper peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and a few others just beginning to take root.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be adding more plants as well as structural upgrades like shelving to make the greenhouse even more functional and inviting. This space is an exciting opportunity for our students to learn about plant life and stewardship firsthand.

How You Can Use the Greenhouse Teachers are encouraged to bring their classes out to the greenhouse. The students can observe the plants’ growth and get an up close look at the different leaves, seeing how each is unique to a pa

At this point in the year the third graders have a strong foundation in creating keyword outlines from a text and in public speaking.

In April, students continued to develop their speaking skills by using a lectern and learning how to include gestures during their speech. Recently, they have learned how to write a composition from a keyword outline.

Students have made exceptional progress. They are speaking with more confidence and are excited about writing. Many students have expressed their love of writing to me, while others continuously ask to give more speeches! Some students choose to use part of their lunch time to research and write keyword outlines. It's been exciting to see their enthusiasm!

Oak Hill Chess Club has four weeks left competing in the Rookly Chess League!

For the past eleven Tuesdays and Thursdays, the students have competed online against other schools around the country in 10-minute chess matches for a full hour. Prior to joining the Rookly Chess League, chess club members would simulate tournaments against each other, always analyzing the games and learning better strategies.

The Rookly League is very competitive. Oak Hill shows up every week ready to play as strongly as possible, and currently both the Tuesday and the Thursday clubs are in 2nd place for the season. Oak Hill has a very good shot at taking 1st place in both divisions if we keep practicing, learning from our mistakes, and continuing to improve our chess strategy and speed.

I am so proud of our Oak Hill Chess Club students! Thank you all for your dedication and tenacity.

We love seeing the energy the students bring to the court during the basketball season and other tournaments throughout the school year. But is there really any benefit beyond a simple competition? A small school can have a huge impact on students even with a relatively humble sports program.

Character Training Team sports give students an opportunity to develop good sportsmanship. Playing as a team, students see that they have to work together, and that being kind to one another really has its benefits. Throughout the school year, year after year, we really see a change in the students during games. They learn to not only work as a team, but to be an encouragement to one another, including their opponents. Though they may struggle with it at times, it does get noticeably easier for them to demonstrate what it means to love their neighbors.

Stewardship Skills Since our spor

Copywork Simply stated, copywork is the process of copying words or a passage. While this exercise may seem simple and unimportant, copywork is a time-tested method for learning grammar, penmanship, and spelling. Subjects we use for copywork span anywhere from Bible verses, poems, hymns, literature, or sentences from our current topic(s) of study. One of our main goals in copywork is for students to read and write well-written passages. These passages provide excellent sentence structure that give students good and worthy ideas to think and meditate on.

Classroom Routine In third grade, students begin each day with copywork. This fall we are currently copying spelling words, Bible passages, select lines from a hymn, and a couple of definitions for some new words. The process students use in their approach to copywork is simple and systematic. First, they read the passage. Next, they carefully trace it

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Book nooks and couches and good working areas await Oak Hill students as summer ends and they come back to school this coming week.

If you Google “Peaceful Classrooms” you will see that more and more educators are talking about the benefits of tranquil and positive learning spaces.

This isn’t just a façade. It also pervades our curriculum and our teaching. And, the peace which we are pointing our students toward is not a mere childhood luxury. We are pointing them to faith in the only one who is bringing his people eternal victory over strife and bitterness, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

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