Happy Friday! It seems as though the weeks are flying by this school year. Today we are featuring our lovely Lower Middle School (LMS) teachers for Friday Faces. Similar to our Upper Middle School (UMS) team featured a couple of weeks ago, LMS is part of the logic stage where students begin to connect all of the facts that they learnt in the grammar stage and build the foundation they need to enter into the rhetoric stage in high school. Grab your favorite beverage, get comfy and join us.
What was your favorite hobby you picked up during the pandemic and why?
Pam: During the pandemic I renewed my love of domesticity. I enjoyed once again making sourdough English muffins and bread. I planted a beautiful flower garden and veggie garden and simply enjoyed staying home caring for my men (my husband and one of my sons). I also took great delight in hiking and biking.
Stacey: My favorite hobby that our whole family focused more on during the pandemic was drawing. We started doing directed drawings from Deep Space Sparkle and then moved onto YouTube ones. It was a lot of fun to spend an hour most afternoons doing this creative activity while listening to an audiobook and drinking tea during the baby’s nap!
Maureen: I enjoyed many long walks in nature with my kids and friends during the pandemic. I didn’t really pick up a new hobby, just enjoyed slowing down, reading, and spending time with my family.
Wendy: My husband and I are not necessarily the building type, but we had quite a bit of fun designing/building benches for our fire pit and large privacy planters equipped with ivy and a multitude of grasses.
The “non human beings” that live in our house and make our world a better place are…
Pam: Taking this question literally, we have no non-humans that live in our house currently (with the exception of the spiders that continually take up residence) but we do have two collies, a golden retriever who thinks he should live inside, and two horses.
Stacey: The non-humans in our house include a massive neighborhood beast-kitty my kids dubbed “JJ” who adopted our family when we moved to our house a few years ago and my daughter’s rabbit, Blossom. They both bring our family joy with their sweet nature and tolerance for noise and little hands grabbing at them.
Maureen: Ellie, our sweet little chihuahua-husky rescue dog is our favorite non-human in our family. She has the most unusual markings on her head which look like a tiara with a diamond. Ellie loves to go for walks at Dog Beach and is the perfect pack and carry size. We always get stopped by people who comment on how cute she is and her personality matches!
Wendy: Our dog Daisy (Border Collie and mini Australian Shepherd mix) of 13 years brings joy like none other. I have also become the proud owner of an Air Plant and am happy to say that after 2 months…it’s still alive!
If you could eliminate one chore from your life, what would it be?
Pam: Managing paper…
Stacey: Definitely would love to eliminate scrubbing showers. I love cleaning anything else but that.
Maureen: I would definitely eliminate the planning of what to make for dinner every night, My husband is gluten free and my daughter is dairy free so it’s not easy to find something that pleases everyone.
Wendy: Definitely doing the dishes!
What was your favorite or most thought provoking book that you read in the last 6 months?
Pam: There were many! A particular favorite was Malcolm Guite’s David’s Crown. Malcolm wrote one poem in response to each of the 150 Psalms, and every poem begins with the last line of the previous poem, creating a type of “corona”, which is Latin for crown, thus David’s Crown. Ironically, he wrote these poems during the first round of the Corona lockdown. The Psalms, coupled with the poetry, are a balm to one’s spirit bringing joy, refreshment and comfort during a time of considerable uncertainty.
Stacey: A favorite book from the last six months was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. A true story about an Olympic runner who ends up as a POW in Japan during WWII. I couldn’t put it down.
Maureen: I read Anne of Green Gables with LMS last Spring and I found the simplicity of the time period and the joy that Anne found in nature and life to be so refreshing that I read all 8 books in the series. I also enjoyed the Netflix series and had my mom watching it too.
Wendy: The Honey Bus
If you could be any Roman or Greek god/goddess which one would you be and why?
Pam: Again, it is hard to choose but I think I may choose Hestia/Vesta as she was the keeper of the hearth. It is in the home that life begins and lives are shaped. Although, Athena was the goddess of wisdom and the warrior goddess of spinning and weaving…hmmm.
Stacey: If I had to choose one, I’d hope to be a wise Greek goddess so, Athena would be my first choice.
Maureen: I enjoyed many long walks in nature with my kids and friends during the pandemic. I didn’t really pick up a new hobby, just enjoyed slowing down, reading, and spending time with my family.
Wendy: I would want to be Hestia – Goddess of Hearth and Home. She was also regarded as one of the kindest and most compassionate of all Gods/Goddesses.
For more posts in our Friday Faces series please see:
Thank you LMS for taking the time to share with our SLOCA community. See you next week for more Friday Faces!
4 thoughts on “Friday Faces: Lower Middle School”
I have enjoyed reading these. I hope that we will also hear from the Safety Team who is a big part of the support team at SLOCA.
Thanks Pam! They have been fun to put together. The Safety Team is on the schedule!
Friday Faces: one of my favorite genre of posts! I can totally relate to Stacey’s comment about cleaning showers: it is truly my most dreaded household tasks!
Thanks Kary! It has been so nice to be able to learn more about our community