Take control of you family's prayer life

Dear Parents, This Monday, our country celebrates Labor Day.  Labor Day celebrates the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the country.  When I was a kid, Labor Day meant campouts, parties, or cookouts.  As a father and husband, things aren't as simple.  It seems like we now try to cram as many of these things in as humanly possible in order to keep everyone happy.  For my family, the feeling of always being on the go is all-too-common.  I know that we all feel like we are constantly busy.  In my family, if we don't stay on top of things, we end up eating way too much fast food because of our "busy schedules."  We have found that it works best for us to sit down on Sunday night and plan out our menu for the week (which usually includes one trip to a local Mexican establishment).  This planning includes listing ingredients needed to help plan grocery trips, and discussing such things as who will be home to adjust the crockpot and what dishes will be needed.  This type of strategy can also be applied to our family prayer lives.  See if this sounds familiar.  You get home from a long day of work.  You get the kids off to practice.  You get home and fix dinner.  You get the kids into their PJ's and down for bed.  You sit down (finally) to enjoy a TV program or game.  Then you're off to bed and you realize that you're too exhausted to open that Bible or say your prayers the way you would like too. So what do we do?  We CAN slow things down by taking control of our schedules.  Sitting down together on a weekly basis to look at who has to be where when will help us to be proactive with our lives.  The next step is the biggest.  We need to talk about our prayer life with our spouse.  Plan time for daily family prayer.  It may not be able to be the same time each day.  You may have to set your DVR and pray during times that you usually set aside for something else. Doing these things will help us take control of our lives.  But more importantly, it will communicate to our children that Jesus really IS the most important thing in our lives! In Christ's peace, Nick Kanable

A note from Mr. Kanable May 14, 2010 Dear Parents, Do you love God the Father and God the Son enough to want to spend eternity with Him? Do you know God the Father and God the Son well enough to want this? These are questions that Fr. Ted asked our students at a recent all-school Mass. Of course we all want to go to Heaven because the alternative is not that great. Our desire should be to go to Heaven to spend eternity with our Creator, the One who sent His only begotten Son to save us. Saints who have experienced God's love in its entirety speak of a joy so great that they would have died if not for His intercession. So what is my point? We have been taught that the best way to know and love God is to talk with Him and listen to Him. What better way to do this than visiting Him in the Blessed Sacrament? I have had to ask myself, "Do I fit God into my busy schedule, or do I make Him a priority and actually schedule Him in first?" All too often I neglect speaking to my best friend and Creator. Fortunately, our students are blessed with the opportunity to visit Jesus for adoration as part of their schooling. I encourage you to model this for your children as well. We all know that good habits will likely fade away if they are not part of family life as well. Many of the STSJP staff will be taking part in the Holy Family Catholic Conference right here in Kokomo on May 22 and 23. This event can provide families with many wonderful tools to help build the domestic Church. We are all busy, but I implore you to ask yourself if you are truly making time for God the Father and God the Son. Other opportunities, such as visiting the Blessed Sacrament as a family exist throughout the year. St. Patrick's Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament Chapel is open daily, and St. Joan of Arc offers exposition on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Both parishes also offer adoration and reconciliation before daily morning Mass. Please take some time to consider Fr. Ted's questions. Do you love God the Father and God the Son enough to want to spend eternity with Him? Do you know God the Father and God the Son well enough to want this? St. Joan of Arc, pray for us! St. Patrick, pray for us! Yours in Christ, Mr. Nick Kanable Principal

April 30, 2010

A note from Mr. Kanable   2010-2011 start date, preventing brain drain   Dear Parents,                  With summer quickly approaching, there are a couple of important pieces of information that I would like to share with you. First of all, to aid you in planning any summer vacations, I would like to share with you that the first day of school for kindergarten - eighth grade for the 2010-2011 school year will be August 18. We are working on some summer opportunities for fellowship for our school families as well. Details will be shared as soon as they are available. A full calendar for the 2010-2011 school year will be shared with families during the July registration days.                 An opportunity that we are very excited about has to do with enhancing our math curriculum. Over the past year, our third grade students have piloted a new, supplemental math program called Simple Solutions. Simple Solutions enhances our current math curriculum by providing daily distributed practice, which yields long-term retention and leads to mastery. Parents, teachers and - most importantly - students love it! We are excited to announce that students in kindergarten through 8th grade will have the opportunity to benefit from this teacher-developed approach in the coming year.                 Simple Solutions also offers a summer series in both math and reading comprehension, two areas that are strong focuses at STSJP. These series are designed to battle “summer brain drain.” Studies show that without ongoing practice, most students’ computation skills drop significantly over the summer months. We are able to offer these summer workbooks for math and reading for the low cost of only $13 each. Each workbook contains 30 lessons along with answers designed for self-checking. The lessons are designed to be completed 3 times per week for 10 weeks. These workbooks will complement what is being taught in the classroom, and will help students retain what they have learned so they don’t have to relearn skills when they return to school.                 I join our teachers in highly recommending that families purchase either or both the math and reading Summer Solutions workbooks for their children. If cost is an obstacle, please contact our business manager, Mr. Mike Anderson, at 865-9960 or manderson@stsjp.org. We are blessed to have resources to assist families if needed. Cost should not prevent students from utilizing this tremendous opportunity to retain what they have learned. To order Summer Solutions workbooks, please return the order form.                 Finally, I ask that you join me in praying to our blessed mother, Mary, for all of our students as we enter the month of May.                  Yours in Christ,  Mr. Nick Kanable Principal

April 16, 2010

Dear Parents,      Thanks to everyone who responded to our request for registrations for the 2010-2011 school year by April 15. We really appreciate your cooperation in allowing us to plan for staff and supplies in the year ahead. Along with registration forms, I often receive requests for students to be placed in the classrooms of specific teachers. While I really appreciate that our parents take such an active interest in their children's education, I would like to go on record as saying that parents' requests cannot always be honored, and help you to understand why.        First, let me be clear that I don't want to discourage parents from making these requests. You are always welcome to share your thoughts with me. The best way to contact me with an item like this is in writing, either a note or an email. If you mention something to me before or after school, I cannot promise to remember it when it is time to make classroom assignments.      If you do make a request, please make sure you share some of your rationale. This will help me to fully consider your request. You don't have to write a book, just let me know what you are thinking.      No matter how eloquent your request, please remember that it is a request and your child may be placed with another teacher. This may happen for any number of reasons. I spend a great deal of time in our classrooms, which helps me to know our teachers and our students quite well. You may know someone who had a great experience with a teacher with one child, but that doesn't mean that your child responds to the same type of teacher. I may see that your child is better suited to the other teacher at that grade level.      There are a number of factors that must be considered when placing students. Class size, demographics, ability levels, and learning styles are just a few. This is not a decision that I take lightly, and I always prayerfully do what I think is in the best interest of each student. We have an outstanding staff of educators, and I ask you to join me in having faith in each of them.       I look forward to the rest of this school year with you and our students, and I am already excited about what I see coming together for the 2010-2011 year. If you have not yet registered for the new year, please submit your registration as soon as possible. If you have questions about financial assistance, please contact Mr. Mike Anderson, our school business manager. Applications for financial assistance are requested by May 1. Yours in Christ,  Mr. Nick Kanable, Principal