Olson's JH Blog

Here are some more tech articles that might prove interesting as you think about your kiddo's tech usage.

Wither Facebook? To Snapchat?

• Daily Mail (UK)
• The Verge

Speaking of Snapchat...

• Covenant Eyes blog

Raising kids in a pornified tech culture

• The Gospel Coalition

Happy reading...

They say a picture's worth a thousand words...

What does this picture communicate to you?

How harmful could that be, right?

Well, if your kid has a smartphone or iPod Touch, quite harmful actually.

The goofy ghost with the mischievous tongue is the logo for Snapchat, and you might want to check to see if your kiddo has it on their iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android phone.

Here's why:

Most kids will not misuse Snapchat. However, the temptation is there, and many kids (especially

Hey now...

I just got off the phone with our WorldStrides rep for this June's JH trip to Washington, D.C., and she told me there's still time to sign up. We're up to thirty students, four parents, two teachers, and me...so we've got quite a group headed to the east coast this summer!

Sign-ups have been extended through February 22nd, 2013.

Check out this page for details, including how to sign up, trip dates, costs, and anything else related to the experience. Let me know if you have any

Wow.

Connecticut.

More questions than answers.

This week in the JH, we'll be focusing on the second letter of our H.E.A.D. covenant, which is Encouragement.

I have posted these banners around the B Hall and JH classrooms in an effort to prompt our students to deliver some well-timed and much needed words to one another. 

To further promote encouragement this week, we'll be taking a look at Proverbs 16:24, which tells us that "pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the

I just wanted to alert you to a new Bible study opportunity for JH boys.

Luke Postma, a 10th grader and son of HS English teacher Kim Postma, has opened up an opportunity for JH boys to study and discuss scripture, as well as talk about JH life. Luke is an exceptional leader for a Bible study, as his character, demeanor, and character are all exemplary.

If your son is interested, here are the details:

Who: Any JH guy

When: Tuesday mornings, 7:30AM

Where: The Commons

My daughter was in a girls

As a fellow JH parent, I've said this numerous times to my kids. To be honest, I say it to myself quite often when I do something stupid. In this case, H.E.A.D. is a pithy acronym designed to put a little structure to our new JH covenant. Our students worked on creating this as a part of their Bible classes, and I tried to frame their work in an easily memorized, univerally applicable set of principals that will help us glorify God and bless others. So, when we say "use your H.E.A.D.," here's

Here's the place for finding out about the June 22nd - 26th trip to Washington D.C. for this year's 7th and 8th graders. I'll post updates and important info as the trip draws closer. Let me know if you have any questions (molson@bcsmail.org). our WorldStrides representative is Ellen Woodson, and she is your go-to person for specific questions. Shoot her an email at ellenwo@worldstrides.org. Thanks!

Here are some specific reference points for your student's potential trip to D.C. next June:

“Heaven help the first-time junior high parent.”

This phrase was uttered by a colleague several years ago after I had commented on a recent email I received from a first-time JH parent regarding their son’s “poor” performance in my 7^th grade class. The email went something like this:

Frazzled parent: “What in the world is going on?!? How can my son have a D- in your class?! He has never gotten anything less than A’s in elementary school! I need to know what he hasn’t done and what we can do

And the Junior High diet hits a new low!

It's a big box too! I need to eat an apple just to feel better.

When one "earns" the "opportunity" to serve some time in detention for tardies, one gets the chance to read and copy some highly (un)exciting literature.

Monday detention lets kids write down lyrics to 70's love songs, including favorites from Neil Diamond, Engelbert Humperdink, Gordon Lightfoot, Barry Manilow, and one of Sue Tameling's personal favorites, The Captain and Tennille. How could a JH student not get excited about Muskrat Love?!? Carefree Highway; 59th Stree Bridge Song; Feelin'

Day one of the 7th grade "Three Day Experience" is under our belts, and the good news from the ropes course at Sambica is in: 25 students went, 25 students returned, all in one piece.

Additionally, all of the chaperones made it back in one piece as well.

God is indeed all powerful.

Service day pics coming tomorrow...

Mike

Every JH (and HS) kid needs to watch this.

Gratitude...responsibility...humility...platform.

Enjoy.

Yesterday in JH chapel we took a look at practical do's and don'ts for teens and technology these days. With the advent of multiple-function devices, which operate on an anywhere, anytime platform, parents and kids have to learn entirely new (in some cases) paradigms in terms of their usage patterns. More importantly, a philophical framework has to be reviewed and specifically taught to kids, as they do not know life without 24/7 digital technology at their fingertips (or their friend's

So your kid asks you a difficult personal question about your childhood: what do you say?

Do you worry about exposing yourself in an uncomfortable way?

What if your kid takes license with your example and says (or feels) "well, you turned out okay, so it can't be that bad, right?"

What if this one question turns into 20 more?

There are obviously different shades to this issue, but bottom line, answer their question if you can. Kids are looking for adults who are real, and transparency is a

I've seen most episodes of the show Friends, which ran for nine seasons on NBC, eventually taking over the vaunted 9PM slot from Seinfeld on Thursday nights. Content-wise, it was a mess, though, like so many shows, it was incredibly clever and witty. While most of the content-mess centered around sexuality, it also created another legacy, that of funny sarcasm. While I don't lay our current culture's problem with sarcasm squarely at the feet of a show like Friends, it certainly perpetuated the

Here's a helpful (and quick) article dealing with our sleep patterns and electronics. The ubiquity of our gadgets and screens keeps us in-the-know, but it also jacks-up our ability to get a good night's sleep. The content in this article is practical and helpful for everyone--kids and parents alike. As adults, it's easy to focus content like this on our kids, but before we say anything to them, we must first reflect on our own practices. As the old saying goes, "values are caught more than

Hi folks,

I found this article over the weekend which you might find helpful. It deals with talking with your kids about potentially tough subjects like appropriate uses of Twitter, mobile communication, and suicide. Sometimes it's hard to know where to begin on tough subjects, especially with JH-aged kids and their often-times raw ability to navigate deeper material.

For what it's worth...

Mike

Hi everyone,

It's report card time, which, depending on how the grades turned out, is either a time of prayer and intercession, or rejoicing and ice cream. Perhaps if their grades are in-between, rejoice, but do so by getting them some some sugar-free ice cream and telling that they are on the right track...but can do better. If they pull them up appropriately, take them to Cold Stone and go nuts!

This post is really aimed at 7th grade parents, as you are about to receive your kiddo's first JH

I love Junior High.

Honestly.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to teach JH-aged students. Please enjoy the following clip...

This is my 18th year at BCS, but my first as a BCS parent. My daughter is in 7th grade, and we're going through many of the typical parental ups-and-downs associated with life at this stage.

If you've said or thought any of the following things, you are definitely a JH parent:

"Demon...come out!"

"Who are you, and what have you done with my child!?!"

"Who raised

This is one of those "if the shoe fits, wear it" posts...

If you have a kiddo that rides their bike to school, we love that.

We also love it when they don't almost get hit by cars and run into people while riding on campus.

Therefore, we are asking kids to walk their bikes to the bike rack (coming) and road (leaving) so as to avoid the aforementioned catastrophes. Teens tend to whip around on their bikes without too much thought as to who else might be standing/walking/driving right around the

So we're at Camp Gilead last week for the JH retreat, when I had a conversation that beautifully shows the mind of a JH student. I just had to share it with you, particularly if you are a first-time JH parent.

The Setting: Free time, where kids are skateboarding, swimming, canoeing, playing volleyball and basketball, and generally hanging out. I am sitting on a hillside, just chatting with some students, when a student walks by, in his jeans, soaking wet from head-to-toe (obviously been in the

Tomorrow, the JH heads over to Camp Gilead, a Christian camp site headed up by BCS parents Jack and Sara Moyer. Taking a day to bond has been a JH tradition from before I was around, and I thought I'd throw a couple of thoughts regarding our purpose for taking the trip. The event is about worship, connecting, relaxation and fun, in that order. It is usually a highlight of the JH year, and tomorrow should be no exception.

Worship means to do everything to the glory of God and good of others. We

(Author's Note: I wrote this in late June during Jury Duty service in anticipation of the beginning of the JH school year.)

I'm on jury duty right now. To be factual, I'm on "break" from my "service" at the moment. I am using the quotation marks because I have done exactly nothing all day. Those of you who have served on jury duty know exactly what I'm talking about. My case (should I be chosen) is complicated, and the attorneys are pouring over our responses to a three-page questionnaire.

Hey now...hope you had a good Thanksgiving break. Snow for Thanksgiving...in Seattle. Kinda fun actually...

I just came across this video as I was doing some research for one of my classes, and I thought it might provide some good food for thought regarding Smart Phones and younger teens. Many of you are battling this wave of tech glory in your homes right now, and this might offer some insights. I offer this in the "for what it's worth" category.

More news later...

Mike

Grades are a funny subject. Not funny ha-ha, but a continual challenge in terms of trying to figure out what they actually mean. I don't have all the answers by any means, but I humbly offer some thoughts here as we enter into the second quarter of the school year.

For a brief bit of Mike Olson history, I had a myriad of experiences with grades, from sheer misery to "perfection" as we understand it. In junior high, I hit the skids early in 7^th grade, "achieving" a GPA of 1.37 after the first

Ask JH boys what a man looks like, and inevitably Chuck Norris will come up. Heck, ask high school and college-aged fellas and they'll also bring up Norris. When I was in college, this guy was the man-of-the-moment, but Chuck is The Man right now.

Years ago I started a discipleship group for high school boys, primarily dealing with sexual purity issues. Over time, the group expanded in both size and scope. What started with six boys eventually swelled to (at times) over 40. Topically, we began

While my colleagues are up in the Great White North of Canada for the CSI convention, I am lying on my bed with my dog and laptop recovering from an old sports injury that rears its ugly head every so often (back injury). I've been quite productive during my recovery time (all day in bed Wednesday and Thursday, probably most of the day today), and thanks to my laptop I'm not too out-of-the-loop. It's also given me time to think about things, which is what brings me to my blog topic for this

I recently read an article in RELEVANT magazine that I'd like to throw your way. It deals with thoughts on social networking sites, specifically the current goliaths Facebook and Twitter (a moment of silence for MySpace...thank you, and may you rest in peace). I have read several articles of this ilk, but I found this one, written by Shane Hipps, to be particularly insightful. I'll throw some quotes at you in the "for what it's worth" category, as well as link you to the article itself. I