Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all have had a blessed Christmas season. On Tuesday we will get back into full swing with all of the classes. Here are the updates for this week.

6th Religion

This week we will begin studying the book of 1 Samuel. We will study Samuel being called to serve God as a child and then his remarkable ministry as an adult. Then, we will study Israel’s first king, Saul, who sets more of an example of what NOT to do in life. There is no memory verse for this week, but the verse for next week is John 6:40. This is a challenging passage, so I suggest the students look over it each day over the next two weeks.

6th Social Studies

Before Christmas, we began studying the civilizations of Ancient India, and we will wrap up this unit over the first two weeks of January. We will study the origins of Buddhism and how it basically began in reaction to the caste system of Hinduism. Then, we will study The Maurya and Gupta Empires. The test on Topic 4 will be on Friday, January 12th.

7th Religion

On Monday, we will complete the last lesson of unit 2, which uses the example of Lydia from the book of Acts to illustrate the idea of saint vs. Saint. Then, we will begin reviewing unit 2. The test will be on Tuesday January 9th. The memory verse for this week is Romans 1:16.

7th Social Studies

Before Christmas, we completed the Revolutionary War, so this week we will begin learning about the new United States government and Constitution. We will start off by studying the mistakes made under the Articles of Confederation, and how the Founding Fathers formulated the U.S. Constitution.

8th Religion

On Monday, we will begin unit 2, which will mainly focus on the book of Judges. We will start off, though, by studying the conquest of Canaan and the establishment of the Cities of Refuge. Then we will study the leadership of Deborah. Both of these stories show that God is fair, just, and only wants good for His people. There is no memory quiz this week, but the passage for next week is 1 Peter 2:9. This is a challenging verse, so I suggest the students study it a little each day.

8th Social Studies

Before Christmas, we wrapped up our unit on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era with a class Monopoly tournament. The students really learned valuable lessons on fair business practices, managing finances, and learning how to win or lose with grace. This week, the students will work on their Topic 11 research projects, which will focus on African American entrepreneurs of the late 1800s and early 1900s.