Tomorrow is the first day... of the winter term!

Happy New Year!

Hope Academy's winter term begins this week on Saturday, January 9. Registrations have been pouring in and most Saturday classes are filled. If you haven't registered yet please call to see if there is room for you (412-441-3800 x11). You can download Hope Academy's 2009 - 2010 course brochure to view all of our course and private lesson offerings. If there is room in the course you are interested in, print out the registration form, fill it in and bring it with your payment to the first class or private lesson you are attending.

Shakespeare Workshop for Hope Academy's Winter Term

Hope Academy's Shakespeare Workshop begins on Saturday, January 9! Students will prepare monologues for the Pittsburgh Public Theater's Shakespeare Monologue and Scene contest (in mid-February) and then work on scenes for a performance at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater on Saturday, March 27.

And for those of you who worry that Shakespeare might be too intimidating for children, check out this video of Brian Cox teaching a two-year-old the "To Be Or Not To Be" soliloquy from Hamlet. 
 





Hope Academy's Shakespeare Workshop has two sections. The lower division is for 4th through 7th graders; the upper division is for 8th through 12 graders. The workshop runs from January 9 to March 27 and meets on Saturdays from 12 noon to 3 pm at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.

Busy but Rested Kids are the Happiest and Healthiest

Hope Academy "mom extraordinaire," Claudia Neely, passed on a couple of articles that she thought would be of interest to the other parents. If you are wondering if your child is over-scheduled, recent research suggests that the "hurried child" is actually a myth; and that most children do well, in fact better, in life if they are participating in many activities. “We found that the very active children were thriving emotionally,” said Hofferth, a family science professor. “In contrast, children who had the fewest activities were the most withdrawn, socially immature and had the lowest self-esteem.” It turns out, no surprise, that it is not the kids but the parents who are stressed! The complete article is here.

While active children tend to be happier, new research cautions parents of adolescents to make sure that all of the activity doesn't interfere with getting enough sleep.

"Adolescents whose parents set earlier bedtimes are significantly less likely to suffer from depression or have suicidal thoughts compared to youngsters who hit the sack later, new research indicates.

Youngsters in the study whose parents set bedtimes of midnight or later were 24% more likely to suffer from depression and 20% more apt to have thoughts of suicide, compared to youngsters with bedtimes of 10 p.m. or earlier, researchers report in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP." To read the entire article, "Earlier Bedtimes May Fight Teen Depression," click here.