The stores are hosting their annual school supplies’ sales; the children are (hopefully) finishing up their summer work. Last-day-of-camp parties are complete, final vacation plans are settled, and preparation for a month of Yamim Tovim has begun. This year, Baltimore will be joined by a new school, Binyan Yisroel. Meet Alana Weinberg, the founder and executive director of this new, revolutionary school.

We are back again, discussing general studies in our schools, but before we start, a little background information: I am a fairly new teacher at Bais Yaakov, and my father has been teaching in yeshivos for more than 20 years. Sometimes, I come home at the end of my day and talk shop with my father, and, as it turns out, many of the questions and issues he has dealt with (and continues to deal with) are the very same ones I come home with.

Walking into a middle school classroom, there is an expectation of a calm and decorum – quiet students, a teacher speaking in the front of the room.

And then there’s robotics – where brains charge, arms fall off, girls scream for 15 seconds, and people keep shouting, “Keep it simple, genius.”

In one corner, a group is huddled together drawing diagrams on the white board. A few girls are racing around the room searching for just the right piece (not a 2x4 – a 6x4!). There are those who are building. Those who are coding.

Meet the VEX robotics classes at Bais Yaakov of Baltimore.

Aharon Levi and Meira Levi

We are back again, discussing general studies in our schools, but this time we are jumping into the deep end. Before we start, a little background information: I am in my second year of teaching, and my father has been teaching in yeshivos for more than 20 years. Sometimes, I come home at the end of my day and talk shop with my father, and as it turns out, many of the questions and issues he has dealt with (and continues to deal with) are the very same ones I come home with.

he Family Business: Like Father, Like Daughter 

 In case you missed our last article, I am a fairly new teacher at Bais Yaakov, and my father has been teaching in yeshivos for more than 20 years. It’s nice to be able to come home at the end of my day and talk shop with my father, and as it turns out, many of the questions and issues he has dealt with (and continues to deal with) are the very same ones I come home with. Take a moment and eavesdrop on another of our recent dinner conversations.

by Meira Levi and Aharon Levi

 You might say that teaching is our family business. My father has been teaching in yeshivos for over 20 years, and I began teaching in Bais Yaakov when I returned home from seminary. I must admit that it’s nice to come home at the end of the day and have someone to talk shop with, someone with whom I can compare notes. Sometimes I’m in class, and a student pulls a particular stunt or asks a particularly pointed question, and I have this sense of deja vu. Then it dawns on me that my father told me an almost identical story of that same thing happening to him a few years back. Just recently I shared with him a question I seem to get almost every other week: Why do we need to learn this?