Hogwarts Academy Blog

Greetings, Hogwarts Academy students! Please remember to bring your brooms and wands to class tomorrow. Professor Trelawney predicts there may be some rain, but divination is not a precise science, so we may have a chance to go outside. If the quidditch pitch is too soggy, we can practice wand duels (and our Latin) inside the Academy.

Yours sincerely,
Professor Mueller
PS: Remember to keep reading book 7. You should be through chapter 27. The end is near...

Hogwarts Academy

Greetings, Hogwarts students. I am sending the spells that are used in our duels. It is similar to the Muggle game, Rock Paper Scissors. We will practice our wizard dueling this week or next, so it will help if you memorize the nine spells. And don’t forget your wand!

Also, if the weather continues to be nice, we may try our hand at quidditch in the coming weeks, so make sure to wear Muggle attire that you can play in.

Remember, if you want, try your hand writing a story about one of the characters in the books!

- Professor Mueller

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Hogwarts Academy - Spring term

It’s almost time to board the Hogwarts Express for a return trip to Hogwarts! I hope you have had a chance to keep up with your reading over break. According to our reading list, you should be through Chapter 26 of Half-Blood Prince this week. Now is the time when the books get a bit harder to put down, so feel free to read ahead if you want!

I am looking forward to our new term. The next ten weeks will be full of magical fun: we will explore the books more deeply now that we are nearing the end of the series, we’ll learn about scale drawing and create our own version of Hogwarts, we’ll have more fun with potions and other wizarding subjects, and…since it is Spring, we may even make it to the quidditch pitch before too long.

If you have any questions, please remember that my door is always open. Help will always be given at Hogwarts Academy to those who ask for it. ;)

See you on Wednesday,
Professor Mueller

“From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky marshes of memory into thickets of wildest guesswork.” - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Hogwarts Academy -- please watch video

Greetings, Hogwarts Academy students and parents. As I mentioned in class, we have a woman who has graciously agreed to drive all the way from Salem to come and teach us the waltz that Harry and the other school champions dance at the Yule Ball (in the Goblet of Fire movie). Although I *tried* to demonstrate it in class, it would be very helpful if my students could take a look at the attached youtube video to get an idea of how the basic box step works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkvD5oVnMbA

The video is a simple one I found online that demonstrates both the “leader” (traditionally the male part) and the “follower”(traditionally the female part) steps. Because we have more girls than boys in class, some girls will have to know the "leader" steps, so being familiar with both will be helpful.

So, parents: time to take spin around the living room with your witch or wizard!

Enjoy the sunshine! What a beautiful day to walk the grounds of Hogwarts!

-Professor Mueller

Hogwarts Academy

Greetings, Hogwarts students! I look forward to starting a magical term two with you on Wednesday. I hope you had a good time reading (or rereading) Goblet of Fire over the break. For our first meeting, we will discuss Goblet of Fire and look at some of the deeper issues it brings forth in the series. We will also look forward to the next ten weeks and, of course, we will have a chance to our book prize with some trivia about the book. If you have a copy of the Goblet of Fire, please bring it to class.

Enclosed please find your ticket for the Hogwarts Express. See you at the castle!

-Professor Mueller

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Hogwarts Halloween Feast

Greetings, witches, wizards and parents. I am sending this electronic owl to remind you about the special day we have planned at Hogwarts Academy this week. In honor of the fact that our class actually falls on October 31st, we will celebrate with a Halloween feast, just like in the books! Students, you are encouraged to wear your finest Hogwarts robes and/or magical accessories to class. Together will partake of some goodies and treats to celebrate the season.

In addition to feasting, we will take a break from Potions and Herbology and look at where we are in the books so far by examining plotlines and character traits. It would be wise to bring your copy of the book to class. You should be through chapter 12 of Prisoner of Azkaban by Wednesday.

Yours truly,
Professor Mueller

PS: If you would like to bring anything to share for the feast, send me an owl. We do have allergies in the class, so no nuts at all and if you include dairy in a recipe, please let me know.

Messy Hogwarts class :)

Just a reminder that my Hogwarts students should wear cloaks that they do not mind getting a little dirty to class tomorrow. We will be creating some Potions that may cause a bit of mess.

Also, we have moved on to book three of this magical series! As I told the class, they should be through chapter 6 of Prisoner of Azkaban this week.

See you at Hogwarts!

-Professor Mueller

Hogwarts Academy, week 4

Greetings, Hogwarts students and parents! This week in class, after a discussion about the first chapters of Chamber of Secrets, we began our first Herbology lesson. We briefly introduced some terms that have to do with the process of germination in non-magical plants and began an experiment with some Muggle seeds that will hopefully allow us to learn about and chart the growth process up close. We ran out of time so we will continue our peek into Muggle plant life next week.

You should keep reading Chamber of Secrets. Try to read through chapter 12 for next week.

If you have any questions, send me an owl!

-Professor Mueller

Hogwarts tomorrow

A note for class tomorrow:

Your learners should have their house choices ready for class. They can keep the house that was a result of the quiz we took, but since that was just a fun exercise, they are also free to pick the house that they want (after all, our Sorting Hat takes their wishes into account).

But... Shhhh! Tell them not to share with the other first and second year students -- we will reveal the house choices when the Sorting Hat makes its appearance!

Many thanks,
Professor Mueller

Hogwarts Academy - week 1, part 2

I forgot to mention in my last owl post, but please remind your learners that they should try to read through Chapter 12 of Socerer's Stone for next week.

Also, just in case your learner did not pick one up, I have attached the week 1 writing assignment.

- Professor Mueller

week 1 writing assignment

Hogwarts Academy - week 1

We had a magical time at Hogwarts Academy this week! We discussed the character traits of the Hogwarts’ houses, got sorted by the Sorting Hat, and received a wand from the batch sent over by Ollivander. What a wonderful group of witches and wizards I have the pleasure of teaching this year! A few notes as we go forward:

To be sorted, your learners took a fun, very thought-provoking quiz. While it produced a house for each learner, the Sorting Hat at Hogwarts Academy does take the student’s own choice into account, so they are free to choose the house they would like to be place into, even if it differs from the quiz results. Please have your child come to class next week with their house choice. (Houses will be used for things like group activities and such – and they can choose a new house each term if they want to “try out” a few.)

I would highly recommend having your child sign up for an account at Pottermore.com (if they don’t already have one). It is a site created by J.K. Rowling that explores the books (right now it covers all of book 1 and part of book 2). Through fun games and reading, it gives additional information and insight into the magical world inside Rowling’s head. I have gone through the site myself and found it intriguing and very safe. There are several security measures in place to make it a safe, anonymous online environment for children.

A writing assignment was sent home with your learners. Please have them bring the completed assignment to class next week.

Finally, remind your learners to bring their wands to class each week so that we can work on them. If you have any questions, just send me an owl!

- Professor Mueller

Hogwarts Academy - new term starts soon

Greetings, wizarding pupils and parents. I am excited that we are quickly approaching the start of a new year at Hogwarts Academy, the sanctioned branch of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at Village Home. Please keep watch for important notifications sent via electronic owl post. You should be receiving new term instructions within the next week.

Throughout the year, we will attempt to make our way through all seven of the Harry Potter books, so if you do not already have them, you may want to obtain or reserve copies now. As we read the books, we will look at many of the ways the wizarding and muggle worlds connect, through Potions (science), Muggle Studies (history), Charms (Latin), Transfiguration (art)…and much more. I look forward to a year full of magical fun with all of you.

Until our next post,
Professor Deborah Mueller
Hogwarts Academy

P.S. I am curious how many of my incoming puplis are new to the magic of the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. If your learner is starting the series for the first time, please send me an electronic post and let me know. Also, I would encourage you to purchase or borrow the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, from Flourish & Blotts in Diagon Alley or a bookstore/library near you, and begin the adventure now so that he or she is familiar with some of the characters when we begin.