Blog

Summer has officially started with warmer weather, pool activities and sleeping in. Kids are undoubtedly excited for summer break and the freedom that goes along with it, but with school being over that involves a set schedule and learning, sometimes it’s a challenge to stay productive.  So whether your child just completed K-4 or is about to head off to college, focus their attention on these three activities to help them continue to learn over the summer.

What is 22 + 12 + 6 + 9 +11 + 15?  Imagine that you are competing with a classmate to answer this math problem without looking at the numbers, writing them down, or using a calculator.  Would you be able to answer within a few seconds? Mr. Chris White’s 6th graders at Heritage Oak School in Tehachapi play a game called “Around the World.”  The students sit in a circle. One student stands behind another. Those two students are in competition with each other. Mr. White asks them a math problem.  The student that gives the correct answer first, walks to the next student in the circle and competes again. This math drill game is also played in the 1st grade class at Heritage Oak School, but with obviously easier math problems such as “What is 6 + 9?”  What a fun method for strengthening the students’ math brain! 

There is no doubt in the Christians’ mind that we live in a fallen world. All you need to do is turn on the nightly news. On a daily basis, we see tragedy all around us. We hear about large tragedies like war, school shootings, terrorism and natural disasters. However, there are also the more personal tragedies like a child getting cancer, or a mother getting killed in a car accident. These events are thrown in our radar regularly. Most of the time we tend to compartmentalize these since they are not effecting us personally. However, what happens when tragedy strikes our lives? How do explain these events to our children? How can we as Christian parents help our children cope with crisis and tragedy?

It’s Science Fair time for the Grammar students at Heritage Oak School.  The kindergarteners made dioramas illustrating the habitat of an animal.  The first graders created models of planets. The second graders constructed models of trees. Each of these projects inspire the students towards a love for learning.   Most schools have science fairs but what makes Heritage Oak’s learning and teaching method unique? How are these grammar students being prepared for adulthood choices and careers?  The educational method which Heritage Oak School follows is considered Classical Christian Education. Classical education engages the student based on three phases of learning development, while Christian education interweaves God and the Bible into the lesson plans. The three phases of classical education are known as Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. 

If you’ve ever applied to college, you know that many schools place an emphasis on well-rounded students who participate in extracurricular activities.  We learned in last week’s blog post “Are Extracurricular Activities Important For Our Children's Future?” that many college admissions departments see extracurriculars just as important as their GPA and test scores. These activities can be the tie-breaker between an acceptance letter or a “thanks for applying” letter.

As parents, we always want the best for our kids and sometimes we think this is putting them in as many extracurricular activities (sports, music, dance, community service) as our schedule can handle. But are these programs really important to a student’s academic future? Do colleges really consider extracurriculars for admission and if so, what type of extracurricular activities do they prefer? Let’s delve into these areas to see what our students should be involved in with extracurricular activities.

Human beings are creatures of habit and don’t do well with change.  Think about those adolescent years when you were going through numerous changes and how awkward life seemed.  Even as adults, once we are established in our family, daily work schedule, and hobbies, we tend to get comfortable in our lives and can have significant emotional events when presented with changes like moving or changing jobs, or even with less-consequential events like trying out a new church.  Even worse, have you ever had a job where you had multiple managers or bosses with wildly different expectations and the confusion that can cause?

How many times have you heard “I don’t want to go to church because it is filled with hypocrites!”? Sometimes it seems it is getting harder and harder to share God’s love. Unfortunately, the world is becoming more condescending toward Christians in general. They see a world where “so-called” Christian leaders are being accused of corruption or sexual misconduct. They do not want to go to church because they feel they are being judged by Christians who are the ones sinning all the time. Because of that, they prefer to not go to church

With Easter upon us, we become excited to share the story of the cross because we celebrate God’s grace and forgiveness for us and the redemption and eternal life because of it. This is a great time to invite people to attend Easter services, however, that invitation many times turns into fighting an uphill battle because of the hypocritical notion that many people have in their minds. So how can we overcome this obstacle? 

Some of my closest friends today are ones I met when I was 7 years old at a small Christian school in Lancaster, CA. I graduated high school with a class size of a little more than 50 people. It might seem ridiculous that a class size could be so small or that we were in a little bubble, but I knew everyone by name and shared a conversation or laugh with all of them at one point.

Even though I moved away from the area, I still run into classmates in Tehachapi. What is weird is, that no matter where we are in life today, we find joy in talking about our time in our little Christian school and instantly feel a special bond with each other. I think the secret formula to create this lifelong friendship is the small class size where you have a chance to get to know everyone and the love of Christ that shines through and bonds us together.

In last week’s blog, “Are You a Helicopter Parent? Take the Quiz”, we discussed what defines being an overprotective parent now coined as a Helicopter Parent. And if you took the quiz and realized you could be one of these parents, it’s ok. God has guidance on this topic. Instead of always being fearful and worrying about our children, He wants us to have peace in Him and be lighthouses for our children.