The Reasons We Love Classical, Private Education

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educate debateIf you had told me when we started our family that we were going to be one boy short of a basketball team, I would have been surprised. I also would have been surprised to learn we would choose a private Christian school for our four boys. It wasn’t in our plan, but neither was the basketball team–and at this point, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Early in the baby and toddler years, we started hearing of “classical, Christian” schools for the first time. We were curious about the concept. We are believers, so the idea of exposing our kids to a Christian worldview sounded great, but we really weren’t familiar with the classical approach.

As we learned more about this historical method of education, we were drawn to teaching that combines the truths of Christianity with the great books of Western culture, and to the idea of our kids learning to appreciate all truth as God’s truth. This “Christ-centered approach” shows our kids that math works because God is a God of order and He designed it that way. Seeing this integration of God’s design with each subject transforms the way you look at the world. We also wanted an education that would encourage our kids to love learning for life. Finally, while a classical, Christian education is not simply about preparing our kids for higher education (although it does!), this approach trains our kids in wisdom and virtue. A classical, Christian education really does care about the whole person–hearts and minds. All this (and more) led us to start our oldest son at Covenant Classical School (CCS) when he started kindergarten.

Eleven years later, we have even more reasons to love our school. Terrific teachers? Absolutely! Our kids’ teachers are some of the best people we know. They pour into their students’ lives daily–academically, spiritually, and emotionally. They care about our sons’ hearts and that impacts their interactions in class, on the recess field, and on the court. And our kids are so much better for it.

What about the community? It would be hard to say enough about the Covenant families we have shared life with over the years. These amazing families have made the last 11 years of raising our boys such a joy. It has been a true privilege to pray and struggle and share and celebrate with them. When our last child graduates, we will surely grieve the end of this stage of the parenting journey with them. We have made lifelong friendships, though, that will certainly outlive our time at Covenant.

Bottom line, at Covenant we have found more than a school, we have found a partnership and a community. Covenant helps us raise our kids to love God and others as they become lifelong learners. We remain humbled and grateful for the blessing CCS has been to our family. We can’t think of a better place for our (almost) basketball team to grow.

What questions about private education do you want to ask Shelley?

fredricks_family2Shelley is the lone female in a house full of men: one fabulous husband and four terrific sons, ages 9 to 16.  When she is not driving to basketball games or cooking massive amounts of food, she enjoys dates with her husband and Torchy’s tacos, sometimes on the same night.  Shelley also works as a corporate training and development consultant.

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