The learning in service

If our students graduated in grade eight believing that every other school-aged child in the world lives exactly as they do in their school-home-church universe, we would be missing an opportunity. Similarly, if the only mention of money and fundraising in their elementary years at LCES were efforts to direct funds back toward themselves and/or their school, something would be missing.

One of our goals at LCES is to shape hearts and minds toward future learning and giving when our students become adults. As an expression of thanks to our faithful God and in response to the instruction to be a blessing to “all nations” (Genesis 12:2), students participate in a Student Service Project each year. Each class invests time and effort in some kind of initiative that generates funds that support the chosen project. Examples of this include bake sales, a fun fair, ice cream refreshments at the Shakespeare play in May, and much more.

The actual project is chosen each year after staff deliberation, looking for projects that encourage either a local or international opportunity of giving to become a learning endeavor. Through chapels and classroom activities, students learn about the need, pray for those who will receive the help, and see the results at the end of the project in a chapel. This year we have chosen to partner with Compassion Canada, who links us to “..the developing world to end poverty in the life of a child, in Jesus’ name.” (https://www.compassion.ca) Specifically, safe homes for families in Kenya and water sanitation for children in Tanzania and Uganda are our chosen projects for this year.

It has been our experience that these service projects offer unique opportunities for learning. Students are challenged to meet the brokenness of this world in ways that are not otherwise familiar to
them. They can see themselves as part of returning this world to the way it was intended to be by
God’s design and for His glory. Economic, cultural and geographic differences that become clear in
unique ways and empathy for others and recognizing the call to be of Christian service (see LCES 
Graduate Profile) are valued outcomes.

May our student’s minds, hearts, and hands be changed by this learning opportunity. SJ

Fall Questions for Students and Parents

As week seven of school gets underway today, I can’t help but notice the symphony of autumn colours on display across the street through my office window. Time moves along quickly in a school year and we trust that you and your children have experienced a positive initial beginning to the 2015-16 school year that is nearly 20% complete. We believe each day and each moment counts as we move through the year. We are thankful for the fresh new opportunities the Lord provides us with each morning to live and learn together as a community of faith.

Last Friday marked the first of many times this year that your child will be given a formal and more
summative indication of how learning and growing at LCES is going for them. Teachers in grades
one through eight sent home a Learning Skills Rubric with your child which was a checkpoint on the
journey from September to June. They are designed to confirm and celebrate great patterns of stu-
dent conduct already observed, and to pinpoint areas for personal growth that can be areas of focus
before we get to the first report card which is sent home on November 27. Our hope and prayer is
that they stimulate productive conversations with parents, students, and teachers that help a student
to flourish.

It can be challenging to dialogue with your child about school and get meaningful answers. Here are
some examples of great questions that I have encountered in various places that encourage stu-
dents to process their day with their parents:

• If I was your teacher tomorrow, what would you want me to teach?

• What happened today that you wished would happen everyday?

• Did you have a chance to help or encourage someone today?

• What was the funniest thing that happened today?

• Was there anything that frustrated you today?

• Tell me about three different things you did in your classroom today.

• When were you happiest today?

• Was there a question you or your teacher couldn’t answer today?

• Is there a part of today you wish you could do over?

We are excited about working with our students, your children, every day. We do so in the sure
knowledge that God goes with us in this most important task. SJ

Cost, Value, and Christian Education

Cost, Value, and Christian Education

Around the age of 10, I spotted it. A sophisticated flashlight that I thought was the neatest thing ever. It was a door-crashing deal at bargain store that nearly sold out immediately. I think I got one of the last on the shelf and felt myself fortunate in my timing. I bought it. With much anticipation, I packed it along with my other items on a family trip. It brilliantly lit my pathway for all of 3 minutes before it broke. Since it was a promotional item, there were no returns. I was in the dark, out my hard earned paper route money. Life lesson learned.

Since then, more than once I have stood at a checkout counter and decided to abandon a purchase after thinking through its financial implications. Other times, I have wished I had reconsidered a purchase longer when, like a dishwasher I own, items break and become unusable 6 weeks after their
warranty period is over. Sometimes, I’ve regretted my choice to pass by what would have been a
great purchase.

A campfire or coffee table discussion will flush out the fact that everyone has a story like this in their
life. Why do these things bother us so much? I would suggest that they irk us as they do because we
feel the cost of things was out of alignment with value. When we see great value in the product or ser
vice we celebrate, when we feel like there is low value we grumble and complain.

Sometimes we need to compare our situation with the alternative. We don’t love paying what we feel
are really high prices for hydro, water, or natural gas. But do we really want to make candles, dig a
well, and stack wood? An investment opportunity comes our way and we hesitate, but perhaps the
missed opportunity cost is too big to pass by?

Over the weekend I noticed an exceptional editorial discussing these questions of value, opportunity,
and trust as they relate to Christian Education and its cost. I encourage you to spend just a few
minutes to read through Dave Koetje’s article and see if it might help you along the financial pathway your family is on. I trust that even if you don’t fully agree with all of it, that it will challenge and invigorate you as it did me. SJ

Grateful Thinking

Baking apple muffins in JK classroom

I was challenged by an author recently to ensure that the calendar event of Thanksgiving is not only a quantitative listing of items that we have received in the last year from the Lord, but also a

reminder to live looking forward with a mindset of thankfulness and gratitude. When we live grounded in gratitude, we face challenge and tragedy with an underlying faith that there is also hope. This kind of gratefulness opens our hearts and assures us our God is with us in ways far beyond what we can imagine. God is good, of that we are sure. Living
in gratitude helps us realize that we live in grace
before the Lord who looks on us with love.

I think that is good advice for a person, and also for an organization.

Looking backward, I am thankful for:

• A legacy of faithful parents and leaders who have nurtured, protected, and guided LCES
• planned and spontaneous moments of fantastic learning that bring joy to our days at LCES
• a network of financial supporters who give generously and sacrificially
• the time and talents given by volunteers
• challenges our board has faced that have been eclipsed by evidences of God’s great provision.

Looking forward, I am grateful for:

• committed and industrious staff, working in unity and truth to achieve our school’s vision
• the space and freedom we have to operate a Christian school in our city and province
• the areas of growth and change that we will encounter to continue to make us flourish
• the energy and excitement new families and new staff members bring to our school
• growing interest in young parents in the parental choice of Christian Education
• the “Bright Futures” campaign and its future benefit for our school.

May God bless our families as we pause with gratitude and thankfulness on our hearts and praise
our great God. SJ