Thursday nights are usually reserved for school cleaning. I get home shortly before six and we’re off to the school. But not this last Thursday. Tina and Ben had gone ahead and done much of the cleaning, leaving only the cafeteria floors. And why were they in such a hurry to get ahead of things? Because it was open-house night at the Ankeny Christian Academy.
Open House began at 7:30 and we went into Ben’s classroom. The teacher, Mrs. Sanderson was there and was surrounded by both kids and parents. Ben showed me how his reading has improved, as if we hadn’t already noticed, and showed us around the kindergarten room. After that, we were off to the cafeteria for sliced apples with caramel and coffee. Open House in a Christian school is more about the parents getting to know one another than about getting to know the teacher. You have more communication with the teacher as it is, but in our case the parents are all partnering. ACA is a school that is not accredited, so the students are legally defined as being homeschooled.
Yes, there are teachers and classrooms. Yes, my son is homeschooled. No, I am not trained to teach a kindergarten class. But it works, and these mostly Christian parents are working together to raise their children in the love and trust in the Lord.
I did catch myself hoping that there wouldn’t be any big spills for me to clean up after this, and there weren’t. We don’t make a lot of money and are working hard to raise this boy. My parents are assisting with the Christian education of my son and I’m grateful for that. We can’t match their financial contribution, but we can offset it by getting our hands dirty. We get our hands dirty so we can clean up the messes of education. Pencil eraser dust is not easy to get out of carpet, but we go over it as many times as it takes.
How many times has Jesus already gone over your messes? He paid the price in full for your life, but he didn’t leave you to your own efforts. He continues to clean up after you.
