I’ve noticed that we sometimes have a tendency to separate “school” from “real life”. Our own mission statement, in fact, says that we are preparing students for contemporary society as Christ’s servants. 

To be sure, we are focused on equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and habits that will enable them to be effective servants, yet we are also focused on being servants in the here and now. School is real life!

This week, our Kindergarten through 8th-grade students have a very different structure to their days. Rather than neat and tidy blocks of time for certain subjects, students are learning about God and His world through special hands-on, experiential activities and classes. 

iXplore has been a long-standing middle school tradition of learning in this way. Middle school students in Mr. Christian’s woodworking class are doing loads of math as they build picnic tables for the 8th-grade outdoor classroom. Preparing the ground at Plainsong Farm and learning to care for animals provide students with a different depth of understanding than any Biology textbook could. 

Elementary students, as well, are learning in new ways. During “Portrait Week”, as we are calling it, students are doing a range of new activities all centered around different aspects of our Portrait of a Graduate. Students practice being Thoughtful Neighbors as they make blankets for those in need and are finding new ways to become Creative Solution Finders as they build an obstacle course or make it out of Mrs. Faber’s Escape Room. 

In all of these wonderful moments, it is our great hope and belief that these unique experiences help students to grow as Disciples of Christ. As we engage the world and each other in new ways, we learn more about who God is and what it means to follow him.

In Him
— Ben Buursma
Rockford Christian School Principal