Recovering Beauty in Education

Summer is officially upon us! As I sit down to write this update it has almost been a month since our last week of school and our graduation ceremony. It was a blessing to send our seniors off as we have done our best to ‘’present them complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28) and they are equipped to take their next steps as the Lord leads.

As one year closes, we excitedly plan and prepare for the next school year. I recently returned from Dallas where I attended the Society for Classical Learning’s annual conference. It was a refreshing four days spent dwelling on the conference’s theme of Recovering Beauty in Education. It was a wonderful theme to explore because as many of our families know, we have watched our culture plunge into chaos as we have adopted a relativistic worldview where everything, including truth, is up for grabs and ultimately left to our emotions. Thus we have watched absolute truth, and along with it goodness, fall by the cultural wayside. Classical Christian education has stepped in to declare, “No!” There is a standard for truth and goodness and that standard is the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. Along with this though, we cannot forget the third part of the trilogy of the transcendents - BEAUTY. There is an absolute standard of beauty also (that is right, it is not in the eye of the beholder 🙂) and that standard is once again found in Scripture and in the person of Jesus Christ. This should cause us to reflect on our school - are we reading beautiful books, observing beautiful art, and ultimately creating beautiful work? That is my vision and contemplation over this summer.

Another benefit of attending the SCL conference was spending some time with Keith McCurdy, M.A., Ed.S, a Family and Parenting Educator and Consultant, as well as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He has worked with families, children, parents, and individuals for over 30 years in the field of mental health. He was extremely insightful when it came to considering what our children are dealing with today having lived through the recent Covid shutdown, along with the impact of smartphones and social media. I am excited to announce that Keith is coming to our school September 16th to spend the day with us. He will spend time in the morning with our Upper School students, the afternoon with our faculty, and finally we will have a time in the evening for our parents to meet with Keith. I cannot emphasize enough how important this day will be for our school community as we raise our children in the Lord during these difficult times. So go ahead and mark your calendars for an evening with Keith McCurdy on September 16th!

Blessings and have a great summer!

Mr. Canney

Head of School June Update

Recovering Beauty in Education