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In what practical ways do you and/or your school currently support parents? What benefits have you seen from this?
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In all honesty, this is where I believe our school can improve. Not that we are doing poorly – I just think there is always room to grow. While we have the language right (“partner with parents to develop a biblical worldview”) and language is an important step, the partnership can still lean heavily in one direction – toward the school. While we communicate a lot of content to our parents to keep in them in the loop, we could be doing more in terms of them having “skin in the game” when it comes to showing up for conferences/trainings that could help to further equip and encourage them as the primary disciple makers in their child’s life. Some schools require this in order to be and remain enrolled in the school and, from what I’ve seen, this leads to a parent culture that is very involved and invested.
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We believe in coming alongside parents in their God-given stewardship over their child. The biggest key to this is communication. We want to make sure we have clear and open lines of communication with parents so that they can use the information we give them to best operate in their role as parent.
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My school provides social events, such as breakfast gatherings, coffee time, and parenting workshops to parents. These events serve various purposes, including community building, parental involvement, communication and collaboration, parenting education, spiritual growth, and support network. Building a supportive and caring community that is Christ-centered is an essential aspect of our school. It allows parents to connect with each other and share experiences and support. Parenting workshops offer valuable resources and information to help parents navigate challenges and opportunities in raising students with Christian values. Parenting can be a challenging journey. Providing a support network through social events allows parents to share their experiences, seek advice, and find encouragement from each other in a Christian community.
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I try to keep parents in the loop via email, with a good beginning of year presentation telling them about the course and my approach, sending them tools and ideas to help them teach their own kids, and continuing to do what I did as a youth minister who used the Orange Curriculum and who worked with Fuller Youth Institute.
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One of the ways that my school supports parents is when we offer first semester conferences we work from 8 am until 8 pm so that parents who work full time still have an opportunity to meet one on one without impacting their work schedule.