Why Christian Family Academy?

Christian Family Academy is the culmination of Christian educators and parents working together to train their children. The Academy is the realization of a desire to apply biblical principles in the formal education of children. CFA was founded amid growing concerns about trends in education that have greatly influenced our society and that have also affected the Christian school movement.

A major problem in education today is that parents often play little role in the formal education of their children. Although there is usually more parental involvement in Christian schools, still there is often not much involvement. Usually such involvement is limited to being chaperones on field trips or attending school activities. Parents are often too busy to get very involved in their child’s education. Many parents don’t feel qualified to be involved in the formal education of their children. They think that you have to be a professional to educate children. Conversely, many teachers often feel threatened by parents who take an active role in their child’s education. In reality many schools don’t want parents to be that involved. It takes a lot of work for the school to achieve a high level of parental involvement.

At Christian Family Academy we realize that parents are biblically responsible for their children’s education. Parents are a vital part of the school. Parents decide what aspects of the school’s program are best for their child. They help plan their child’s schedule. Parents are also involved in the academic program by supervising the supplementary readings their children have in literature and history. Parents also may be involved in the afternoon electives that are offered. CFA is a family-friendly school that encourages family involvement.

The emphasis of most schools is to impart academic knowledge. Students are most recognized by how they do on tests and whether or not they take the “college prep” courses. Other schools most recognize the gifted athlete. Unfortunately Christian schools, in their desire to be academically and athletically superior, have adopted many of the same standards and content as the secular schools. Statistics show that Christian school graduates are not that different from the secular school graduates in what they believe about most issues or in the way they conduct their daily lives. If Christian parents and Christian schools are going to have different results than the world, then they are going to have to have different standards and use different methods than the world.

Good progress has been made in recent years in the development of Christian curriculums. However, there have been very few positive changes made in the organizational structure or instructional methods used in schools. Many of the same kinds of academic problems that are facing public schools are also problems in Christian schools. Traditional classes are usually divided by age. Typically there will be a wide range of ability levels in each grade. The teacher will teach a curriculum that is geared for the average ability level for that grade. Invariably, some students will be left behind and other students will be held back. This is particularly a problem in math and language arts because these are subjects that build at each level. If a student doesn’t learn something at one level, he or she will not understand the next level. The problem doesn’t go away with time. The student will continue to struggle until they learn the material.

Teachers in traditional primary schools often have to teach seven, eight, or more subjects each day. Few teachers can be proficient in that many subjects. Even if the teacher is organized and can cover everything assigned, he or she probably cannot convey enthusiasm for so many subjects. A love for learning is caught, not taught. If the teacher is not enthusiastic about a particular subject, most likely the students will not be either. A much better way to educate would be for teachers to teach subjects they themselves love.

In most classrooms there is a lot of wasted time. If the teacher takes time to help a struggling student, the rest of the class is kept waiting. If the teacher moves ahead, some students are left behind without understanding the material. Also a lot of class time is used for seatwork. While seatwork can serve a beneficial academic purpose, in reality it is often a time for overworked teachers to have some down time before teaching another subject. Students who understand and work quickly spend much of their time waiting on the rest of the class and often are bored. Both the student who is left behind and the student who is held back can become frustrated. Many times these students develop a dislike for school.

The structure and methods used at Christian Family Academy are designed to eliminate much of the wasted time and to make learning more relevant and enjoyable for the students. Language arts and math are taught in break out classes that are divided by levels, not by grades. Master teachers, who specialize in these two key academic areas, teach each student at his or her own particular level. The classroom teacher teaches Bible, history, and science. Since the classroom teacher has fewer classes to prepare, he or she can devote more attention to those subjects. Afternoon homework sessions help insure students receive individual help and students bring home as little work as possible. In 5th-7th grades, Logic, creative writing, Latin and Keyboarding are also taught in the afternoon.

Christian education is becoming so expensive that many Christian families just can’t afford it. Unfortunately many Christian schools get caught in a cycle. They want to offer Christian education to as many Christians as possible, but they feel pressured to compete with the secular schools. The public schools have huge, tax-funded budgets and can offer expensive programs and have great facilities. To acquire similar programs and facilities Christian schools have had to raise their tuition. The higher tuition becomes, the fewer families, there are that can afford it. In reality many Christian schools have become upper class prep schools. The few poor or lower middle class families enrolled in these schools usually have scholarships or some other kind of financial aid. The overall mindset of these schools can be very materialistic. And the more things they have, the more they depend on things and not on God.

Our desire at Christian Family Academy is to make a Christian education available to all qualified, Christian families that are seeking to train their children according to biblical principles. We don’t want finances to keep any child from receiving a Christian education. CFA is a ministry that believes that children are a heritage from God and that training them is a high calling of God. We are committed to assist parents in the biblical training of their children.

Assisting Christian parents in fulfilling their biblical responsibility to train their children.
Christian Family Academy
PO Box 5353
Hickory, NC 28603
(828) 256-8474