It seems that every American household is feeling a heavy burden right now.

• National elections
• City unrest
• My job
• My business
• Schools
• Masks
• Illness, death, bereavement
• My health
• My family’s health
• My family’s financial stability
• Will it get worse?
• Will it get better?
• Is this ever going to go away?

As parents, you may struggle with how to keep your kids sheltered from the burdens of the world right now. It’s natural. Worries seep through us sometimes.

For students, stress and anxiety comes out in unusual temper tantrums, extra crying, misplaced anger. At its heart, children have two basic questions:

▪Is the world going to be okay again?
▪Am I going to be okay?

When global, national, or personal difficulties arise, it is important that we do several things as a community:

1. We need to remind students that this is hard, but we can do difficult things.
2. We need to provide spaces that are a respite from the storms.

In our Calvary community, we provide the first through example and conversation. Are we a living example to our students that things are hard, but that we are capable of getting through hard things? And do we talk with them about their own difficulties and remind them that they can do things that are difficult?

As for the second, I cannot imagine a time when our students have been in greater need of a respite from the storms around them. A place where they can set aside external stresses and just learn…

By identifying plants for the soon-to-be high school garden. Taking delight in reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe while also discussing the sub-text of courage, evil, and the redemptive salvation of blameless sacrifice. Reading about the New Deal in history. Sketching a realistic eyeball. Harmonizing in choir. Winning (or losing) a volleyball game. Playing four square.

Our goal is to provide our students with a peaceful sanctuary during these unsettling times so we can focus our attention on each student’s mental, emotional and spiritual health.

This does not mean that we do not discuss complicated matters at school. In this season, a focus on big ideas such as: what are the qualities of effective leadership; how do our political parties function; how can God allow pain and still be loving; what is true friendship? These are the kinds of things we need to focus on to raise fully functional adults who can live in community in a broken world.

Our schools and our homes can provide a source of stability and security in this time of uncertainty that our children are experiencing right alongside adults. Calvary Schools is working to be a respite from the storms during this season, so that our community can thrive and we can continue to build up a thriving, peaceable, and Christ-like community.