Toward Maturity and a Flourishing Life
By Cheryl Ward
Head of School/Executive Director
Calvary Schools of Holland
Most Christian schools and parents will agree that character formation is a major goal of the school experience. Most will also agree that chapel, Bible classes, prayer, and discipleship are essential components of a Christian education. (Be sure to read to the bottom to listen to Calvary parents share about how they see character formation happening in their children.)
But the process for character formation is less agreed upon.
How is character developed at Calvary Schools? Hard work – shepherded through kindness, consistency, and relationship. Charlotte Mason says that character is an achievement.
“Disposition, intellect, genius come pretty much by nature; but character is an achievement, the one practical achievement possible to us for ourselves and for our children; and all real advance in family or individual is along the lines of character. Our great people are great simply by reason of their force of character.”
– Charlotte M. Mason
How is character born out of family, church, and parenting; and how does education play a key role in its development?
A school must recognize that character formation is a key element of education, and the learning environment must be intentional about processes, curriculum, staffing, atmosphere, methods, and events that will foster character development.
In other words – what a school does, or does not do – matters greatly, as well as how and why we do it.
Character Formation: Subjects at Calvary Schools
We have varied subjects at Calvary Schools (more widely varied than most traditional schools) and consider all of them to be essential. Why? Because all knowledge comes from the mind of God.
Let us consider the subject of math. Why teach it? The knowledge contained in math classes would be essential for certain life paths, such as college and career, but that is not why it is essential.
Mathematics, such as geometry, algebra, and trigonometry, are aspects of the mind of God. Mathematical principles are found in music, plants and animals, building and gardening. Math is found in beauty (the golden ratio). Math is a part of how we tell time during the day, count resting heartbeat in exercise, and balance a home budget. Even the comfort of bed sheets can be found in the simple math of thread count.
Math is no simple tool toward “getting the right job” or “passing high school classes.” Math is a profound building block of God’s creation.
So, how does a subject such as handwork play a role in education? Why teach it? It is lovely to see students learning to master slow growth crafts and to produce works of beauty. Students are gaining manual dexterity and fine motor skills that are useful in adulthood. But that is not why handwork is essential.
Both math and handwork are difficult subjects that require steadiness, persistence, faithfulness, and an ability to recover from disappointment often. When a student has to wrestle with geometry proofs, or undo 30 rows of stitching to fix a mislaid stitch, they are learning these character traits.
And character traits are not gained from a single inspiring character class or chapel experience. Character is laid down in prayer and hard work, day after day, with a joyfully mature adult working beside you – along with the aid of the Holy Spirit, who is always working in our lives.
Character Formation: Not All Avenues Are Beneficial
Based on our commitment to processes, we know that not all avenues are beneficial toward our goals of engagement with God’s creation and character formation. We often hear people ask, “what is the harm of doing X?” A more important question is, “what good is X doing and how is it building their character?”
For example, how is our counter-cultural approach to Valentine’s Day building character and fostering healthy relational patterns? Instead of exchanging commercially bought cards, we wrote handwritten, carefully-crafted notes of affirmation to each other. Is the former harmless in light of all of the good that is built into the child with the latter? Which one builds character? Which one should a school spend time on?
Calvary Schools pursues character formation with intentionality. As we evaluate athletics, student events, curriculum, subjects, courses, methods of instruction, coaches, Winterim, volunteers, lockers, microsports, music, field trips, trophies, etc. – our first question is always: What good is it doing and how will it build their character? How is this an avenue toward maturity and a flourishing life?
I often tell parents that it is not the scope of the number of things that we do here that makes us great – it is WHAT we are doing, or not doing – and how and why we do them.
We are a Charlotte Mason school because we recognize that school atmosphere, relationships, ideas, and processes profoundly shape who our students will become. We take it seriously. All aspects of our school will always reflect these intentions.
Click to hear one family share how their children’s character has been shaped at Calvary Schools.
Cheryl Ward is the Head of School & Executive Director at Calvary Schools of Holland. She has served the Calvary community since 2015, stepping into her current role in 2021. Cheryl’s passion is transforming educational settings through the underlying philosophy, relationships, structures, and processes that support them. She has a bachelor’s degree in education and a second degree in Biblical studies, as well as a master’s of education degree. She has been an advocate for Charlotte Mason education, and an Ambleside affiliate, since 2009.