Geography

by Kelly Knowlden

Here are some of the questions that our students need to know answers to:

1. What waterfall would you see if you took a ride on the Maid of the Mist?
2. Name two states that touch Vermont? 
3. What is the largest country in South America?
4. What countries in South America do not have any seacoast?
5. Manila is the capital city of what country?
6. East Pakistan is now known as what country?
7. What island country in the south Pacific has a north and south designation in its name?
8. Tahiti is part of what island group?
9. Name one country that touches Ethiopia.
10. Name the longest river in Europe.

If you know 5-6 answers, you are average. If you know 7-8 answers, you are doing well. If you know 9-10 answers, you must be a graduate of ICS! One of our goals for our students is that by the time they graduate from high school they know the names and location of 200+ countries of the world. (Some experts only count 196 countries in the world, but they are not including many of the island nations in the Pacific and also the small countries such as Andorra, Monaco, and the Vatican City). That is usually a high school geography course that includes drawing the world by heart!

Why is that important? Here are three reasons: First, this is God’s world. The more we know about it and appreciate the diversity that He has created, the more we will be able to appreciate Him! Second, to know about God’s world is to understand the differences in people that He has made. (It DOES make a difference if you grew up in a country where the spring monsoons caused the rivers to overflow and flood the land!) Third, food and clothing choices have historically been due to climate not to fashion. We want our students to appreciate those choices within the context of that culture.

Do you want to know the answers to the questions above? Here they are: 1. Niagara. 2. New York and New Hampshire. 3. Brazil 4. Bolivia and Paraguay 5. Philippines 6. Bangladesh 7. New Zealand 8. French Polynesia 9. any of these: Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti and 10. Volga River.

Half Way

by Kelly Knowlden

Now that we are at the half way point of the year, I wanted to mention some things that cannot be half-way.

1. Students cannot be “half way” done with homework. Oh, they will never say that. But they will come up with vague answers to your questions about whether they are done with their work that ought to be alerts to you that perhaps you’d better look at each item specifically. You are building character that way. You are holding them accountable to their word. You are able to deal with untruths that makes their character not trustworthy. You are showing them the importance of being a person of integrity that does what he says and says what he does.
2. Tasks begun cannot be done “half way.” When our children clean their room or wash the dishes, help them see that the task is not done until you say that it is done. A clean bedroom will not have things hurriedly stuffed under the bed or in the closet so it is out of sight. Dishes washed will mean that the sink strainer is cleaned out or the dishwasher is emptied or whatever standard you set. 
3.  “Half way” cannot mean that the rest of the year is a slide. What happens during the next month and a half is that students get tired of winter, of school work, of dull routines. The half way point is exciting to us as adults in that it shows us how far we’ve come. To young people it means that there is another half to go. Encourage them with unexpected adventures. Simple things work best: like a picnic in the living room or a night of board games together. The anticipation of the event is “half” of the fun. 

I’d like to mention that your response to “half way” is what carries the day - like this: Parents cannot see half way as no-hope-for-change. If your student is struggling and has not established the habits necessary to succeed, then “half way” is not a time for giving up. Rather it is a clarion call to make changes now before it becomes too late. If your child is in this last category, make sure that you are calling the teacher and asking for some time to troubleshoot problems and come up with solutions. We want to serve you in that way.

Godly Culture

by Kelly Knowlden

As parents, you have more influence on the culture of the school (and this country) than anyone else. The issue is that you LIVE WITH your child. Though the teachers perhaps spend more waking time with them than anyone else and are giving them truth and modeling godliness for them, they primarily operate in the sphere of formal instruction and relationship. You, on the other hand, are shaping their character in powerful ways because you are on display all their other waking hours.

What you believe to be true will be passed on by the way you respond to life. How do you talk about the president? What do you say out loud about the referee when your favorite team loses a game? How do you respond to your child’s poor grades or bad behavior? What comes out of your mouth about what takes place at work? How do you interact with what you see on television or in movies? (Even when you say nothing concerning what is seen - you are saying something very powerful! You are indicating that you think everything on the screen is okay!)

Why is it that what is spoken (or not) is so powerful? It is because it conveys what we believe to be true about God. If I do not speak to my children about my concerns over the head-chopping in movies, then I am saying that God does not care about that issue. If I meet my child’s complaint about his homework with either the “buck up and just do it” or with the “oh, honey - I’m sorry that you have it so hard... I’ll talk to the teacher about it” - I convey that God is a hard and indifferent taskmaster or one who emotes and fixes all the problems of life. If I bad-mouth the referee’s call, then I am not only saying that I can criticize an authority’s work, I am also undermining my own authority, by implicitly allowing my child to criticize my work. More importantly, I am saying it is okay to criticize God’s running of the world.

What your child brings to school is the theology that he gets from life experiences and his interpretation of your response to them. However, if you are taking your family’s life experiences and running them through the grid of WHO GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO BE IN HIS WORD, then you will have children who gain a sense of who they are designed to be and how the world works. This will impact not only the school culture, but the culture of wherever they live!

Picking up the Gaunlet

by Kelly Knowlden

Having a son that was interested in making chain mail items makes words like hauberk, coif, and gauntlet all make sense. The gauntlet is a “mailed glove to protect wrists and hands from wounds.” The phrase in the title become clear when the terms are understood.

As parents, one of the most difficult things to do day-by-day is to remain fixed on the end goal of education. We get stuck on “getting good grades,” or perhaps “just getting work done.” As adults, we forget about the important things of having students that are doing their best, desiring what is good and right and molding their characters to be humble servants of Christ. So we badger, plead, accuse and then decry their faults. Our concern for them is often not expressed as love, but as manipulation. Their interpretation of even our best efforts is many times misunderstood. We end up having relationships that distance, rather than ones that bridge gaps.

A new year is a good time to “pick up the gauntlet.” My vulnerable hands need a mailed glove to do battle against the wrong ends of education. So I cannot desire kids to “just get it done,” without seeing their need to “persevere without excuses” as the central issue. I cannot make “getting a good job” be the main goal of their schooling, but rather I must help them discern what gifts and abilities God has built into them and help them use those in service to others. I cannot convey any sense of disappointment in low grades, but rather see those as opportunities to ask questions that will hone their self-assessment of effort, motive and desire.

Thankfully we have One who has “picked up the gauntlet.” His hands healed and touched the broken. They raised the dead. His hands blessed fish and bread and fed thousands. And when the time came, his hands were pierced through with nails to provide me with not only a gauntlet, but all armor to fight battles “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” You will find courage to battle well by meditating on the One who will fight for us as we look to Him.

"For This New Year"

by Kelly Knowlden

I hereby highly resolve to ...

Even if our new year’s resolutions are not made so formally, yet we make them with a high degree of
purpose to change. We see the value in the change; we understand that it will be good for us or for others in our world and so we determine that this year I will be different. I will keep my room clean. I won’t say “um” in conversations. I won’t be impatient. I will be kind to the cat... etc.

Of course, if you are of an age higher than thirty, and if you make such resolutions, that in the corner recesses of your mind you are also a bit skeptical or perhaps even cynical that this year will really change anything at all.

Why is that? It is because we know that change does not come through good promises to ourselves. We look in the mirror and see the same person day after day and realize that we are in some way stuck with ourselves. On our “good” days, we are okay with that. But on our “bad” days, when we see a bit about ourselves that we do not like, we know that we need to do SOMETHING. So we make promises.

Here is the real problem: people don’t change that way. Habits, ruts, routines, addictions, obsessions, inclinations, tendencies mark us. They are the patterns of a lifetime of choices that cannot be made just because we wish them so.

So then, what are we left with? No hope?

Not so. For that is the real power of the Christmas season. It is in the “after He came to earth” part that gives us hope. Because God became like us in every way [except without sin] He is able to come to our aid in our times of need. What is that aid? Change! In seeking the King of kings and Lord of lords, and in recognizing our great need to change, we repent [turn around] and go in a different direction based on His strength and will. My seeking will take the form of those questions mentioned before: What is He like? How does He deal with the world? What about the tragic events that happen? How do I know Him? What does He require of me? Do I need to win His favor? What does it take to be good enough to see Him?

His answers are life-changing!