Philosophy of Partnership
At Foundations First, we want to honor and respect the role God has given parents as a child’s first and most important teacher. We want to restore the central, dominant role of the family in a child’s education and work with parentsin partnership to provide their children with a vibrant, God-centered education.
Teaching our children is the most important job we will ever have. In Deuteronomy 6:5-9, parents are told to use a multitude of ways to teach their children to love God with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind and all their might. The priority and primacy of this responsibility is shown by the fact that it was the first thing God instructed after He issued what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment, which is for we ourselves to love God. (Deut. 6:5-7; Mark 12:30)
Parents, especially fathers, have the responsibility before God to provide their children with a godly understanding of the world in which they are growing up. (Ephesians 6:4)
Philosophy of Education
The Bible is the best source of educational methodology. What we believe about teaching and learning is derived from the Bible, but we do not claim that our philosophy of education is exhaustive because the Bible is a deep, deep well of limitless wisdom and truth. But for our learning community the biblical educational principles that we ascribe to help us deliver what we believe is genuine education.
These principles can be summed up and remembered with the anachronym: WATER. As living things require water to flourish and grow, so our children require an education that has these five essential elements to grow to their full potential.
W Genuine education is a growth process involving the Whole-Person: mind, body, spirit, and soul. Luke 2:52 tells us that “Jesus grew in wisdom (mind/mental), stature (body/physical) and in favor with God (spirit/spiritual) and man (soul/social-emotional).” All areas of who we are as person are important and should be included.
A Genuine education is All-Truth. According to Proverbs 1:7, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Any system of knowledge or learning built on something other than this, such as materialism, which holds that matter is the only reality, is built on a foundation of sand. Materialism leads logically to nihilism, the belief that life is purposeless and there are no moral absolutes. A genuine education is not so limiting. The most important book that was ever written, the Bible, and the most important person who ever walked the earth, Jesus Christ must be at the center of a TRUE education. (II Tim. 3:16-17; Col. 1:15-17)
T Genuine education is Transformational. The goal of education is not to store up content-based knowledge to be regurgitated for a test, but to change a student’s life: their beliefs, character, values, self-image, and conduct. Romans 12:2 tells us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”.
E Genuine education is Experiential. Learning is not simply a cerebral activity. It involves practicing and doing. Trying something out. Trial and error, success and failure. It involves acting on our beliefs, applying what we know and putting our knowledge into action. With respect to learning about God, David said in Psalm 34:8, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.” Luke 10:1-20 shows that Jesus understood and practiced this element of education when he sent out 70 of those who were following him to minister to others. The Bible reports that those who went out returned with joy, though their joy was misplaced, and Jesus used that situation as a teaching moment. It is one thing to know something intellectually. It is something else to know it experientially.
R Genuine education is Relational. The student-teacher relationship is fundamental and crucial, because students become like those who teach them. In Luke 6:40, Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully taught will be like his teacher.” The point is clear and sobering. Students become like those who teach them. Teachers are not merely conveyors of information; we are role models that will be imitated. Students may learn what we tell them, but if they look up to us, they will most certainly learn what we live out before them. Rudyard Kipling so eloquently summed this up when he wrote, “No spoken word nor written plea can teach young minds what they should be, nor all the books on all the shelves, it’s what the teachers are themselves.”
Somewhat related to this point about the relational aspect of education is the point that genuine learning is an act of the will, it cannot be effectively coerced. The best learning happens when the learner is ready to learn, motivated to learn. Therefore, teaching should be student-centered not subject-centered. It should meet a student at their point of need and be invitational. Jesus demonstrated this approach when he said in Matt. 11:28-30, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”