By: Rebecca Little, Lower elementary principal

As week four of school begins, let us give God all the praise! He has been our sustainer and our strength, and He continues to uphold us with His righteous right hand. 

We all know that it has been difficult ... and different ... but I believe that there are many benefits to the challenges and changes we are experiencing this school year.

I would like to share with you some of the things you are not able to see from outside of the building that we have the opportunity to experience each school day.

Learning to Adapt

From the outside of the building, you may have experienced frustration and a little uneasiness about the carline changes due to the repaving, but what we saw in your children was adaptability.

Older students stepped up to guide younger ones as they walked from the back of the parking lot to the building. Siblings held the hands of their younger siblings to reassure and guide them along the way. Servant hearts were exercised and formed.

Not only is God teaching our children how to adapt, but He is giving us adults a huge reminder. We see students adapting to wearing face masks, having classes in makeshift classrooms, eating lunch in their classroom or having daily picnics, and staying socially distanced. 

And we are presented with the same opportunity as we experience rain, a dead car battery in the middle of carline, a lawnmower joining in the carline, and carline signs pointing in the wrong direction.

Benefit: Learning to adapt

Appreciating Normalcy in Uncertain Times

Joy, laughter, learning, and life are present in our school building!

Walking through the halls and hearing teachers reading from the Bible or teaching an academic lesson is music to my ears. Friendships are being formed and rekindled. Things that once were taken for granted, like playing on the playground, are now being experienced with a new appreciation. Students are using their imaginations and demonstrating leadership in organizing activities when their recess is in a different place for the day.    

Third graders are walking in with their “Armor of God” banners (which we all should be putting on each day as protection from the enemy).

Second graders are having their bear hunt as a culmination of their summer reading, with one student commenting that “it was like we were in a movie!”

Kindergartners are flying their paper airplanes from the balcony lobby and learning the PEARL rules.

Fourth graders are searching for insects and bringing their findings in for all to examine.

Fifth graders will be exploring outdoor adventures through reading My Side of the Mountain. And so much more!

In many ways, life is like it has always been at Perimeter School.

Benefit: Appreciating normalcy in uncertain times

Covenant Partnership And Proclaiming the truth

The best part of being back at Perimeter School is knowing that Truth is being taught and hearts are being shepherded.

Children need to find their hope and security during these days of uncertainty in the promises of God not in the lies of the world. 

With school back in session, the fourth wall of your home is alive and active in partnering with you to daily point your young image-bearers to the One who saves and is our strong tower and ever-present help in trouble. 

Benefit: Covenant partnership is active again and Truth is being proclaimed

Let us have hearts of gratitude for the challenges and changes of 2020 because God is using them to build in our children character, resilience, grit, adaption to change, and most importantly, a foundation of faith in a sovereign King who is still on His throne!