This year, we are gathering into groups three days a week for the first half an hour of the day in Homerooms. The purpose of our Homeroom time is multifaceted. First and foremost, it provides a space where teachers and administrators can get to know them more fully and disciple them by helping them apply what they are learning to their lives and hearts.
Homeroom groups are separated by grade (except 11th and 12th combined) and by gender so that groups have more freedom to honestly discuss issues they are facing. Homeroom advisors are excited to facilitate these conversations and lead their groups into praying for one another. We are also treating this time similarly to 7th classes, in which attendance is taken daily and a Pass or Fail grade is given weekly based on being present on time and participating with the group.
The fodder for these discussions is gleaned from the Chapel talks each week, from devotionals the students or advisors have chosen to read together, and for our oldest students possibly from local and world news events. Every group will also read the book Classical Me, Classical Thee by Rebekah Merkle, which explains the distinctive differences of a Classical and Christian education specifically aimed toward adolescents so that they may understand the value of how and why we ask them to do what they do.
Specifically, Mr. Picciottoli has been very encouraged by his Homeroom with our junior and senior guys. They are hungry to learn about what it means to be a man of God. For my part, I am enjoying my time with the 7th grade girls. They are a group of kind young women and are excited to talk about what God is teaching them in Chapel talks, in Bible class, and in the scriptures we read. We are also praying together about their concerns. It is such a wonderful way to start the school day three times a week (on Monday we have Psalm Sing together, and on Wednesday we have Chapel).
I’m so excited to see how God uses this time to deepen student relationships with one another and with God. Homeroom is one of the ways we are intentionally focusing on discipling our students and helping move the information they are learning from their head to their heart.
-Tonya Griffith, Secondary Principal
