The Elijah School

Raising Kids with a Sense of Purpose

“I can’t think of any way to bring up a less socially adept child, than to think that the whole world revolves around them and they don’t really have to give anything back.“

Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld – In Pursuit of the Perfect Child

One of the things we strive to do at Elijah School is reinforce the obligations we have to serve, encourage, and be kind to our brothers and sisters.  It’s why we believe that service projects of all kinds are valuable: the scope of the project can be very small, but it might touch someone in a very important way.  We’re all members of the body of Christ and it’s important for us to know that we have not just a place, but unique gifts and abilities, too.  So much of our culture actually encourages self-centeredness, as if that’s the way to happiness or self-fulfillment.  But that will always lead to shallow materialsim or narcissim; serving God and others isn’t just wise, it’s our Biblical mandate.  Passing that on to the next generation is one of our key responsibilities.

Autism, Asperger’s & School Choice

Every student is different: their brains “see” things differently, they have different learning styles, and different interests.  No school will ever be able to serve every student population adequately.  Elijah School is dedicated to serving non-traditional learners in a hands-on, multi-sensory environment.  But we believe parents of children with learning differences are best-equipped to determine what is right. 

Like these authors, we believe people all across the political spectrum can agree that we need to do what’s in the best long-term interests of children.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/08/column-kids-with-autism-deserve-better-.html

ADHD Awareness Week

As teachers of an educational community dedicated to ADHD and non-traditional learners, we are always looking for new ideas and new resources to reach young minds.  It’s important to recognize that the non-diagnosed, non-treated person with ADHD has a much tougher road ahead than the average.  There’s a lot we can do to help students get on track and stay there, but it begins with recognizing the problem and then taking positive steps towards engaging their minds with multi-sensory curricula and hands-on activities.

You might find a recent survey from CHADD interesting:

http://www.chadd.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=12293

Valuing Mistakes

“We have to teach children that mistakes are part of learning and we have to show them that we value mistakes. We have been mistrained to think that effortless perfection is the end all and be all and our children have been harmed by that idea.”

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. – The Dangers of Inappropriate Praise

I think there’s a lot of truth to this statement, regardless of age – the idea that any of us can get through life without making mistakes (including some doozies) is completely at odds with what we believe as Christians.  We need to help young people to LEARN from their inevitable mistakes and not repeat them.   Just ask any businessman or parent if they’ve made mistakes, and the answer will be “yes” – but chances are they took the time to learn something valauble from the experience.

Part of our goal at Elijah School is to get students thinking and talking.  So many students with learning differences or disabilities are afraid to try new things for fear they’ll fail – we are encouraging them to proceed boldly, that failure is part of learning.   Praise needs to be honest in order to build lasting self-esteem and self-confidence.  ALL of our young people have gifts and unique abilities – having learning differences or requiring a more hands-on curriculum doesn’t change that.

Should Obama’s Speech be Shown in Christian Schools?

We won’t be showing it simply because I think these kind of “stay in school” speeches are tiresome cliches. But I think there are good arguments for and against showing the speech; lots of people find the whole televised-address-to-kids idea akin to indoctrination, some object to the rumored “How did the President inspire you today?” follow-ups.  On the pro side, showing the speech might get students talking and thinking about issues beyond politics related to discernment and critical thinking. Here is a great piece from WORLDmag.com, a Christian news service:

http://online.worldmag.com/2009/09/05/should-obamas-speech-be-shown-in-christian-schools/

I’m also not sure that hands-on learning is well-served by asking kids to sit still and listen to a politician’s speech when many adults have trouble with it.

May we help you with those groceries?

If you shop at Martins, you can designate Elijah School to receive a cash bonus based on your purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything, Martins simply gives us a cash bonus of up to 1% of your purchase. Our school number is 02770. Starting tomorrow (September 6), you can designate Elijah School in several ways:
1. Send us your Martin’s card number and we will designate our school on your card.
2. Go to Martin’s A+ Rewards and sign up online
3. Go to Martin’s and sign up at the store.
We’ll receive a check in May – your contribution will go towards helping our school educate the minds, bodies, and spirits of non-traditional learners. Thanks for supporting us!

Inaugural Blog Post

Welcome to our new website! The purpose of our blog is to keep you posted on news about the school and the world of different learning styles. Along the way, we’ll be passing along quotes and links to articles and resources about non-traditional learners, hands-on curriculum, raising strong families, and the challenges and opportunities in raising intentional young people in a chaotic world.

We hope you’ll check back frequently to see what’s happening. Please contact us if you have any questions, comments or feedback. Thanks for stopping by!

A Typical School Day

Our students attend school from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily during the school year. This is a long day, but we do not assign homework: all schoolwork (with a few minor exceptions) is completed within school hours. We believe concept retention is better served with a longer day and longer academic year, but with more frequent and lengthier vacations.

In middle school (grades 6-8), our students are actively engaged in the structured, sequential, research-based and multi-sensory approach to instruction we use to lay the foundation for academic readiness. Our small class setting (3-6 students in a class with a teacher) ensures that each student gets enough attention.

Physical Education is broken up into two periods per day – younger students have a lot of energy and need the chance to work some of it off. Our core subjects are five days per week: language arts, reading, literature, math, science and social studies. Students also have social skills, art, music, and typing.

In high school (grades 9-12) the schedule is similar, but students also have foreign language, critical thinking/philosophy, home economics, home maintenance and mentoring time. Every Tuesday afternoon high school students are out from 1-4 on a clinical experience which may be career exploration, a service project, or other activity that helps them explore their own interests and strengths.

In 2008, we worked extensively with Diane Sept, a Connected Riding teacher, to learn horse handling skills. We saw the self-confidence of several students soar. Wednesday afternoons each high school student spends and hour with their assigned mentor (each is trained by us and our licensed counselor) to discuss progress and stumbling blocks.

Like middle school, we have physical education five days per week to encourage the kids to burn off some energy and get their minds cleared.

Welcome to Elijah School

We’re very excited that you’re here to learn more about Elijah School and all that we do. I hope that you find this information valuable, but you are always welcome to come visit our school and see for yourself what makes us so unique and to experience what we do first-hand.

Elijah was started with the simple goal of serving students who struggle with learning differences: language processing difficulties, dyslexia, ADHD, Asperger’s, and other learning differences. We believe that all of God’s people are created with value and purpose, but this segment of young people needs a multi-sensory, interactive approach to teaching with smaller classes and individual attention. Elijah’s mission is to prepare young people with the knowledge, skills, and integrity to meet the challenges of today’s culture. We envision a generation where ALL students can attain the goal of becoming well-educated, passionate, intentional young people who live in healthy relationship with themselves, their faith, and their community.

Almost all of our students have experienced frustration in school; this is equally true of kids who come from public schools, Christian schools, and home-schooling environments. They frequently come to us carrying heavy burdens: that they’re “defective” or “incapable of learning”. Through targeted multi-sensory approaches, the students learn to compensate for their weaknesses, build on their strengths, and gain confidence in their own abilities. Our approach goes beyond the classroom to include service projects and hands-on “clinicals” that have included horse-handling, helping the elderly and disabled, and basic home maintenance. Students today need life skills almost as much as academic skills, so social skills, business skills, and consumer math play an important part in our curriculum. Parents, peers, and adults have all remarked on how our students have more self-confidence, the result of seeing themselves succeed. Success breeds success.

Each of our families sets out a written Education Plan for the year which includes goals, weaknesses, strengths, and areas of interest. Weekly meetings with mentors and our Guidance Counselor help keep those plans on track. Check out our Testimonials to see some of the incredible results!

Please call or come visit us to find out how we may help your student.

Richard Starr
Head of School