Cougar Pause: A Parent Explains Why He Chose LCA For His Children
Posted
John Urschalitz-
We parents need to remember that we have several options available when deciding how to educate our children – public schools, home schooling and private non-faith or faith-based academies, so there are many factors to consider before making a decision. A few of the major considerations are: quality of education, spiritual (or lack of) component, diversity of curriculum, class size, athletic and other extracurricular activities and the total investment. Consider the following when making your choice: Quality of education: Lakeland Christian Academy consistently ranks at or near the top of all area schools based on test scores and college matriculation rates. Also, a majority of LCA teachers hold advanced degrees in the areas in which they teach. In the 2012 OrthoWorx-sponsored audit, Cambridge Education LLC ranked LCA as “Established” with the following comments added: “Students’ achievement in standardized tests is consistently above national and local averages in most of the assessed aspects, with a very high graduation rate.” Also, “Positive and respectful relationships between all members of the school community produce a safe, welcoming and harmonious environment in which students behave well and are motivated to learn.” Spiritual component: The LCA mission statement says it best: “Lakeland Christian Academy provides students with a Christ-centered foundation to become spiritually mature, academically competent and socially responsible.” While there are many fine teachers in the public system, they are limited as to what and how they can teach. The same is true by choice in other academic academies in our region. An LCA education is more than learning with a happy face on it; it is a first-class education that is God-honoring and taught from a biblical world view. Diversity of curriculum: It is true LCA cannot offer the breadth of courses the publicly funded schools can, but LCA has many course options for the motivated student while meeting or exceeding the Indiana Department of Education graduation requirements. A cooperative program with Grace College also allows LCA to offer advanced college credit courses to junior and senior students at a significant discount. This reduces future college costs. Class sizes: With a student to teacher ratio of 12:1, our dedicated and godly teachers can lavish individual attention on students. LCA is described as “a family.” Relationships formed at LCA with classmates and teachers endure for many years after time spent at LCA. Athletics and extracurricular opportunities: If your child would like to participate in IHSAA athletic programs that are fun, competitive and creditable, LCA may be the place for you. All students at LCA are afforded the opportunity to participate in athletics and their facilities are excellent for a school its size. In addition to athletics their drama, art and music programs are highly creative and offer many opportunities for students. There are also many leadership opportunities at LCA. Its students really have a voice in the school. Investment: While the price of an education at LCA may seem higher than public schools, you need to look at it from the perspective as an investment in your family’s future. These are our children’s formative years. This is where our children form relationships, their world view, establish self esteem and their spiritual outlook. These are things that are priceless. In addition, LCA’s tuition is less than half of other area academic academies. LCA also provides scholarships and tuition assistance. In addition, Indiana state school choice vouchers are available to qualified LCA students. So don’t assume you can’t afford LCA. There are many ways to reduce your out of pocket costs. My conclusion: Some may contend a Christian education is overly protective and feel it’s better to expose a child to the realities of worldly life to “toughen them up” first, but it would be unwise to send a soldier into battle before they were fully trained, so why expose your child before they are ready? “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 works for me! While I have found that no one choice can satisfy all of the above factors completely, for my family and me, Lakeland Christian Academy is by far the best choice.
