Written by David Gartner
“All 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds need to stay at home with their moms!” This is a statement that was made by a stay-at-home mom in the first meeting we had at St. John-Redwood Falls MN when in 2009 we began the preliminary discussions of starting an all-day/every-day preschool program.
“I can’t believe how our school has grown through the preschool. I still believe it’s good for children to stay at home with their moms, but that doesn’t work for every family.” This statement was made by the same stay-at-home mom as above. Why the change?
My MLC master’s degree final project was entitled, “The Importance of Early Childhood Learning Centers.” I was doing research on all-day/every-day kindergarten programs—ours was a three-day-a-week kindergarten program in 2008—and I came across all-day/every-day preschool. I realized quickly that children in Minnesota (and most other states as well) at an alarming rate are not prepared for kindergarten.
How could this happen? Most children didn’t even attend preschool when I was a child. Could it be the economy? Both parents working just to make ends meet? More demands placed on kindergarteners? All-day preschool programs were popping up all over the United States trying to better prepare children for kindergarten. Why should St. John be any different? We had students not ready for kindergarten. Let’s get them a good jumpstart.
A committee was started. Two committee members were MLC graduates, two were stay-at-home moms, and two were working moms. “We have to do this!” This came from the two MLC graduates. “We will work for free just to get this program started.” They should have been careful what they said.
After much discussion we decided to go for it and seek approval from our school board and church council. Our church council voted to support the program, but very little would be given financially from the budget because we didn’t know the chances of success.
The program started with both teachers from the committee called to teach 3-5 year olds. We put flyers all over town, got addresses of possible families and sent mailings, put postcards in the mail—whatever we could think of to draw interest.
We had three goals for the program. It would be Christ-centered. It would be high-quality. And it would be very flexible, where parents could choose half days, full days, extended hours. They just needed to attend two mornings during which Bible Story time was taught along with the rest of the curriculum.
Those two teachers made $11.42 per hour because that is how much money came in from the program.
Right away we heard from several families. “We wish we could attend your program, but you don’t offer summer care. We have to pay to keep our spot at daycare for summers. It’s not cost-effective.”
Quickly our committee regrouped. Could we really offer summer care? How could we do this without burning out our teachers? It just so happens that Martin Luther College juniors and seniors (or those studying to be teachers in other colleges) are qualified to teach a summer program and MLC is only 38 miles away. MLC gave us their blessing. Quickly we started a summer program. We’ve had an MLC student or two teach in our summer program every year since. The MLC students get great experience, and they have a guaranteed summer job at 40+ hours a week with a salary of $10 per hour.
Our program has been blessed with excellent teachers and dedicated paraprofessionals. These teachers are willing to talk at a second’s notice to parents who just want to visit or need someone to listen to the struggles or successes in their lives. This really helped get our program off the ground and has attributed to its success.
Our program continues to grow due to three factors. We had a new school facility built in 2010. We are licensed by the State of Minnesota to have 48 students daily. And we offer before-school, after-school, and summer care programs.
The last three years have been very special. Almost 100% of our 4-year-olds have continued on into kindergarten. The parents quickly see that the culture of the school is warm and caring and that St. John feels like a big family. We also charge less tuition for kindergarten than we do for all-day early childhood care.
I was just sitting down recently with a single mom who came into our school on a whim. She wanted something different for her child. She said with a huge smile on her face, “I don’t know how I got here, but I am so thankful that God led me here. St. John is just one big family, and I get to be part of it.”
Your school can be one big family as well. The harvest is ripe, and families are looking for a quality, affordable, convenient, and flexible Early Childhood Learning Center. Why not give them what they’re looking for?
Click here to read Dave’s thesis.
Dave Gartner DMLC (’92) teaches fourth grade and serves as principal at St. John-Redwood Falls, Minnesota. In 2010 he completed a Master of Science in Education degree with a leadership emphasis at Martin Luther College.
I know this article only addresses preschool, but I wonder if our churches are falling in to the ways of the world with this idea of daycares and early-childhood centers. I question the motives of our churches, based off of this quote from the attached thesis paper:
“The statistics that speak about the success children will have if they are properly educated at an early age was staggering. It makes me realize that our school and its leaders made the right decision about starting an Early Childhood Learning Center.
Yes, it is true that parents can stay at home and do a fantastic job of raising their
children and make sure they will be ready for kindergarten. But remember that means the parents have to be disciplined and willing to put in the hours to educate and create
situations where their child will also learn how to play, work, and speak with other
children. There may be pros and cons for both situations, but in today‟s society I think it
is pivotal that we offer learning that can take place in a warm, caring, nurturing, and safe
environment, so the parents don‟t have to be worried about their children and their
educational needs.”
The research given in the paper also points to the success and money that a child can make based off of receiving early childhood education. Other research in the paper points out how a great percentage of families have to use childcare. For these reasons, our churches and schools have tried to keep up with attempting to change lives according to the success in the eyes of the world (education, earning potential, etc.) in an effort to evangelize. Are there other ways to reach the families of the lost that don’t encourage mothers to leave the homes and their children during those early formative years?
Unfortunately, it seems that many parents have been confused into their role as parents. I understand that there are circumstances that force a parent to have to send their child to daycare. Each family takes it to the Lord in prayer in deciding what is best for their family’s needs. I think we can all agree that a mom working isn’t the ideal situation in regards to their children being taken care of by a loving mother to help guide their emotional, physical, and especially spiritual needs. But are we willing as a synod to give the idea that it is more important to feed our children academically and prepare them for earthly success, when a mom could stay at home lovingly nurture them in the best environment possible? Having one on one care with their mother in those very formative early years, or is it best to be a a Lutheran preschool with 10 other children where they won’t receive that special care from a mother. Are we robbing mothers of the opportunity to grow in their love for their child as God encourages in Titus 2:4-5, “Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
Many mothers in the church, and young MLC teachers are led to think that since it is part of the church, their guilt over not staying at home with their child is lessened. Their conscience tells them that it is best that they stay at home with their child to help nurture them emotionally, physically, and spiritually. But when they see that it is part of the church, and other members of the church use it, they might send their child to daycare thinking that they need to keep up academically as well.
How has our country survived so long without preschools? Are we willing to sacrifice a loving care of a mother in order that our child is adequately prepared for kindergarten? It seems that having a mother at home would be a simpler solution to our nation’s problem of children falling behind academically than sending them to a quality preschool. “But remember that means the parents have to be disciplined and willing to put in the hours to educate and create situations where their child will also learn how to play, work, and speak with other children.” (quote from thesis paper) Doesn’t this happen naturally as parents interact with their children and with other children? If a child is a bit behind, they will catch up over the years in school. The child could also be behind even with the help of preschool if they have trouble learning. Do we need to follow the world’s methods in everything? I know that this can be considered outreach to the lost, but can this be done with our school? I know enrollment is dropping in our schools, but the Lord will provide if we seek what is best not only for the lost but for nurturing the existing families in our churches.
“Your school can be one big family as well. The harvest is ripe, and families are looking for a quality, affordable, convenient, and flexible Early Childhood Learning Center. Why not give them what they’re looking for?” (quote from article) My question is, why not give them what they aren’t looking for? Why can’t we as a church realize that having mom at home is best for our children and encourage our families to use these opportunities to seek to give their children the best not just academically, but spiritually, emotionally, and physically. We, as parents, will do our best to help them academically as well. There are numerous blessings that children receive when mom stays home and is able to create a nurturing environment for them. Society realizes those blessings in numerous studies as well. The most important thing is love. Christ has given us so much as his dearly loved and redeemed children, let us realize those blessings in the children he has given to us, pray to him, and seek him in His Word.
Psalm 127:3-5
“Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.”