Welcome to podcast #56. Well it is enrolment time at Heritage Christian Schools, in fact it is a bit late for those listening in from our campus school although if you get them in the next couple of weeks you will still be ok. This is always an important time for both the school and the family whether you are enrolling in our campus program, our Distributed Learning program or just registering as home schoolers. We have invited one of my dearest friends and long time Heritage Christian School educator and mom to talk with us about making these choices.

If we are going to be true to discipleship-based Christian education then we need to seek the direction that God is leading for each student. This is one of the biggest decisions we make as parents for our children and always has long term implications in the life of our child. Fortunately, in most cases we have had a clear course with our children. Perhaps you have enrolled your student in our campus program or you are committed to giving your student a good home education. Usually this is the time where we confirm in prayer the decisions and path we have laid out for our children and continue along that course. What if your student is unhappy with your educational choices for them or what if the plan you have chosen is going through some difficulties? It is at times and places like this that you will have the greatest opportunities to give your child the life lessons and the example of what it means to follow God at all costs. If you are sure about your child’s direction and the rocky times will seem much more like pebbles in the road instead of boulders in the way.

As your children get to the middle and high school years you will need to include them more and more in the decision. At our campus school if a student at the Grade Ten year really doesn’t want to be there we sit down with them and their parents to determine if there is a better course.  Often we may find that they are just looking for more options and we are usually able to accommodate them. Gone are the days of limited choices with the advent of online education. If you are home schooling and your student is getting tired of mom as the teacher or mom feels like she is not able to go much further with their student then this is an important decision time as well. I would suggest that it is important not to put off this discussion. Speak with and pray with your spouse and teenager. Seek the best direction that you feel good about in your head and your heart. If your 16 year old is completely against the idea of continuing in your home education plan then you will need to, at least, look at other options. I can’t say enough how important it is to be on the same page with your student. It is their life and as they grow more and more towards independence they will need to participate in, or at least, be supportive in these decisions.

With my own children, all of whom are now young adults, praise the Lord, we had a clear path.  First and foremost we expressed to them how important a Christian Education was to their lives. We really never opened the option to public school. We also did not consider home education because of both mine and my wife’s ministry in our Church. I would have given much more consideration to this direction had we been in a Church that didn’t have such a good Christian school. In fact this is one of the main reasons we came to Kelowna Christian Center. So we never gave to many options to our children and in three of our four these directions were fully embraced. With one of our sons we did face a challenge in his grade 11 year. The challenge was more about achieving what he was capable of more than where he was going to school. He had come home in November with a terrible first quarter report card. We were aware that he was slacking off a bit but not to the degree that the report revealed. I say, “to our standards,” because he as passing every course but he was just doing enough to ensure that he did not fail. We have always set very high academic standards for our children. We checked on their homework daily. Meet with their teachers frequently and expected that they achieve as high a level as they were capable of in every subject of study. He was not as academic as his siblings but his intelligences far exceeded his sibs in areas like music, sport and social interaction. Nevertheless he was capable of at least maintaining a B average. We sat down that cloudy November day and had a true Father/Son heart to heart. I suggested that he really only had two choices. He could go back to a decent school work ethic, complete his missing work and bring his grades up, or, he should quit school and take a job. In fact I encouraged him quite strongly to do just that. As per our family policy, he would have to pay rent and contribute to the family income if he wasn’t in school. I told him we could use the money (a bit tongue in cheek).  Keep in mind that I am the school Superintendent. It totally through him, but he realized that I was serious and recognized that he was making decisions that would affect his entire life.  Thankfully he redoubled his efforts and by the time he was finished with Grade 11 he had returned to a B average. We were extremely proud of his effort and probably celebrated this achievement more than we did our other three top of the class students that year. As you will hear in the following interview this is an important choice for each and every parent.

Joanne Robideau and her husband started teaching with Heritage back in the early 90’s. They left for Alberta for several years but thankfully they are back home here in Kelowna. She leads our high school English Department  and is our International Student academic coordinator. The Robideaus have two children ages 7 and 10, both of whom attend our campus school. Both Joanne and Gord are key leaders in the Heritage Christian School movement. Her is my somewhat relaxed chat with Joanne about why she has chosen Heritage for her own children:

Audio Only

I have to end it here. Joanne and I chatted about everything under the son for the next half an hour.

As you may have heard there is always a bit of healthy tension between our Campus program and our Distributed Learning program. I say healthy because those who have their children in either program are passionate and excited about what is happening in the lives of their kids. We always seem to think ‘what is good for me must also be good for you.’ I probably feel this tension the most being the Superintendent over both schools. Nevertheless, I believe we have the best of both worlds here in British Columbia. What makes this place on the planet so special are the unique choices we are able to make with the support or our government. Just a quick note on this. Take time to discover what are the positions of our political parties on Independent Schools and funding especially with the upcoming election. We are publishing their positions on this in our next HCOS newsletter and I will try and get at least one podcast on this before the Provincial election next month.

Please email us your comments and thoughts on today’s podcast. Also, if you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book, Discipling This Generation for a Digital World, simply send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address. Thank you for listening and thank you for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.