"Last night, we were driving home from karate class, and my daughter saw a full moon. In the past she might have said, “Look at the full moon.” Last night she said, “Look at the full moon God made.” That is why my children are at STS."
“I don’t need to send my children to a Catholic School. My husband and I will work together, with our church, and they will be fine.”
That is what I thought for the first 7 years of my twins’ upbringing. I felt that my husband and I provided them with a Christ-centered home. We went to mass at least monthly and even joined a non-denominational Christian church that had a great in-service Sunday school program for my children. We did that twice a month on top of mass. Additionally, as a public-school educator, my allegiance to public school education always chimed in my ear: I will put my children in public school. I have “good kids” and they will flourish in public schools. They will grow there and contribute positively.Then Covid hit.
I saw the writing on the wall. Being totally honest, I put my children in St. Theresa School so that they could go to school in person. I knew my twins would not be going back in person, and I weighed the finances of it. It would cost me less in tuition than it would in sitter fees, as my husband and I both work full-time out of the home, and we have no extended family to assist with childcare. So that was that; my twins were enrolled in St. Theresa’s.September came. We bought the uniforms. We prepared, and off they went.
But, by day two at St. Theresa’s, I realized that my thoughts about staying allegiant to public schools had been misplaced. My loyalty needs to be to Christ first and foremost. I had been remiss in not putting my children in a Christ-centered school from the very beginning. Only a Christ-Centered education puts Jesus Christ at the center of everything. One day, on a virtual Wednesday, I was listening in to the religion lesson as the teacher encouraged the children to write a letter to Jesus inviting Him into their hearts. My two 7 year olds sat attentively in their little study spots and wrote those letters to Jesus as my heart melted.That was September. Since September, virtual Wednesday after virtual Wednesday I have listened as the teacher wove Christ into every subject. I have listened as my children’s faith in their Savior grew. In November, we were thankful to God at Thanksgiving. December was dedicated to Advent and the Christmas story, yet with just the right balance of Santa Claus and reindeer. They have both grown in their love of Jesus. The both participated in the sacrament of Reconciliation, and Jesus is now a common word in our home and His will is at the heart of decisions my children make, because that is how they think now. My daughter sings her dolls to bed at night while singing all about Jesus and his love for her. My son will wake me up to pray with him because he is worried about a sporting event the next day and can’t sleep. We pray before we eat without a fight. We pray at bed, not because I want to, but because they want to. We talk at night about what decisions made were good ones, what things went wrong just because something went wrong and what went wrong because of a bad choice. We give thanks to God daily, because that is now the routine. But, just last night we were driving home from karate class and my daughter saw a full moon. In the past she maybe would have said, “Look at the full moon.” Last night she said, “Look at the full moon God made.” That quote from my daughter sums up why I have my children at STS.
Christ is at the center, always. He is center in our family and in the words, thoughts and actions of my children. It takes the school, the church and the family to raise a child in the Lord. It can’t be done with only one part or two. Just as the Trinity is three parts, so is raising a child in the Lord. STS brings it all together. It brings Christ fully to my children. Christ is no longer something we do on Sundays, something separate but important. Christ is in us now, weaved into our family thanks to the teaching and the example of Christ-centeredness from STS, the family and the church.So, my thoughts about Christ-centered education were wrong for the first seven years. We are on track now, going forward with Christ at the center in our children’s schooling, because fine isn’t good enough when it comes to educating my children about the Lord. That is why I chose Saint Theresa’s School.
-The Costa Family