The alarm didn’t ring at the set time. The previous morning the alarm rang at 5:30 a.m. Yet, rather than my planned time of 5:30 a.m. I woke a few minutes past six to find the alarm was now set for 10:30 a.m. In God’s providence that morning I slept in for a few more minutes. It made life hectic, but also in God’s providence, all the tasks for the day were completed.

Life is full of seemingly small insignificant things. The alarm clock fails to ring. Or perhaps it rings too early. Your shoelace breaks. The car doesn’t start. Sometimes it is easy to see God’s hand in the small insignificant things, like when you’re in a hurry and you are seemingly unnecessarily delayed a few minutes and you miss the twenty car pile up a minute in front of you. Other times, it’s hard to see God’s hand working, but God is working.

The writer of Proverbs 30 observed God’s creation around him. He noticed the small things in this world; ants, the rock badger, locusts, and lizards. As he looked at these small seemingly insignificant creatures he noticed the wisdom of the Creator. The writer demonstrates how we should teach our children about the world around us. He takes notice of the small things and sees the hand of the great Creator showing us His wisdom through the small insignificant things.

As parents, we can look at the small things in life and grumble about them. Our neighbor eats steak while we have beans. They have a nicer house, car, etc. than us. Envy grips us. However, the writer of Proverbs teaches us that all things in this world need to be looked at with an eye informed by Scripture. Rather than coveting steak, he thanks God for the beans. The Psalmist declared to us that God’s word molded his understanding of the world. “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9).

Because each of us are “formed in sin,” we don’t naturally look at things from a biblical perspective. This is where we, as parents, have to help our children see the hand of God in things around us. We don’t want our children to simply look at the world around us and adopt its culture, we want them to look at the world about them informed by the lens of Scripture.

Most Christian parents really desire to give their children a good education. Some choose to place their children in elite private schools. Some parents fret about finding the perfect curriculum to give their children the best education possible. Some parents spend a lot of time calculating class schedules and studying college catalogs in order to give their child an edge. Others concentrate on a “classical” education to give their children a superior education. These efforts alone, however, won’t produce a home with a Christian culture. Charles Bridges described it this way:

To expand, without soundly enlightening, the mind [in the word of God], is but to increase its power for evil. Far better to consign it to total ignorance, inasmuch as the uninstructed savage is less responsible, less dangerous, than the well-furnished infidel. (Rev. Charles Bridges 1850, 97)

As parents, we need to impart more than just conservative economic, social, and political beliefs. It takes parents modeling a devout Christian faith to teach a child to view the world through the lens of faith. The Psalmist declared:

Psalm 78:4-8, NIV, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep His commands”

Recently the headlines in the Christian Examiner read: “Parental faith, not homeschooling, indicative of homeschoolers’ religion, analyst says.” The article went on to state that the most important factor in developing faith in a child is the parent’s personal devotional life. The faithful devotion of both parents to Christ is the one critical factor. The second is that this devotion must be delivered in a loving home.

Our children are observing the small, insignificant things in life. Are you showing your children that grumbling, envy, and complaining are the way to live? Or are we as parents showing them the hand of God in these things? Are we speaking about what God has done for us? Are we speaking of how we came to Christ? Are we recalling the great things Christ has done for us?

Let us provide a firm foundation for our children’s education, the solid foundation of God’s Word lived out in our lives.

Streamlining

In order to help us in helping you to educate your children, please make sure that all of your required paperwork is submitted on time. This will allow us to put more focus on creating and maintaining a quality learning environment for our students.

Independent School Application and Enrollment process: After applications have been accepted, you will receive an email with two forms that are necessary for you to fill out and return to us in order for us to finish your enrollment process:

1. Enrollment Form - thoroughly complete, return to office

2. Vaccination Form (or your own records), and return to office

In this same email you will also receive two forms that are your responsibility to handle:

3. Withdrawal Form - for you to turn into your previous school (if your child was enrolled in a school just prior to your application with Colorado Heritage)

4. Calendar - keep track of your educating hours

Some families still have not sent in the Enrollment Form that we need to finish the enrollment process. Please get these into us!

Independent School Re-enrollment: In an effort to ensure smooth Independent School re-enrollment, beginning January 1, 2016, all families re-enrolling in the Independent School must have their payment in by July 31st. All re-enrollments received after that date will be subject to a $20 late fee. Please also wait for your re-enrollment forms which are generated from our database and mailed to you (first week in June). The application form on the website under Independent School is only for first-time enrollment.

Diploma Program: Diploma program students who desire an extension for homework submission will be given a one-month extension for a charge of $25 per student. In addition, diploma program students who submit their paperwork after the deadline will be charged $20 for the expediting of transcripts.

Scholarship Applications: Thank you to all of the families who have so graciously given monetarily to help those who wish to participate in the Enrichment Program but who are financially unable to do so. For families seeking a scholarship, all scholarship applications must be submitted by the early enrollment date of the semester in which they are applying. For example, spring semester’s early enrollment deadline is December 1. All registrations and paperwork must be up-to-date in order to qualify for the scholarship.

Contacting Your Student During School Hours: In order to be respectful to our teachers, please be sure to contact the CHESS office at 970-346-0099 when you need to reach your student during school hours. Students are not allowed to have their phones on during class time (see Policies & Procedures).

Policies and Procedures: Below is a reminder of some important information from our Policies and Procedures that help Colorado Heritage and our families experience a successful semester. Please also take the time to review our Policies and Procedures in total for other pertinent information.

Add/Drop Forms: Whenever you need to add or drop a class, either print the form out from our website, fill it out, and bring it into the office, or you can come by the office, fill it out, and leave it with us. These forms are important for accurate class rosters and record keeping.

Withdrawing from a Class & Refund Policy

CHESS’s Enrichment Academy reaches maximum capacity every semester and typically has a waiting list for several of the classes. In order to allow as many families and students to participate as possible in the classes, we have instituted the following policy regarding withdrawing from classes:

1. Dropping a class prior to the start of classes: Any classes that are dropped within one week of the start of classes will receive a full refund for tuition, the refund will not include lab fees or textbook fees unless there is someone on a waiting list who can use the materials.

2. Withdrawing after the first class: (Must notify in writing by the Friday after the first day of class to qualify for a refund.) A student may withdraw from a class after the first week of class and receive a 50% refund of the course tuition fee, but the refund will not include lab fees or textbook fees unless there is someone on a waiting list who can use the materials.

3. Withdrawing from a class after 2 to 4 sessions: A student may withdraw from a class after attending 2 to 4 sessions, but will not receive a refund. The course will be removed from the transcript/report card. (At this point it is too late for us to put someone from the waiting list into the class).

4. Withdrawing from a class after 5+ sessions: A student who withdraws from a class after attending 5 or more sessions will not receive a refund and will have the course show as a withdraw or a fail on the report card/transcript.

Attendance Policy

The following is a review of our attendance policy:

1. Excused absences: If you know prior to a class day that your student will be absent, please contact the teachers and CHESS office to notify them of the absence no later than 8 AM the day of class. You may also receive an excused absence in the event weather conditions prevent you from coming. You and your student are responsible for making contact with the teacher and making arrangements to deliver assignments and obtain homework assignments. Teacher contact information is available on the syllabus for the course as well as the CHESS website: www.coloradoheritage.org.

2. Absence due to an emergency: If your student misses a class due to illness or a family emergency, please contact the CHESS office at your earliest convenience. You will then be responsible for contacting teachers for homework information. Teacher contact information is provided with the registration information and is also available on the CHESS website: www.coloradoheritage.org.

3. Unexcused absences: Absences that were not communicated prior to a class day or due to an emergency will be noted as an unexcused absence and will count against the student. Please make sure you notify the CHESS office and teachers of absences in a timely fashion.

4. Tardiness: Junior high and high school students who are tardy 6 or more times will not receive credit for the course.

5. Junior high and high school students who miss more than 3 classes will only receive a PASS/FAIL grade for the course.

6. Students who miss 4 or more classes will not receive credit for the course. Because there are only 12 weeks in a semester, each week has vital information. It sets teachers and the rest of the class back when students miss several weeks.