“…And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
We love the above promise and tell our children and ourselves that God is always with us. Looking back on this 2019 -2020 school year, we could once again say, “The Lord always keeps His promises!” The Lord has been with us at ACTS from Week 1, the first week of classes, Week 25, the week when the discussions about how to teach by Social Distancing were on the lips of every teacher/tutor in the world, to this week, Week 32, the last week of our 2019- 2020 school year. Thanks be to the Lord, this week, our students are not only finishing on time, they are finishing well!
People have been talking about the heroes of the Pandemic, and not to down play the people who are on the Front Lines saving lives, keeping us healthy, well fed, protected and safe every day, each one of our ACTS Tutors and Parents is a hero, a hero of ACTS! Our dear Tutors, through the grace of God, have kept ACTS going with their Lesson Plans, Videos, and Remote Classrooms since we had to shelter in! Tutors even met virtually with individual students to help them understand concepts and go over tests. Most of these tutors had children of their own to homeschool. As one parent wrote “As a school, the transition to online classes appeared seam-less … and we didn’t seem to miss a beat in the education that ACTS has been providing during the transition”
Our tenacious ACTS parents are heroes too because even through the difficulties that they may have been experiencing, loss of income, shortages, and separation from loved ones due to “Sheltering In”, our parents continued to homeschool. They supervised their children’s work, made sure it was completed for Virtual classrooms, and submitted paper and assignments on time so that their children did not fall behind. In the background were our Classroom Assistants, Parent Volunteers, and Class Parents arranging on line Meetings for our students so that they could see their classmates in a casual setting.
We are currently researching different platforms for next year, in case we find ourselves and the world in the same position of having to teach using Distance Learning. Our Lord has guided us through this whole school year, and I know He will be with us and provide whatever we need as we plan and prepare for our next school year. I don’t remember who said it, but it’s true. We are not all in the same boat, we are in the same storm. Our “boats” will determine how we weather the storm. As believers in Jesus, we are confident in knowing that if He is in the boat with us, though the wind and seas rage, He will get us through any storm. All praise and Glory to our Almighty God who has been and will continue to be in the boat with us at ACTS.
