Trinitas Blog

As a father of five, I am greatly concerned with the cultivation of virtue in the hearts of my children. Frequent thought and active parenting has been invested in training my children in honesty, diligence, self-control, and respect. The lack of these virtues is tough to disguise. When children are disrespectful and lazy, succumbing to every desire of their flesh, they create what my mother would refer to as “a scene.” Yet behind the more common virtues, lies one that receives precious little airtime – Piety.

The Association of Classical and Christian Schools (ACCS) is the only accrediting body in the country that caters exclusively to classical Christian schools like Trinitas. Although the organization has over three hundred member schools, only a small fraction of those schools have met the rigorous standards required to become accredited. Trinitas has been associated with the ACCS since the school's founding over twenty years ago and has been an accredited member for over half that time.

Of course, a school doesn't have to be accredited to be a good school - there are many smaller classical Christian schools that offer an excellent education - but accreditation with the ACCS does assure parents that the school is committed to the highest standards of excellence in its pursuit of classical and Christ-centered education.

As a father of five children, I have some experience with parenting toddlers. When my eldest son was a toddler, I recall being puzzled by behaviors he exhibited that he did not learn from my wife and me (as opposed to the behavior that he did learn from us). To the best of my knowledge, neither of us ever sat down with our toddler and said, “Son, here is the proper way to pitch a fit” or “Son, this is how you disobey mommy and daddy”. Such is the reality that leads me to consider my children’s sin and my response to it.

I used to think our little house in the country was ideal for raising children, but eventually our children got old enough to leave the comfort of that little country house and go to school. Then I realized that the fifty minutes we spent commuting back and forth to school each day added up to 8,500 minutes (almost 142 hours!) of time spent in an enclosed space with children in the course of just one school year. That realization along with the other stresses of commuting caused me despair…until I learned how to use all that time for the benefit of both children and parents! What follows are three blessings we’ve received from using our school commute wisely.