Trinitas Blog

Last week, we shared ten practical tips for achieving enduring success and experiencing the wonderful fruit of classical Christian education at Trinitas, This week, we have ten MORE practical tips we've assembled from our teachers which we hope will benefit your family.

The best things in life are often also the hardest things in life, and classical Christian education is no exception to this truism. To help Trinitas parents and students achieve enduring success at Trinitas and experience the wonderful fruit of classical Christian education, we've assembled these ten practical tips for success at Trinitas taken directly from our teachers. Simple, practical, but sometimes a bit pointed, we hope these steps are received in the spirit they are offered and are helpful to you.

God has created the world to work in a very ordered way. He is a God of order. He brought order out of nothing—out of chaos if you prefer—to establish a peaceful habitation for humankind. Adam’s job was to maintain God’s order in the garden. When he failed at that, he was cast out of the garden, and the job got a lot harder; nonetheless, as his descendants we inherited the job. God’s people are to maintain order, a God-like order, of God’s creation. It is a hard job. Just look around at the mess we must bring to order. But we were made for it.

As Trinitas begins its 25th year of providing classical and Christian education for like-minded families, it's a good time to remind each other that Trinitas serves parents in the mission God has given them for the education of their children without replacing them altogether. Yes, our experienced and gifted faculty do have the enormous responsibility and opportunity of taking the lead in students' education for the next 174 school days, but they are not replacing the role of the parents nor are parents mindlessly handing their children over to the school. Both are working together to be faithful instruments of grace in the education of the student. 

One goal not written in the Trinitas mission or vision statements is the goal of building a close community among Trinitas families, but it is our goal nonetheless. Community building isn’t a foreign concept at schools, and especially at the college level since it is a retention tool for colleges and universities. College students who might otherwise consider dropping out or transferring to another school may be reluctant to do that if they have grown close to their classmates, professors, and others at the school. For Trinitas, our reasons for building community run deeper.

What's the best way to begin the summer break here at Trinitas? With a book recommendation, of course! Several years ago, I read The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming of Age Crisis and How to Build a Culture of Self-Reliance and think that it is still of value to parents today.  The author, former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, has been in the news here in Florida frequently this year as he has assumed the helm of the University of Florida.

Nearly twenty-five years ago a handful of Christian parents decided they wanted a better education for their children than what was available to them. Trinitas Christian School was born out of the initiative they took to solve that problem. All these years later, parents are still making Trinitas what it is. As we wind down a busy spring semester, filled with events led and staffed by volunteer parents, and head into the summer, it is good to pause here and thank our parents who make Trinitas possible.

The conversation at Parent Traditio this month centered on twenty-one resolutions penned by the early American Congregational minister Cotton Mather entitled "A Father's Resolutions." Each resolution contains practical guidance for Christian parents who aspire to - with God's grace - raise their children in the paideia or nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

The original text is available here but the text below has been modernized by the folks at The Cross Church of Pensacola and is available on their blog here.