It has been a while since the newsletter has been updated and I apologize for that but here is the latest:
* Go Ministries (Guatemala Outreach)is a ministry that serves orphans and extremely poor families in Guatemala. It is our adopted mission along with some others and we are excited to participate in it. Our students and their families donated, collected and gathered change and dollars from the beginning of the school year until now and collected a total of $425.00. We are so proud of everyone that participated. The school agreed to match that amount and when Master Sgro (karate grand master and Christian missionary)visited Christian Home Academy, he shared video and photos showing where and how our funds were put to use helping many. We sent him on his way with a check for $850.00 to help with supplying Christmas presents to orphans in Guatemala (it only takes $5.00 to provide a child with presents). 170 orphans who otherwise would receive nothing at Christmas will now receive Christmas presents because of our students, staff and families. Thanks be to God and all of our families for this blessing to the less fortunate. With each of these presents will be included a copy of the Gospel in their native language. Miss Amanda's class won the contest for raising the most money for Go Ministries and will be receiving a special party in their honor.
* We held our yearly fall festival on Friday October 28 and it was a great success. For most of the day, students played games, ate treats and generally had a good time. We had planned for a large inflatable obstical course/double slide but because of the rain that morning the company we contracted did not want to put it up as it wouldnt have been safe.
* A reminder about November 7th, there is no school. All of our teachers and staff will be in Orlando attending yearly Accelerated Christian Education training. This is one of the ways our staff stays current on the latest knowledge bases and technologies for being the best we can be. Pray for us as we travel.
* November 9th is school picture day. Have students looking their best and if you would like a family photo done as well, our photograpers will be happy to accomodate you. The school picture order form should be filled out returned to the office or the teacher as soon as possible. Also, our yearbooks are being ordered and again this year we are taking a step of faith and ordering yearbooks for everyone. They are going to be a step up from last years (which were pretty nice). Please order a yearbook for your family. This is a chance to support your school.
* On a financial note, a lot of our students are attending Christian Home Acadmey on the McKay Scholarship. These scholarships are based on a percentage of what is spent in the public school per student. We generally receive about 75% of what is paid for each student in the public schools. This year McKay cut back the amount of each scholarship because of the cuts in the public schools. The basic scholarship was cut about $700.00 per student. That was a big unexpected hit for the school. As you know, unlike most private schools, we accept the basic McKay scholarship without asking for the student families to pay the difference between the scholarship and the actual tuition. We are a ministry here and we strive to keep the tuition low so more families can affort to attend. Our services will not be reduced or cut back, however, when we do fund raising to assist with various activities (like our yearbook and pictures etc), your participation is an important blessing that we cannot afford to be without. Please participate to your utmost when we do these fundraisors, especially in these lean times. Enough already with the money stuff!
* We are blessed to have students that will volunteer to serve others when needed. We had many students show up to help Asbury United Methodist Church to unload pumpkins for the pumpkin patch. It was very hard work and our students and some parents handled it like pros. We are rewarding all of our volunteer students with their own pizza party. Thanks again to all the volunteers! We had another group of students volunteer to load and spread mulch on our fenced in playground at the school. Another hard work project handled wonderfully by our student volunteers. They also will be having their own pizza party as a way of saying thanks for their hard work. At Christian Home Academy we try to foster a spirit of serving others to the glory of God. Our students show our efforts are working.
* Thanks be to God for all the blessings He has provided for our school. Msy your families be blessed during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Thank you Jesus!
