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Partnering with Families to Shape Christlike Students by Guiding Them to Discover Truth
Curiosity: Helping Children Learn to Ask Good Questions
Hello WCA family!
As promised, this is the first of 9 posts discussing a little bit about each of the Intellectual Virtues and how you can continue to focus on them at home!
A bit of background to the virtues again…there are 9 of them. And they are divided into 3 categories: (1) Getting Started, (2) Executing Well, and (3) Handling Challenges.
In the first category of Getting Started, there are the virtues of CURIOSITY, HUMILITY, and AUTONOMY. With that…let’s begin!
One of the most important habits we can help children develop is curiosity—a genuine desire to understand how things work, why ideas matter, and what is true. Intellectual curiosity is not about being easily distracted or endlessly entertained; it is about being drawn toward understanding.
At Warner Christian Academy, we encourage students to ask thoughtful questions, to wonder, and to explore ideas with purpose. Curiosity is the starting point of learning. When students are curious, they are more engaged, more thoughtful, and more willing to grow.
In many ways, children are naturally curious. They ask “why?” often and without hesitation. Over time, however, curiosity can fade. Busy schedules, quick answers from search engines, and the pressure to be right can slowly replace wondering with rushing. One of the goals of Christian education—and of Christian parenting—is to help preserve and deepen a child’s desire to know and understand God’s world.
At home, curiosity is most often formed in ordinary moments: around the dinner table, during homework time, in conversations about current events, or while discussing a Bible passage or Sunday sermon. When parents welcome questions rather than rush to answers, children learn that thinking deeply is valued and safe.
One simple way to encourage curiosity at home is to respond to your child’s questions with another question from time to time. Instead of immediately giving an answer, try asking, “What do you think?” or “What makes you wonder about that?” This small shift helps children learn that good questions are worth sitting with and exploring.
Another powerful practice is modeling curiosity yourself. Let your child hear you say things like, “I don’t know, but I’d like to learn more about that,” or “That’s a great question—I’ve never thought about it that way before.” When adults show curiosity, children learn that growing in understanding is a lifelong pursuit.
Scripture affirms this posture of wondering and seeking. Proverbs 25:2 reminds us, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” God is not threatened by our questions. In fact, the pursuit of understanding is part of how we honor Him.
Conversation starter:
“What’s something you’re curious about right now?”
This week at home:
Practice: Ask your child one open-ended “why” or “how” question each day
Model: Admit one thing you don’t know and show curiosity about learning it
Pray: “Lord, give us hearts that desire to know and love Your truth.”
As we nurture curiosity together—at school and at home—we help children develop a posture toward learning that is humble, joyful, and oriented toward Truth. Curiosity opens the door to wisdom, and wisdom leads us closer to the God who made all things.
Let's talk more! Let us all know how this works at home! Maybe we can get comments about this from various ages, from Pre-K through High School!
Soli Deo Gloria
Partnering with Families: Bridging the gap Between Academics and Character at Home
Hello all!
Thank you for your time in coming out here to the blog, I really appreciate it! I want to introduce you to a new blog series that just might last the rest of this school year!
At Warner Christian Academy, we believe education is about far more than merely mastering content or earning grades. At its heart, Christian education is formative—it shapes not only what students know, but who they are becoming.
In keeping with our mission and recently approved Vision Statement, our faculty has been working intentionally to teach what are known as Intellectual Virtues. These are habits of mind and heart—such as humility, curiosity, courage, carefulness, and open-mindedness—that help students pursue Truth, think wisely, and engage the world faithfully. Recall that part of the mission is to shape students into the image of Christ. And part of the vision is that we desire to send out graduates who are Christlike and intellectually virtuous.
Teaching for Intellectual Virtues bridges that age old gap in education between (1) Teaching for Academics, and (2) Teaching for Character. Well, I’m here to say why not Both/And?! Let us not look at this issue as a single bobbed pendulum with only one or the other of Academics or Character is observed; rather, let us look at it as a 2-bobbed pendulum where we desire to teach both Academics and Character but in a cohesive manner…not in individual silos.
In classrooms across our campus, teachers are embedding these virtues into daily instruction. Students are not only being encouraged to ask better questions, listen carefully to others, admit when they don’t yet understand, and seek Truth with both confidence and humility, but are having it modeled to them as well…by staff and exemplars from the past and present! These virtues are not taught as a separate subject; rather, they are practiced alongside math problems, science labs, historical discussions, literature analysis, and biblical reflection.
But formation does not stop at the classroom door. As Dr. Glen Shultz says in his book Kingdom Education, the education of children and youth is the primary responsibility of the parents and a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week process that continues from birth through maturity. He says many other things as well, but I think you’re seeing the point that education does not stop at the dismissal bell!
Because parents are the primary educators of their children, we see the home as a vital partner in this work. What is modeled, discussed, and practiced in everyday family life powerfully reinforces what students are learning at school. For that reason, in the weeks ahead, we will begin sharing short blog posts designed specifically for parents.
Each post will focus on one intellectual virtue at a time and will include:
- A brief explanation of the virtue in everyday language
- Why it matters in the life of a child
- One simple, practical way to encourage it at home
- A conversation starter you can use with your child
- A short Scripture connection
These reflections are not meant to add pressure or create another “to-do list” for families. You do not need to be an expert, and you certainly do not need to turn your home into a classroom. In fact, the most powerful way children learn intellectual virtues is by watching adults practice them—admitting when we don’t know, listening before responding, slowing down our thinking, and showing a genuine love for truth.
Our hope is that these posts will serve as gentle encouragements—small tools that help align what we are forming at school with what is being nurtured at home. We don’t expect perfection—only partnership.
We are grateful for the trust you place in Warner Christian Academy and for the privilege of walking alongside your family in the formation of students who are Christlike in character and intellectually virtuous, ready to pursue Truth, lead with wisdom, and impact their communities for God’s glory.
Thanks again for everything! Looking forward to hearing any stories of “around the table” conversations about intellectual virtues!
Soli Deo Gloria
WCA's Vision Statement
Hello again, WCA family!
On a previous blog post, October 21st to be specific, we spoke about the Mission Statement for Warner Christian Academy. You can re-read that post HERE!
But just to refresh your memory, the Mission of Warner Christian Academy, from Preschool all the way through graduating Seniors, is as follows…
…to partner with families in shaping students into the image of Christ by helping them discover Truth in academics, athletics, and arts.
This is who we are as a school and why we exist. It dictates what we do on a daily basis. And it invites your participation at home to continue that work of “shaping” when students are outside school.
The Board has now approved our Vision for the school, and so I’d like to share that with you now! But first, a bit about vision statements.
The focus of the Vision Statement is on the FUTURE and the purpose is to describe WHAT THE SCHOOL ASPIRES TO BECOME OR ACHIEVE. Vision statements inspire, motivate, and paint pictures of the desired long-term impact.
Additionally, Vision Statements attempt to answer the following questions:
- What are we aiming to become or produce?
- What kind of future are we shaping?
- What impact will those we serve make beyond us?
- What ultimate good will come from our work?
Without further ado, see below for the Vision Statement for Warner Christian Academy as it pertains to all students, staff, and families from Preschool through Graduating Seniors!
Through a strong partnership with families, Warner Christian Academy is forming and sending out graduates who are Christlike in character and intellectually virtuous—ready to pursue Truth, lead with wisdom, and impact their communities, for God’s glory.
In the Pilliod Amplified Version of this statement, it means this… After working in the present, partnering with families to shape students into the image of Christ by helping them discover truth in academics, athletics, and arts, WCA students will be Christlike, have intellectual virtue (character traits of good thinking and learning), and continue to pursue Truth on their own being ready to lead wisely with impact in their own spheres of influence…all for the glory of God!
This harkens way back to the early years of White Chapel Church when God had placed upon the little church the dream of sending out a thousand (or thousands of) leaders. That dream led directly to the formation of Warner Christian Academy!
I believe this vision for our students is great! We desire for everybody to be increasingly Christ-like and that presumes salvation, right? So in reality, we would LOVE for all of our students to be part of the professing family of Christians who believe in Jesus for the salvation of sins and have given over their wills to the will of God. We are teaching about Intellectual Virtues and teaching students to be intellectually virtuous through their Preschool – 12th grade careers. We desire for our students to CONTINUE to pursue Truth after graduation whether at post-secondary institutions or in the workforce. And we pray that they can be leaders within their sphere of influence. In their families, possibly in their jobs/careers, maybe they become leaders within a company, maybe not. But certainly there are spheres of influence where they can lead. And lastly, that their pursuits will be for God’s glory.
I love this vision for our school…for your school.
Thank you for reading along! Let me know your thoughts on the Mission/Vision and Christian Education in general! I’m a firm believer that only education from a Biblical, Christian worldview can give you a complete education.
Soli Deo Gloria!