Contact the school for a tour today!

415-892-5713   or   office@visitmca.org

Tours give you an opportunity to experience Marin Christian Academy in action and provide an overview of our mission and program. Guests will visit classrooms and observe teachers and students engaged in daily routines. Tours are approximately 30 minutes in length and children are welcome to join.

We hope to see you soon!

Come Dine & Donate with us!

Tuesday, April 17th

Bring this flyer to the Mary’s Pizza Shack in Novato and support Marin Christian Academy’s 8th grade Mexico Mission Trip! Twenty percent of your purchase will be donated to the MCA when you present this flyer with your order.

This applies to Dine-In, Take-Out & Delivery orders, all day.

This exciting and fun program is for children entering 1st – 6th grades with program hours are 9am-4pm and daycare available from 6:30am-6pm.

This year we are featuring a great drama and new music program.  Camp also includes special day events, like the zoo, beach, Cal Skate, movie theatre and pool trips.  Organized sports/games, crafts, computers, and Bible devotions are offered daily.

Check out http://summercamp.visitmca.org/ for detailed information.

March 23rd, 5:30 – 7:30pm

Come join us THIS FRIDAY for our first ever spaghetti cook-off!

It’s not too late to enter your favorite spaghetti sauce for a chance to win $50 and a cool trophy for your mantle.  Bounce houses will be available for kids to jump as well.

Contact the school office at 415-892-5713 to purchase tickets and let us know if you are entering the cook-off.

Tickets costs: Adults $10, children $5 (up to 8th grade, 2 y/o free)

WHAT A BLAST! 

Thank you to everyone who helped and participated for our awesome day of bouncing!!!  It was so much fun and a great success.

Dear Parent:

We are excited to announce the Marin Christian Academy Bounce-A-Thon!  This special event combines all parents and children in a powerful, school-wide family event to generate much needed funds.

Our goal is to raise $15,000 to provide additional reading books for the Houghtin Mifflin Phonics curriculum and class technology for teachers and students. It is our desire to have 100% student and staff participation. We need every family to participate if we are to reach our full potential.

Come out to the school with your child on March 23^rd at 8:30am and jump to support your school.  The day will be great fun! We are looking for volunteers and encourage parent participation.

Thank you in advance for a great job!

Christopher Mychajluk

Event Director

So how does one implement discipline and boundaries?  It’s built out of relationship.  In my tenure as a principal and parent I have learned that discipline without relationship doesn’t work. Josh McDowell says, “Parents first of all need to know one thing. Truth without relationships leads to rejection, rules without relationships leads to rebellion, discipline without relationship leads to bitterness, anger and resentment. If we don’t build loving, caring, intimate relationships with our children it doesn’t matter what we teach them or how much we pray for them, they’ll go to the wayside.”

So to be an effective leader, parent, teacher, or coach developing a relationship with your staff, child, students, or team is the foundation for successful leadership.   How do you spell relationship/love to a child?  T.I.M.E.   Nothing can substitute for quality time. Nothing!   The key is discovering what your child’s love language is and spending your time in that area.   In his book “The Five Love Languages of Children” Gary Chapman explains that each of us feel love in one of five ways:

1. Quality Time

2. Acts of Service

3. Gifts

4. Words of Affirmation

5. Physical Touch

The trouble most of us have in developing relationships with others is we think others feel love the same way we do.  Take for instance my wife who is an “acts of service” person while I’m a “words of affirmation” person.  It doesn’t matter how many times I tell her how beautiful she is and how much I love her until I do the dishes, vacuum the house, or fix something.  It’s like we are speaking a foreign language to each other unless we learn each other’s individual love language.   I have read hundreds of self-help and marriage books and believe Gary’s book is one of the most important investments a couple can make in improving the quality of their and their children’s life.  You can order it online or pick up a copy in the school office.

It took Lucia and me a while to ascertain each of our child’s individual love languages.  Knowing their love language will help in the disciplining process.   If they are a “words of affirmation” person you must choose your words carefully or they will be scarred for a long time.  Did you ever wonder why kids from the same family could turn out so differently given the same parents?  They feel loved or rejected differently from the other children given the same input from the parent.

Quality time is not teaching them math on the TV remote.  It’s finding out what their interests, hobbies, and likes are and building your time around that.  It’s staying up after your bedtime sitting on kitchen counters and making pancakes with your teenager to find out how things are going.  It’s never convenient with a teenager, but the investment will pay off in the long term.  I’m writing this blog at a Starbucks as I wait to meet my 23 year old to hang out for a while.  She called me to get together.  So, building relationships works, because one day your job won’t be to discipline them anymore but be their greatest cheerleader.

Diane Searle

SERVICES OFFERED

Homework Support and Study Skills

Homework is checked for accuracy and completion of the assignment. Study Skills are emphasized.

Content Tutoring                    

One-on-one coursework tutoring and re-teaching of concepts for elementary, middle school, high school, and college students.

Standardized Test Prep

Educational Therapy                                                            

Remediation of Identified Learning Disabilities:

r  Reading, Spelling, Writing, Mathematics

r  Processing Skills

r Receptive and Expressive Language Skills

r  Visual-Motor Integration

Diagnostic Testing                                                                     

Screening and assessment

Includes a summary report with recommendations and conference.

Comprehensive Educational Evaluation                                    

A full educational evaluation to identify learning problems that hinder school success. Cognitive processing and achievement tests are administered, educational needs are assessed, and recommendations and strategies for home and school are provided. A conference is included and an individualized educational program is developed. 

MCA and New Life Campus

1370 S. Novato Blvd., Rm 305,Novato, CA 94947

Phone 415-609-5770

mrsdianesearle@gmail.com

Unity in Discipline

My previous blog covered the importance of couples showing a united front when dealing with children.   Another important ingredient in successful parenting is deciding how you are going to handle discipline.    That was our saving grace.  Well, if I was really honest we stumbled across the concept as our children matured and our knowledge grew through reading parenting books and input from mentors.    Boy did we make a lot of mistakes, but with four kids, practice makes perfect.    We had to decide what behaviors, limitations, curfews, language, attitudes, chores, and consequences were going to be acceptable.   Since the expectations were set; the outcomes would not be a surprise to either spouse or child.   These guidelines removed the ambiguity of why the child was punished and created a spirit of unity in the home.  The guidelines also helped me avoid being reactionary and kept my emotions in check.   In Psalm 38:1 David petitions the Lord to not discipline him in anger.  “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.”

Children thrive with boundaries (rules & regulations).  Freedom might be their battle cry but ultimately children want and crave boundaries.   Boundaries express to the child that you care and value them and want them safe.    Sure, they will kick and scream the whole time, but secretly they crave it.   How do I know?  Not only have I read it, seen it work in the classroom, but I have witnessed it in my own children.   Recently, I had a teenage child of mine come to me and admit they were glad we didn’t let her spend the night at some friend’s houses during her freshman year.   Apparently, by keeping her home we protected our daughter from doing ecstasy (designer drug).   I have personally witnessed dozens of kids, who where kicked out of public schools due to behavior issues, thrive when enrolled in a private school.    Those kids wanted to know someone cared enough to hold them accountable to rules and follow through with the consequences.   It is amazing how well most of them adjusted to a stricter environment and miraculously changed their character.

So, set some ground rules and age appropriate consequences for misbehaviors and by all means stick to them.   I have to laugh a little when I think about this and an incident we had with our oldest and most independent daughter.    When she was about 5-6 years old, she told my wife with a very petulant voice, “You said if I threw the toys out of the basket and didn’t put them back one more time you would give me a spanking and you didn’t.”  Wow, talk about strong willed!  At the age of 6 she knew justice had not been served and disrespected my wife for not following through with it.   She knew she had gotten away with something.  What’s even more humorous is that as I am writing this, my oldest daughter just now called me and asked me what I was doing (she works for a big 5 accounting firm).  When I mentioned the story she gave me the exact quote above.    My wife and I are a good balance for each other.  She was very forgiving and loving and I was way over zealous in dishing out discipline.  Your home may be the same way or you may be parenting on your own.  Guidelines take a huge burden off of you and help keep the emotions out of the process.  Much of the material I am covering can be found in a wonderful book or DVD series called Parenting with Love and Logic, www.loveandlogic.com.

Stay tuned for Part II on the topic of Unity in Discipline

Tuesday-Friday, February 7th-10th

Get Ready for an outstanding opportunity to purchase books right here at MCA!  The book fair will kick off on Tuesday for the students Preschool through 8th grade and will be available to parents at our Open House. More information will be included in your homeward bound folders on Monday.

Bring in the flyer below and 20% of your purchase will be donated to our 8th grade mission trip.  This applies to Dine-In, Take-Out & Delivery orders, all day.

Mary’s Pizza Shack January Flyer