No matter how much you prepare for Back to School season, once the school year really starts rolling, it can be hard to leave your summer routine behind. Even so, there is a way to ensure you keep your sanity as a Mom or Dad while providing your kids with everything they need to make this school year a great one. Here at Foundations Christian School, our goal is to help you train up your children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6), so we'd like to offer you a few tips that can help take the "crazy" out of your mornings.

Healthy Breakfast
We get it - mornings are tough. Some families are lucky to get any breakfast at all before flying out the door in the mornings. However, the foods your kids eat will have a direct impact on how well they do in school during the day. That's why it's important to make healthy choices for them. Try making quick breakfast foods ahead of time that they can grab and eat in the car if you're always running short on time. Granola, apples, bananas and hard-boiled eggs are easy to fix ahead of time, and simple to grab when you're on the go.

Prepare the Night Before
You can make your mornings a little easier when you make preparations for everything the night before. Have your kids pack their backpacks as soon as their homework is done, and if they're taking their lunch to school, it's good to make their lunches at night too. Are clothing choices a pain in the morning? You can simplify that process by having them pick out their clothes and get everything ready at night. Or, if you're really ambitious, take some extra time on the weekends and get their outfits ready for the entire week.

Make Homework a Priority
The fact is that sometimes your kids are going to have homework. However, if you don't make it a priority, they won't either. Of course, they will need some training to ensure that homework becomes a priority for them too. To get them in the habit of getting all of their work done, some parents will make any screen time - television, electronics, etc. - contingent on whether or not it's done. Once you use those things as rewards (limited, of course), you'll usually see an eager child who is willing to comply.

Foundations Christian School is growing even more since we made the move to Big Flats, NY this year. We'd love for you to be a part of that growth. For more information on the school, or to talk with our Administrators about enrolling your children, please contact us!

If you're looking for a SWEET way to tell your Dad how much you love him this Father's Day, here at Foundations Christian School, we have an awesome suggestion for you!

We're having an amazing night of frozen yogurt and raising money for our school this Father's Day, June 15th. Come on out to Sweet Frog and support the area's newest Christian school. 

If you've never been to Sweet Frog, this is the perfect opportunity for you to give it a try. We promise, you've never tasted anything like it. You'll not only have your choice of a variety of frozen yogurt flavors, but you'll also be able to pick and choose your toppings...and you've never seen so many!

If you're busy with Dad on Father's Day and you don't think you can make it, no problem! Sweet Frog is also hosting this fundraiser for us on Friday, June20th too. Stop in and enjoy a sweet treat on a hot summer day.

We're so excited to be wrapping up the school year, here at Foundations Christian School. If you'd like some information on enrolling your child for next year, we'd love to hear from you! Please contact us today! 

It's really unbelievable that the school year has gone by so fast. For many of us parents (me included!), it seems like only yesterday when we dropped our little ones off for their very first day of school. They've grown so much, and they've learned so much new information during the past school year. It's hard to believe it's really time for preschool graduation. 

Why Do We Have Preschool Graduation? 

Preschool graduation is a really fun event for kids, and it's exciting for parents as well. Back when many of us were in school, we didn't have a little graduation ceremony to celebrate our movement from preschool into  kindergarten. We had to wait until the big "to-do" happened our senior year of high school. So, why do we do it?

I think one of the reasons we have preschool graduation is to give the kids a sense of accomplishment. It really is a sense of accomplishment for them to enter school in September with a severe paste-eating problem, only to emerge in the spring with the ability to count to 100. Preschool graduations also give our teachers the chance to stand in the spotlight for a few minutes because they're the reason those little tykes are where they are now, and they really should be commended for a job well done. 

Join Us!

If a preschooler you love is involved in our preschool graduation this spring, we'd like to invite you to join us for some great food, and a graduation ceremony this Friday, May 30th, at 5:00 at the Grace Church of the Nazarene in Horseheads, NY. We're excited to celebrate our preschoolers, and we hope you'll come!

If you would like more information about Foundations Christian School, we would love to talk with you! Please contact us today!

*Image courtesy of t0zz, www.freedigitalphotos.net* 

It probably seems like only yesterday when you were bringing your newborn baby home from the hospital. You enjoyed those first few months with your little one, and you couldn't fathom the thought that he or she would ever be going off to school. It seemed like you had all the time in the world until that fateful day would come. 

However, as it always does, time marches on. Now, you're realizing that you need to start making some decisions about your child's preschool. You might be feeling nervous, and unsure about where you should begin to look for a good preschool. We'd like to offer you a few tips that can help you make the right decision. 

Look for Personalized Attention

When kids are young, they need to have a little more personalized attention. It's important to find a preschool that will be able to meet your child's needs. Will the teacher be able to offer a little bit of extra help if it's needed? Will your child feel encouraged to ask for help? These are important questions you should ask. 

Look for Consistent Rules

If there's one thing that three and four-year-olds need, it's consistency. When you're interviewing preschools, be sure to ask the teacher's views on consistency in the classroom, especially when it comes to rules. You should expect the same amount of consistency as you provide at home. Kids need to know what the rules are, and they need to be expected to follow them. 

Look for a Level of Comfort

This goes for both you and your child. A good preschool will allow you and your child to pay a visit to the school before you enroll your child. How does he or she respond to the other children? Does your child seem to enjoy the environment? Do you feel comfortable with the setup, and with the thought of leaving your child there for a few hours each day? If you and your child are both comfortable, you'll both have a great experience. 

Here at Foundations Christian School, we know how important it is to choose a great preschool. That's why we strive to make ours the best one in Horseheads! When your preschooler attends our preschool, your strong family values will be reinforced, as well as your reliance upon God and building a relationship with Him. 

If you would like more information about Foundations Christian School, we'd love to talk with you. Please contact us today! 

It's amazing to think that it's already May, and the school year is going to be ending before we know it. Doesn't it seem like the year just started? 

During these last few weeks, it's never been more important to ensure that your kids do well on their exams. Whether they're starting to prepare for those all-important final exams, or they want to be sure their regular unit test scores are excellent, you want to do what you can to help them get good grades. Here are a few tips you can use to help your kids reach their full potential and do well on those upcoming exams. 

Tip #1: Healthy Meals and Snacks

If your child had his or her way, junk food would be pretty high up on the list of priorities when it came to deciding what to eat. However, over-processed foods don't give your kids the brainpower they need to be able to focus well and retain information in school. Instead, choose well-balanced meals that will provide them with all the vitamins and minerals they need. Fruits and veggies are great for snacks, and it won't be long before your kids realize that their new pattern of healthy food makes them feel better and think better. (Pssst...healthy food tastes better too!)

Tip #2: Encourage Good Study Habits

Good study habits are the key to retaining the information your children need to do well on their exams. If your kids are used to doing their homework in front of the television, or even when music is playing, they're not giving their brains the chance to learn as much. Help your child set up a quiet area, perhaps in their bedroom or other quiet area of your home, where they can focus on what they're doing. It's probably also helpful to set aside a certain amount of time each day for studying, particularly on those school subjects your kids struggle with the most. 

Tip #3: Teach Them how to Use Pneumonic Devices

If memory problems plague your child, it can be very discouraging to try and memorize facts and figures for exams. Pneumonic devices are a great way to help them understand how fun learning can be, and they help them remember these important principles in a way that make them easy to recall later on. For example, help your child make a game out of learning certain dates for their social studies exams. If your child has to learn word definitions, use colors and silly words to help them recall their definitions. Make it as fun as possible, and before long, your kids will be laughing and remembering the information. 

Here at Foundations Christian School, it's our goal to help your child succeed! If you would like more information about enrolling your kids in a solid, Biblically-based Christian school right here in Horseheads, NY for the upcoming school year, we would love to talk with you. Please contact us today! 

*Image courtesy of artur84, www.freedigitalphotos.net*

If your kids have been in public school this year, it's probably been a rough year for you, as well as for them. Even teachers are complaining about everything from struggling with the material they've been given from the Common Core, to increased bullying problems in school. These issues are more than enough for parents to start looking for alternative education opportunities for their kids. The problem is that many parents don't want to homeschool their kids. In many families, both parents work full time jobs, and they're just not able to homeschool. If that sounds like you, we want you to know that you don't have to feel stuck.

If you live in Horseheads or Elmira, we would love for you to consider sending your kids to Foundations Christian School during the coming school year, and here are a few good reasons.

1. We'll help your kids build a strong, Christian foundation. 

There's a reason why our school is called Foundations Christian School, and it's because we believe that God is the foundation of everything we do. We take the time to pray with the kids, and we love worshiping together and studying the Bible. Each child participates in a Bible class, and we weave the Word of God through everything they learn. 

2. Say "goodbye" to bullying.

If your child has struggled with being bullied in school, Foundations Christian School will absolutely delight you! We are all like a great big family, and the kids truly have grown to love each other. We strive to promote their friendships with each other, and bullying has never been a problem. In public school, many kids develop anxiety over the fear of being bullied by their peers. How much better would your kids' grades be if they didn't have to worry about that anymore?

3. Your kids will be safe.

Each year, it seems as though the news is full of stories of kids bringing guns or other weapons to school. A parent can feel terrified even putting her children on the bus in the morning. Safety is a big concern here at Foundations Christian School, and you won't have to worry about your kids because they'll be in the caring hands of loving teachers, in a Christian atmosphere. 

If you're tired of public school, and you'd like to find an alternative form of education for your kids, we invite you to check out what we have to offer here at Foundations Christian School. We are growing, and we would love for your family to join ours! 

For more information, please contact us today! 

*Image courtesy of stockimages, www.freedigitalphotos.net*

Aren't these flowers absolutely beautiful? 

If you like these, there's more where they came from!

Even though the snow is still falling (is anyone else as sick of the snow as I am?), it won't be long until spring is here. In fact, spring is just around the corner. If you love to plant flowers, grow your own herbs, or plant veggies to make your own delicious salads, this fundraiser is for you! 

The newest fundraiser that Foundations Christian School is doing is called Flower Power, and it's a great way to support our school, while buying all of the seeds you'll need this spring. Maybe you look forward to June so you can go and pick strawberries at your local strawberry patch. Why not grow your own in your backyard instead? Or, perhaps you'd like to decorate your front lawn with a gorgeous flower garden this year. The Flower Power fundraiser can get you all the seeds you need, all in one place. They even have a cookbook that will give you awesome ideas for the food you can make with your veggies and herbs. 

Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to venture out to the store to buy seeds? Instead, you can order right online, support a great Christian school in Horseheads, and let your seeds come to you!

All you need to do to get your order started is visit this link. You'll find everything you need to get your garden started, and we sure do appreciate your support!

Here at Foundations Christian School, we rely heavily on fundraisers just like this one to keep our tuition low for our students. If you would like more information about Foundations Christian School, we would love to talk with you, and answer any questions you may have. For more information, contact us today! 

We're really excited to be opening our doors on this wintery February evening for an Open House, here at Foundations Christian School. 

If you're an FCS parent, you probably noticed that your kids all came home recently sporting these awesome, bright yellow scarves in celebration of National School Choice Week. We felt that it was important to open the doors of our school for our existing group of parents, but also for any parents who are considering sending their kids to school at Foundations Christian School in the coming school year. 

If you're like many parents in New York State, you've probably thought long and hard about whether or not a public school education is right for your child. Every month there are more and more reports being made about how a public school education just doesn't seem to be the right fit for many kids. The Common Core has gotten an incredibly negative response from everyone, including parents, students and teachers. Many families are looking at education alternatives for their kids, and we're proud to be one of your options. 

Even if you're not happy with your child's public school education, you probably have a lot of questions about what we have to offer at Foundations Christian School. That's why we're having this Open House. This is a great time for you to come and meet with the Administrator, Jordan Winderl, as well as to talk with the other teachers and volunteers we have on staff. You'll also get the opportunity to talk with other parents whose kids attend FCS currently, which will provide you with valuable information that will help you make a good decision for your child. 

Of course, if you would like to speak with us over the phone, we're always willing to connect with you and answer any questions. Please feel free to contact us. We're growing here at Foundations Christian School, and we'd love for your child to be a part of that growth! 



*Image courtesy of photostock, www.freedigtalphotos.net*