Our experience with ICS has definitely been a God-thing!
We moved from California to Utah last year and had our two boys in a highly recommended public school. Shortly after they started, our oldest was having a hard time, he wasn't feeling challenged and was missing learning about God and Jesus. His demeanor went from a boy full of spunk to his light quickly fading. This moved my husband to jump online in search for a Christian School, he came across ICS and set up a tour within days. We visited and knew right away that ICS was the place for us. About a month after we transferred them over, my husband was pursued and offered a job with a company in the Bay Area CA and after much negotiating (to stay) and praying we felt we needed to move there and take the job. We were so sad to leave ICS and we didn't want to start the boys at another new school mid way so we proposed to ICS to allow us to do long distance learning (this was a couple weeks before the lockdown and that being the new norm). To our surprise they agreed! The staff and teachers were super helpful, supportive and encouraging to set the boys up for success. We know it wasn't easy so we were beyond grateful. Then the lockdown happened and it turned out that our boys didn't miss a beat, they were now doing what the rest of the school was doing. God had it all planned out this way for us. Shortly after arriving in the Bay Area, and given all the uncertainty with Covid, my husband never had to go into the office and the company offered remote work to all their employees. Giving us the opportunity to move back to Utah. After much praying and research we decided to come back and continue with ICS. A total God thing! And we are super grateful that ICS worked with us through all the transitions and uncertainties of this past season. Couldn't be happier! The way they handle our unique situation with such grace showed us the school's heart to serve, willingness to do hard things and flexibility to accommodate challenges. I believe God honored that kind gesture towards our family by preparing the school for what was to come with the lockdown. It spoke to us that they are truly following God's guidance and adapting to the needs of their students and family. True ministry work. We are so grateful! It made our transitions smoother and took away the burden of having our boys go to different schools and all the emotional and mental struggles that come with that. In these times that was a huge blessing!
Aside from our God thing with ICS, we love that ICS is not just a faith based school but that they value academics. One thing that stood out to us and definitely our deciding factor, is that it is important to them to offer excellent, competitive education partnered with a biblical worldview. Not one or the other but both. Huge for our family. What can I say about the teachers? The teachers are more than teachers, they quickly become family friends. They are thoughtful and care greatly about each of their students. They know how to encourage but also challenge them to grow. We appreciate how they get to know their students' strengths and areas of improvement. This helps us create goals for our boys to work on at home knowing they are being encouraged at school to achieve them too. Tackling areas of improvement together with their teachers is a huge support. We love ICS and believe you will too! We are excited to see how God grows our boys there and for the opportunity to connect more with the ICS community!
Written by Janet Nerdrum, ICS mom