Distinctives
The Mustard Seed Preschool is called by God to provide preschoolers with a grace-based education that is biblical and committed to the content of the covenant life in the church.
Christ Community Church is called by the God of all grace for the transforming of life in Middle-Tennessee spiritually, socially, and culturally – through the power of the Gospel – from Franklin to the nations of the world – all to the glory of God.
What makes Mustard Seed unique?
Four distinctives of MSP:
Biblical
Worldview
Our worldview is the assumptions through which we interpret reality. As a Christian school, we want to help children see and interpret all of life through the truth of Scripture. Children are taught that God is the source of all truth, and that His word, the Bible, is truth. We begin each day with Devotions, giving our “first fruits” back to the Lord in worship and in learning about Biblical principles. Children are also taught to look at everyday experiences and see how God is at work in them.
Classical Education and Methodology
St. Augustine began in the 4th century with the proposal that children learn in stages: they progress through the grammar, logic and rhetoric stages. The first stage, the grammar stage, is where children learn the “grammar” of every subject. In this stage children learn easily by memorization, songs and rhymes. In a classical preschool, children are taught the grammar of each subject whether it is Language Arts, Math, or Music. Proverbs 24:3 states that “by knowledge, wisdom and understanding a house is built.” Mustard Seed Preschool is teaching children the “building blocks” of each subject.
Grace-based Principles
Upon its founding in 2004, MSP adopted these 14 principles which guide our understanding of the Nature of a child, their Relationship to God, Parents and Teachers, How they learn, and the Goal of Preparation of a Child for Life.
Intentional
Diversity
We want to make all families and children from all races and backgrounds feel welcomed and included. We have Spanish classes so that students can become familiar with another language and have exposure to Hispanic culture. We offer scholarship assistance to families needing financial help to afford preschool.
Mustard Seed’s Philosophy
The Mustard Seed Preschool will carefully cultivate a community of faith where individuals are valued as created in God’s image and are encouraged in compassion and grace toward one another for mutual edification. The educational experience will encourage honoring and glorifying the Lord in work, play, and rest. It will be designed to meet the developmental needs (spiritual, emotional, physical, intellectual, and social) of the individual child.
The Mustard Seed Preschool will seek to serve the diversity and uniqueness of all children.
Grace Based Principles
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Grace Based Principles
- A grace-based preschool accepts and loves children as Christ loves the church.
- All children are creative image-bearers of God.
- All children are unique. Everyone has a different personality, temperament, learning style, family dynamic and personal strengths and weaknesses. A grace-based preschool plans its curriculum to speak to each child.
- Parents are children’s primary teachers. A grace-based pre-school does not replace parents, it supports them.
- The relationship between teacher and child is the key in a grace-based preschool. Correction and re-direction reach a child’s heart and not just his behavior when there is a positive relationship between the teacher and child.
- A grace-based preschool focuses on the child’s relationship with God, and the impact that relationship has on family, friends and those in the larger community so that the child develops a knowledge and concern for others.
- Following directions, working in groups, working independently, resolving conflict and problem solving are integral parts of preschool academics and lead to successful school and life experiences.
- Teachers facilitate learning so young children have room to learn self-control.
- Young children learn experimentally.
- Child development is the template for curriculum. Growth and maturation in young children are a process that happens over time.
- A grace-based preschool has an environment where it is possible for every child to thrive.
- A grace-based preschool prepares a child for life, not just for kindergarten.
- Risking failure is the key to becoming a life-long learner. Process-driven activities are a way for children to exercise their creativity, risk failure and learn while meeting their developmental needs.
- Children are not deemed worthy or worthless because of their behavior. They have worth because God created them and not because their performance met a standard.
