It's close to the end of the school year and report cards about to come out. When I was a boy there were four times during the year that I was just a little apprehensive. Don't get me wrong, I did well in school. My academic grades weren't an issue. It was the report on my citizenship, or behavior that was a worry. I just knew if I received an "F" in citizenship they were going to kick me out of the country.
But alas the worst I ever did in citizenship was a "D-" As time went on, I did improve and I think I even made an "A" one time or another in citizenship.
Anyways, most kids would scratch themselves raw about four times a year wondering what was going to become of their report card. It was always time to pay the piper. When I was younger they would give us the report cards to take home. You can bet I peeked quite a bit. As time went on, the school's got smart and sent them in the mail. You guessed it! I was first at the mailbox for about a week just to get a sneek peek. Fortunately, the pay-the-piper time only came four times a year.
Today however, things have changed. I can know day to day how my children are doing in school. I can know if they have homework and if the homework has been turned in. I can know up to the minute what their grades are. Thanks to the marvel of computers, schools are now tech-saavy and posting all kinds of information regarding their students. There is no reason for any parent to not know where their children are at any given time in relation to their school work.
I bring all this up because often times we expect this type of service when it comes to our schools, but our churches and children's ministries often go without a single opportunity to report the progress of the students or the ministry.
In looking online I have not found many tools to provide an effective report card for our children's ministry. Do you have a report card for your ministry? Do you have any type of reporting for the progress of your kids in your ministry? How do parents know the spiritual progress of their children? Often times this conversation does not take place.
I think it should. We should be reporting back to parents our expectations, and the progress of their children in our ministries. If nothing else, there should be a dialogue about the spiritual condition of their children.
I'm thinking we are at the "D-" level of reporting.
I know everyone is busy and I hear people complain about the fact that parents don't do the "homework" that we send home. Well have we ever really talked to them about it? Have we explained it's importance. Maybe because we never check up on their progress, many parents just look at our "homework" as busy work.
One last thing about homework and reporting. Definately, don't make it busy work. Let it be fun and full of discovery. The parents will appreciate it and so will your students.
