Monday, July 8, 2013

"Around the World" Summer Camp!

Enroll your children in Love and Grace Christian Academy, an educational, loving environment where learning happens year round. Enroll in the "Around the World Summer Camp" where field trips are included for students who are 4 years of age and older! Our students enjoy:

~Multicultural Adventures
~Introduction to Foreign Languages
~Science and Gardening
~Tutoring in Reading and Math
~Computer Technology
~Swimming Lessons
~Music and Creative Movement
~Cooking Lessons
~Ballet, Karate ($$ extra) and
~CONTINUOUS FIELD TRIPS!


Articles throughout this blog carry information and photographs that illustrate why Love and Grace Christian Academy, Inc. is an award-winning school providing daycare and after-school services as well as a terrific summer camp that is convenient for families in the Decatur, Stone Mountain, and Lithonia areas. See for yourselves! Call for a tour at (404) 288-2350. Love and Grace has served families in this area for nearly 20 years! Our rates are reasonable, and we accept GACAPS. Please visit our website at Love And Grace.net   http://www.loveandgrace.net/

Because teachers at Love and Grace Christian Academy help your children with their homework assignments after school each day, families have more quality time together. Here is an idea that can strengthen your family and improve your children's literacy skills - a dinnertime activity!


Reading is Fun!

Tonight at the dinner table, read something out loud to your family. Tomorrow night, let another family member read something - a news story, a bible verse, a poem, a cereal box panel, history, humor, anything! Each night, a different family member can read a selection. Imagine the wide range of subjects your family will read in 365 days! What a stimulating way to have your children develop good reading habits and public speaking skills!

At Love and Grace Christian Academy, we read aloud to our students during our daily devotional services and often let the school-age children take turns reading to the group. They love it! Each classroom has its own library, well stocked with books, games, puzzles, and crafts to make education fun.

Family Involvement for School Success!

Family involvement promotes school success for every child of every age. Research by Harvard Family Research Project proved that family involvement helps children get ready to enter school and to excel as students.
  • Children whose parents read to them at home recognize letters of the alphabet and write their names sooner than those whose parents do not.
  • Children whose parents teach them how to write words are able to identify letters and connect them to speech sounds.
  • Children whose parents use complex sentences in their everyday conversations achieve high scores on literacy-related tasks in kindergarten. 
Parental participation is encouraged at Love and Grace Christian Academy. Family involvement promotes elementary school children's success.


  • Children in grades K-3 whose parents participate in school activities have high quality work habits and task orientation.
  • Children whose parents provide support with homework perform better in the classroom.
  • Children whose parents explain educational tasks are more likely to participate in class, seek help from the teacher when needed, and monitor their own work.
Parents work with the staff at Love and Grace Christian Academy to help children to be healthy spiritually and physically and to excel academically. Love and Grace enrolls children from six weeks to 12 years of age. All children are engaged in activities designed to help them reach their full potential.

Kid-Friendly Veggies and Fruits!


At Love and Grace, we encourage healthy diets and provide breakfast, a hot lunch, and a healthy afternoon snack every day. Our garden shows children how vegetables and fruits grow. Encourage children to eat vegetables and fruits by making it fun! Provide healthy ingredients and let kids help with preparation, based on their age and skills. Kids may try foods they avoided in the past if they help to make them. Below are three fun recipes to try with your young chefs.

1. Smoothie Creations:  Blend yogurt or milk with fruit pieces and crushed ice. Use fresh, frozen, canned, and even overripe fruits. Try bananas, berries, peaches, and/or pineapple. If you freeze the fruit first, you can even skip the ice!

2. Delicious Dippers:  Children love to dip their foods. Whip up a quick dip for veggies with yogurt and seasons such as herbs or garlic. Serve with raw vegetables like broccoli, carrots, or cauliflower. Fruit chunks go great with a yogurt and cinnamon or vanilla dip.

3. Caterpillar Kabobs:  Assemble chunks of melon, apple, orange, and pear on skewers for a fruity kabob. For a raw veggie version, use vegetables like zucchini, cucumber, squash, sweet peppers, or tomatoes.

Put your kids in charge. Ask your child to name new veggie or fruit creations. Let them arrange raw veggies or fruits into a fun shape or design. It is really fun to decorate a baked potato with sliced cherry tomatoes, peas, and cheese.


Be a healthy role model for children. Here are ten tips from the USDA:

1. Show by example. Eat vegetables, fruits, and whole grains with meals and as snacks.
2. Go food shopping together. Discuss where the foods come from and teach children health choices.
3. Offer the same foods for everyone. Stop being a "short order cook" by making different dishes to please children. Plan family meals together.
4. Cut food into fun and easy shapes with cookie cutters.
5. Reward children with attention, not food.
6. Talk about fun and happy things at mealtime. Turn off the TV and phone. Make meals stress-free.
7. Listen to your child. If your child says she or he is hungry, offer a small healthy snack between meals.
8. Limit screen time like TV and computer games.
9. Be a good role model. Try new foods yourself. Offer new foods (one at a time) at the beginning of a meal when your child is very hungry. Avoid lecturing or forcing your child to eat.
10. Make physical activity fun for the whole family. Walk, run and play with your children. Set a good example by being physically active and using safety gear like bike helmets.

At Love and Grace Christian Academy, our students play outside every day except in inclement weather. They love our fully-equipped playground!


At Love and Grace, we know that children learn teamwork and good sharing skills as they play ballgames on our large lawn and by taking turns on the swings and monkey bars. We help children to have better behavior though loving discipline. Discipline works best with a balance of love, respect, clearly defined roles, and understanding. Here are some secrets of effective discipline:

1. Make the rules clear. Children do best when they know what to expect. Talk about family rules, explaining the consequences clearly. For example, for a rule such as "Take care of your belongings," you might tell children that if they leave their bikes out, they won't get to ride them the next day. As youngsters learn to read, write down rules and put them on your refrigerator as a reminder. For instance, at Love and Grace, we read the playground safety rules aloud to the children every time we take them outside.

2. Be consistent and firm. You can expect children to "test" the rules from time to time. When they do, try to stand your ground and apply the set consequences.

3. Give positive feedback. Try to focus more on what your children do right than what they do wrong. This will encourage them to try harder to behave. So, when you see behavior you want repeated, give children positive feedback. Example: "Thanks for hanging up your coat and backpack!"

Better Brains for Babies!


Love and Grace maintains low pupil/teacher ratios to ensure that every child gets individual attention, especially our infants and toddlers. Research tells us:
  • The brain is not fully developed at birth
  • Many important foundations of brain development happen in the first three years of life
  • Early positive interactions with nurturing adults are vital to healthy brain development
  • What children see, hear, smell, taste and touch affect early brain development
  • Early childhood experiences are the foundations for future success in school, work, family, and community

SUMMER 2013 will be something that your children will talk about, write about, and if they have a really good time, they will remember it forever. Bring your children to tour Love and Grace Christian Academy, where they will be kept safe in a nurturing environment, taken on fun and educational field trips (ages 4 and up), and encouraged to prosper spiritually, academically, and physically, according to their ages and unique talents and abilities. They will thank you for their "Around the World Summer Camp" experience!

Thanks to all Love and Grace Christian Academy parents 
who care enough to give their children the very best 
in day care and summer camp experiences. 


Love and Grace Christian Academy
4164 Rainbow Drive
Decatur GA 30034
phone (404) 288-2350
Ms. Cleotha Griffith, Director