St. John's offers individual instruction in multi-grade setting

At the turn of the 20th century, one of every three American children was educated in a one-room schoolhouse. Through ever-mushrooming communities, most of those schools have now gone the way of the abacus with only a few still remaining, mainly in the nation's rural communities.

But here in Lake County, institutions like the St. John Lutheran School in Libertyville still work to ensure that the concept of individual attention in the classroom, as offered by those original educational establishments, is not relegated to merely "Little House on the Prairie" reruns.

Despite having fewer than 100 attendees, the school services communities as far away as Grayslake, Round Lake and McHenry. Moreover, its student body is representative of as many as 15 different ethnic groups, a ratio that is among the most diverse in Libertyville.

St. John's curriculum also combines an old-school feel with a forward thinking approach to academics, according to Pastor Kevin Raddatz who leads the school along with assistant principal, Kevin Bode.

"Sometimes children will start out in the public school and for whatever reason may need more one-on-one attention. We provide that so the individual student can learn at their pace, and in a very nurturing environment," said Raddatz.

Ray and Sheryl Linnemann of Grayslake had always known they wanted to give their three children, Ryan, 12, Kate, 9, Robert, 7, a faith-based education.

"We are in the Woodland school district, which is a very good district but is also very large. And we wanted the smaller, Christian environment for our kids," said Sheryl.

As an involved parent, Sheryl appreciates the fact that she can have access to her children's teachers at a moment's notice and can even view her kids' lesson plans and grades online. That is just the kind of direct participation into their children's education that the Linnemanns were seeking.

"I can honestly say that I know every single child in that classroom and I know all their parents and I know what kind of home environments all those kids exist in, which is something you can't say about public schools, you don't even know who the other kids in the class are most of the time," she said.

To further engender this small-town approach to education, St. John's teachers even do home visits prior to the start of the school year so as to provide school supply lists and answer any questions the parents may have; a practice which makes for continued strong communication between the faculty and the families.

"It's such a feeling of family around here. It is kind of quaint but this is a job I don't mind waking up to go to," said Cindy Smith, a 15-year veteran of St. John's preschool division whose three children have all gone to the school and whose grandchild is now looking to attend.

In addition to one-on-one attention, St. John also embraces the traditional, old-school practice of multi-age learning, which translates into having several age groups taking classes together. The combination is meant to offer an environment that challenges the younger grades while encouraging mentoring skills in older students, a practice that has proved successful for St. John's scholastic achievement. According to assessments administered by educational consults, the ECRA Group, St. John ranked as one of the highest in the nation forwriting skills on recent student achievement tests.

Although best known in the community for its full-day (6:30 a.m.-6 p.m.) preschool and kindergarten programs, St. John also provides before and after school and summer care, and has open enrollment throughout the year.

For more information, go to: www.stjohnslib.com.