Lutheran school adding middle grades

“It’s a really exciting thing for me,” Jacobsen said. “I’ve always had kind of an academic interest. We always had it in mind to go through eighth grade.”

Jacobsen is already teaching Latin language and Bible history at the school.

“We’ve got a third grader, it’s amazing, the [Latin] text book was written for high schoolers and we’re going slower but she’s learning it and it’s really gratifying for all of us to see that,” Jacobsen said.

“It just reinforces everything else.”

Jacobsen also leads chapel and as a pastor for 18 years has taught seventh and eighth grade confirmation classes.

His post-secondary work includes an undergraduate degree in classically oriented liberal arts, with a focus on theology, from Northwestern College and a master’s degree from Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary in Mankato, Minn.

The church has requested an upcoming seminary graduate to take on the majority of pastoral duties, although Jacobsen said he will still serve as senior pastor.

Columbia Lutheran School is in its second year of existence, serving Kindergarten through fourth grade. The church initially recommended starting an early learning center for preschoolers that would work as a feeder for a school later on.

However, plans changed when Covenant Christian Academy decided to close its doors.

“They were thinking about closing and if they did, they wanted to have a place where their resources could go,” Jacobsen said. “All these desks and everything came from them so the church decided very quickly, it was necessary to decide quickly, to go ahead and try starting a school, even though we’d done a lot of research already but the recommendation wasn’t to make that big of a leap.”

The school started with four students in August 2014 but has more than doubled to nine in its second year. Its mission is “to provide a quality classical Christian education for the families of the Mid-Columbia area, preparing students for their current and future God-given roles and supporting parents in their vocation to educate and nurture their children.”

Doug Radliff has been the primary teacher in the K-4 classroom.

“We were blessed with Mr. Radliff,” Jacobsen said. “He was teaching at Covenant and was well liked by a lot of the families over there.”

Having Kindergarteners through fourth graders all in one classroom doesn’t assume that students are learning all subjects at their own designated grade level. When an advanced student is ready to learn with the older students, it’s possible to move on immediately. The same is true when a student is behind, he or she may learn along with those who are younger.

Jacobsen will use the same classical model of education in his 5th-8th classroom.

“Students who have more or less mastered a certain area are able to teach the other students,” Jacobsen said. “There’s nothing like teaching to help you learn. All together it works really well. We even see that a little bit in the lower grade levels.”

The school has open houses scheduled for April 27 and May 5 at 5 p.m.

“The school is a service and an outreach of the congregation for the community,” Jacobsen said. “That’s really the focus of what the school is to the church.”